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Turkey or Cheese Tortellini

Pockets of pasta filled with either turkey filling or cheese filling

Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword cheese tortellini, homemade pasta, Italian Cusine, meat tortellini, pasta, Tortellini, Turkey
Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 13 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Pasta

  • 2 Cups flour
  • 1 Egg
  • 1/2 cup Water
  • 1 tbsp Olive Oil
  • Salt

Turkey Filling

  • 1 lb Ground Turkey
  • 1 cup Parmesan cheese Grated
  • 1/4 cup dry white wine
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 -- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 egg

Cheese Filling

  • 1 lb Ricotta Cheese
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 cup Parmesan Cheese grated
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Instructions

Filling

  1. Place olive oil and Garlic in a large Frying pan and add ground turkey

  2. season to taste with Salt and Pepper

  3. Once the turkey is browned, add wine and reduce the liquid about 5 minutes

  4. Cool meat and place in the food processor with the chopping blade

  5. Add Parmesan cheese, egg and nutmeg blend til meat is blended and almost smooth in texture.

  6. Set aside until dough is ready

Dough

  1. Place the dough blade on and add the flour, egg, water, olive oil and salt into food processor.

  2. Mix until you have a smooth dough that bounces back when you lightly push on it with your finger. (Weather has a lot to do with the texture of your dough) If the dough is to soft add a 1/8 -1/4 cup of flour to firm it up. If it is to tough/dry add a few drops of water and blend continue until you have the right consistency With a food processor this is not a very long process 3-5 minutes.

  3. Place the dough on a counter and cover with Saran wrap, let it sit for 20 minutes

Creating Tortellini

  1. Cut the dough into 8 pieces. While working with 1st piece, make sure you have the remaining dough covered,(it will dry out)

  2. Flour your work space the dough will stick to everything... Flatten the dough into a rectangle shape.

  3. Using a pasta machine take your dough and run it though the pasta machine. Placing the short end of your rectangle in the machine, then roll it out, start on the thickest/largest setting size and working your way down, I usually stop on the second to last size. You can opt to make your dough thicker, or thinner, it depends on your preference when eating it. Just know the thinner it is the more delicate it is when cooking and it will break apart if the water boils to hard.

  4. Once the dough is rolled out, I use a glass that is 3" in diameter, you can use a cookie cutter as well. Cut your circles out, and remove excess dough. Save excess dough to create another sheet.

  5. Add the turkey filling/ cheese filling (remember less is more in this situation, to much and it will burst when cooking) about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of filling to each circle.

  6. Next you will fold over the pasta, pressing it down firmly.

  7. Take the two corners and bring them together and fold them over your fingers to meet and seal.

Recipe Notes

Tortellini can be served with almost any topping you can think of.  I am a Butter and Parmesan Cheese kind of person, my mom likes it in Chicken Broth, the rest of the family likes it with Red Sauce.  BE CREATIVE.

As far as fillings go.: The standards are Cheese or Meat.  I use ground turkey a little less fat.  I have seen them with a spinach stuffing, Mushroom stuffing, Ground Beef stuffing, and seafood stuffing.  Again have fun, and please your taste buds... just remember that it has to have a good consistency to soft and it will be hard to put the tortellini together.  It's always good to add an egg it will help it firm up when cooking.