cappelletti day!

Merry Christmas to you all... time to work on Christmas meal! My task is Christmas lunch tomorrow, so we'll follow the tradition: cappelletti in brodo, roasted capon with mashed potatoes and vegetables, panettone etc. To follow the tradition, we're making home-made cappelletti, according to aunt's Luciana recipe, who's after granny Ada's one and so on... for a team of 3, it's a whole morning work, but usually worth the effort. If you want to try, here's the recipe! I calculate about 20 cappelletti (in stock soup) per person.

For 100 cappelletti
For fresh pasta
400g wheat flour
3 eggs
2 halves eggshells water
a pinch of salt

for filling
200g minced beef
200g minced veal
200g minced pork
1 onion
80g butter
olive oil
nutmeg

Chop the onion. Melt the butter and gently fry it in a high sided pan; add the meat and stir well in order to break all of the lumps. Drizzle with olive oil from time to time and let it cook, no lid, until all of the liquid has been absorbed. Season with salt and generously dust with nutmeg. 3rd generation variation: add a small pinch of cinnamon. Let the filling cool at room temperature.

For pasta: Pour wheat, eggs, water and salt in a bowl and start kneading by hand, you have to work it well so that all of the egg yolks are absorbed. Pinch a piece of dough, spread it with a rolling pin and then pass it through the pasta maker, thick #4. If the foil breaks, add some flour and pass it through a thicker roll (#2 or 3). Cut 100 round with a 5cm diametered glass, then make the cappelletti: put a little filling in the center, close it in half  in a 1/2 moon shape, it's VERY IMPORTANT to perfectly seal the edges, then roll it around your index finger (kids are perfect for this, they have just the right size!) and close the 2 edges in order to obtain the shape in the picture. If the foil gets dry, wet your fingers with water in order to soften the rounds. Cook them in a good stock for about 10 minutes and season with plenty of grated Parmesan cheese. BUON APPETITO E BUON NATALE!