Ingredients
Serves 41 quantity basic pasta dough (see method)
300g potatoes, desiree or similar
Small handful freshly picked mint, washed and air dried
Small handful fresh rocket, washed and dried, roughly chopped
40g parmesan cheese
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
2 free range eggs (1 for eggwash)
2 tbsp butter
1 lemon, halved
Best quality balsamic
Parmesan for grating
Method
Place the potatoes into a pot large enough to comfortably hold all of them, fill the pot up with cold water and add enough salt to the water so it can be tasted. Bring the potatoes to the boil and once you can pierce them easily with the tip of a small knife drain out the water and allow them to cool until you can handle them with your hands.
Remove the skin and either mash them with a potato masher or smash them with a whisk. Pop the mashed potato into a bowl and add the parmesan, 1 egg, nutmeg, tear the mint as finely as you can and add the chopped rocket into the mixture, mix carefully with a spoon and have a taste, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper as needed.
Roll out about 4 sheets of pasta approximately 40cm in length. Use a knife to cut squares about 6cm x 6cm, you will need about 24 of these squares.
Place a teaspoon of the mixture into the centre of each square. Once you have done this fold each square over to make a triangle so the filling is encased and then wrap the two points furthest away from each other over the filling and join them together, repeat this for the rest of the tortellini until you have at least 24.
Pop the tortellini into boiling salted water; if you have just made them they will only take a few seconds to cook.
While the pasta is cooking pop the butter into a pan large enough to hold all the tortellini comfortably and melt over a medium/high heat, be very careful as the butter will be super hot, keep any water away from it. As soon as the butter starts to foam and turn nutty brown in colour remove the pot from the heat immediately and quickly add a squeeze of lemon juice and carefully shake the pan around, the lemon juice will stop the butter from cooking any further.
Once the pasta is cooked remove them from the water with a slotted spoon and pop them into the hot nutty butter, coat all the tortellini with the sauce and serve immediately with a few dollops of balsamic and finish with freshly grated parmesan.
Basic Pasta Dough
3 cups plain flour or OO flour (plus extra if sticky when kneading)
3 extra large eggs
1 extra large egg yolk
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
Mound the flour in the centre of a large wooden cutting board or your benchtop (or, use a large bowl and make the well in there). Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the eggs and olive oil. Using a fork, beat together the eggs and oil and begin to incorporate the flour starting with the inner rim of the well.
As you expand the well, keep pushing the flour up from the base of the mound to retain the well shape. Do not worry that this initial phase looks messy. The dough will come together when half the flour is incorporated.
Start out by kneading the dough with both hands, using the palms of your hands. Once you have a cohesive mass, remove the dough from the board and scrape up and discard any leftover crusty bits. Lightly re-flour the board and continue kneading for 6 more minutes. The dough should be elastic and a little sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. Roll or shape as desired.
Note: Do not skip the kneading or resting portions for the dough. They are essential for light pasta.