Italian Cooking Together – Recipes, Butternut Tortellini, Chicken Cacciatore
Cooking Together Italian Recipes
Our cooking together events are as much about learning to cook as they are a sociable experience. We hope you enjoyed your class and are ready to recreate the meals at home.
We Cooked:
- Starter: Butternut Squash and Mozzarella Tortellini with Sage Sauce.
- Main: Chicken Cacciatore.
- Dessert: Choose from the Food Sorcery favourites on the link below.
Pasta Dough – Starter
Ingredients:
- 2 large eggs
- 200g of 00 flour, plus extra for dusting
Method:
- Place 180g of the 00 flour onto a large wooden board. Pour the remaining 20g of flour into a small bowl, ready to use if necessary.
- Shape the flour into a volcano with a large hole in the centre, then crack the eggs and pour them into the middle.
- Using a fork, lightly beat the eggs, then mix in the flour a little at time. It is essential that the flour is gradually beaten into the eggs to ensure the walls of the volcano don’t break too soon. Add the reserved 20g of flour if the dough is too moist.
- Bring the mixture together with a spatula and your hands until you obtain a consistent ball of dough.
- Work the dough with the heel of your hand for 10–15 minutes, or until the mixture is smooth and very elastic. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Dust a wooden board with 1 tbsp of flour. Unwrap the dough and flatten it with a rolling pin. Roll out the dough into thin pasta sheets, less than 1mm thick.
- If you have a pasta machine, divide the dough into 4 before rolling it out. Flatten it to a rough square so that it fits through the machine at its highest setting. Roll it through & fold it back over it to itself. Rotate it through 90 degrees and repeat this a few times. This releases the gluten which increases the elasticity of the dough and stops it cracking & tearing. Now reduce the thickness of the machine 1 click at a time until you reach the 2nd to last setting.
Butternut Squash and Mozzarella Tortellini
Ingredients – Serves 2:
For the Filling:
- 1/2 small butternut squash
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- 1/2 medium shallot, roughly chopped (scant ½ cup)
- 1/2 bulb of mozzarella, shredded
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- Fresh sage leaves to taste
- 1 Recipe Homemade Pasta
- Pinch of nutmeg
- Salt & Pepper to taste
For serving and sauce:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, sliced
- Sage leaves to taste
- 2 tablespoons dry white wine
- 1 cup of double cream
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
- Pinch sea salt
- Pinch ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup Roasted Butternut Squash cubes, optional
- 1/4 bunch Sauteed Kale, optional
- Grated pecorino cheese, optional
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 200C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Roast the squash. Cut the squash in half vertically and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil and pinches of salt and pepper and place cut side down on the baking sheet. Prick the skin several times with a fork and roast for 40 minutes.
- Make the pasta dough according to this recipe. Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and set it aside to rest while you make the filling.
- Make the filling: Add the diced shallot, pureed garlic, squash, mozzarella and seasoning to a mixing bowl.
- Roll out the pasta dough into a long sheet, pushing it through the pasta machine twice on each setting, starting on the thickest and going down to number 2. Spread the 4 pasta sheets on a well-floured work surface. Cut with a round metal cutter, use a 1tsp to portion to scoop the filling onto the circles of pasta. Stick edges of the pasta circles together and twist around your fingers to shape tortellini.Cook the tortellini in a pot of salted boiling water for 4 minutes. I like to drop them into the water as I’m ready to start my sauce so that they’re done around the same time.
- Make the sauce. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and sage and cook for 3 minutes. Add the wine, thyme, and salt and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
- Add the double cream and cook until thicker.
- Spoon the sauce over the tortellini add freshly ground black pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Add the roasted butternut squash cubes, sautéed kale, and grated pecorino, if desired.
Tuscan Lemon, Garlic and Thyme potatoes.
Serves 2
350g potatoes
3 cloves garlic
Sprig of fresh thyme
1 Lemon
25g butter.
Peel and dice your potatoes into even sizes, we suggest 1cm square.
In a pan of cold salted water bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes, drain well.
Heat a frying pan with a splash of oil and fry the potatoes, Sean and toss every couple of minutes until all sides and crispy and browned.
Chop the garlic and thyme, zest the lemon, add to the pan and allow to cook for a further 2 minutes.
Add the butter and let it froth and go a nut brown colour.
Squeeze half the lemon into the pan and finish with a taste.
Chicken Cacciatore
Ingredients – Serves 2:
- – 4 chicken thigh, skinless and boneless
- – 1 shallot, diced
- – 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- – 1 red pepper, de-seeded and sliced
- – 400g chopped tomatoes
- – Handful of fresh cherry tomatoes
- – Handful of olives of your choice
- – 2tbsp of capers
- – 100ml of red wine
- – 1 tsp of sugar
- – 2 sprigs of thyme or rosemary or oregano
- – 6 basil leaves
- – 1 bulb of mozzarella, shred into pieces
- – 1tbsp of olive oil
- – Seasoning
Method:
- Pre-heat your oven to 185C.
- Place a heavy skillet on medium heat with a splash of oil.
- Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper and sear of in the pan, remove from the pan and leave on side for now (chicken doesn’t need to be cooked through yet).
- Add another splash of oil in the same pan and sauté onions for a couple of minutes, followed by garlic.
- Next comes the red pepper, cook for another minute.
- Now pour in the red wine with sugar and reduce by half, followed by cherry tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, capers, chopped thyme and olives. Simmer for ten minutes, correct seasoning, place the chicken on top and bake for roughly 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Right before serving, place mozzarella on top and melt in the oven.
- Garnish with chopped basil leaves.
We Hope You Enjoyed The Class
If you have any feedback about the class or questions for chef please do get in touch. Email: lovetocook@foodsorcery.co.uk
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