What’s so special about tortellini? To that we say: everything! In fact, the only thing that could be improved upon would be its size. Sure, some people might say that if you want a bigger stuffed pasta, you could just make ravioli, manicotti, or even tortelloni, but that just wasn’t big enough for our tastes. This gigantic tortellini gives you the pleasure of an oversized delicious dumpling, and what’s better than Italian pasta specialties? Italian pasta specialties that really fill you up!
XXL Tortellini with Ground Beef & Spinach
Equipment
- Saucepan
- Frying Pan
Ingredients
- 14 oz flour
- 6 eggs
- 7 oz semolina flour
- 1.5 oz tomato paste
- water for brushing
- flour for work surface
- cooking oil
- 9 oz ground beef
- 0.25 red bell pepper, diced
- 0.5 onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, diced
- 2 oz fresh spinach, chopped
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 0.25 tsp pepper
- 1 oz grated parmesan
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp bread crumbs
- 1 oz shredded mozzarella
- 1 oz cream cheese
- béchamel sauce
- bacon bits
Instructions
- Mix two portions of dough using flour, eggs, and semolina flour. Add the tomato paste to one of the bowls to create the red dough. Knead both dough portions for about 5 minutes until smooth. Roll each dough portion into a ball and chill for 30 minutes.
- Cut approximately ½-inch thick slices from both dough balls. Stack the dough slices, brushing each slice with water before stacking. Alternate plain dough and red dough. Form the stack into a cube shape and chill for another 30 minutes.
- Cut 3x ½-inch thick slices from the dough cube. Flour your work surface and roll each slice into an oval. Brush the edge of each dough sheet with water and press the edge of the next dough sheet on top. Repeat with the other slices to form one final dough sheet. Cut a uniform square (about 8 in x 8 in) out of the dough sheet.
- Fry the ground beef in a little oil. Add the peppers, onion, and garlic and lightly fry. Add the spinach, season with salt and pepper, mix, and let the spinach cook down. Remove from heat, let cool to room temperature, then add parmesan, egg yolk, and bread crumbs. Mix thoroughly.
- Stir the cream cheese and mozzarella together and form two equally sized balls. Freeze the cheese balls.
- Put 2 tbsp of the meat filling in the center of the dough square and place one frozen cheese ball on top. Cover the cheese ball with 1 tbsp of the meat filling. Brush the edges of the dough square with water, fold the dough over diagonally, and seal the edges. Form a ring shape out of the sealed dough triangle.
- Heat a saucepan full of salted water and bring to a boil. Submerge the tortellini in the water and cook for 10 minutes.
- Pour a few spoonfuls of hot béchamel sauce over the tortellini and sprinkle bacon bits on top.
VIDEO
Hopefully this recipe will help put an end to the myth that making noodles is incredibly difficult. As you can see, the hardest part will be managing to get all the ingredients together. Besides, any challenges or difficulties will be instantly forgotten the second you take a bite of this Italian delicacy.