This is a traditional recipe from the city of Parma and the small towns that surround it. Tortelli d’erbetta features delicate rectangles of fresh pasta, filled with ricotta and sweet chard.
On the evening of June 23, the eve of the feast of St. John the Baptist in Italy, people in and around Parma celebrate by dining al fresco with this dish.
The dish comes as a celebration of an eve, and therefore that is without meat.
St. John the Baptist and the rituals of the summer solstice
Not to be confused with the Evangelist, the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin and an ascetic. When he was not fasting, he fed on insects and honey, which makes one smile if you think of how many recipes come in his honor. And that once he died, his severed head was laid right on a plate. Conceiving the plan was a trio of sad figures, Herod, Herodias, the dissolute wife of Herod’s brother, and Salome.
Since John the Baptist is a highly revered saint, we celebrate the day of his birth, June 24, and death, August 29.
The totality of rituals, including food habits, that celebrate John are the Catholic Church’s response to the pagan and peasant rites that have accompanied the summer solstice since ancient times. Over the centuries, a tasty mixture of sacred and secular customs grew up that still characterizes our time today.
Rituals related to fire and water have an obvious rural origin. But food is also always central in local festivals dedicated to the saint.
The so-called bonfires of St. John unite peasant Italy from north to south. On the longest day of the year, before the days become shorter, the bonfires, lit on the night of June 23, keep evil spirits and witches away.
For this reason, green walnut husks, soaked by nightly dew, are harvested on these days, aromatic and therapeutic, to makethe Nocino, a typical digestive and balsamic liquor.
In another ritual, fresh herbs and flowers (St. John’s bunch,I wrote about it here) end up in a basin full of water. People leave the bowl outdoors on the night of the 23rd to collect the night dew. The next day, you can use the water to wash your face and hands for health and beauty.
St. John’s also opens the outdoor dining season, as in the famous tortellate held on the evening of June 23 in Parma and neighboring towns.
Buona cucina, Monica
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Tortelli di erbetta recipe
Chard is the main ingredient in the filling of square or rectangular tortelli. Clearly, you can also use spinach for the stuffing.
It is a traditional first course from Emilia that I knew but had never tasted. Then in a book dedicated to the correspondence of the Parma aristocracy between the 1800s and 1900s, I found this description:
“The envelope, rectangular in shape, is made of a thin sheet of dough. The filling is a happy mixture of ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan cheese, chopped herb leaf (hence the name), and a thought of nutmeg.”
And on that thought of nutmeg, I knew I had to make this first course.
So I made pasta dough and filling, I prepared some large tortelli, but you can make them smaller. I seasoned them traditionally with lots of butter and Parmigiano, which, as popular folklore says, should be drowned in butter and dried in cheese.
In the Parma area, people eat them on the evening of June 23, setting up large tables outside and waiting in good company for the dew of the night.
Buona cucina, Monica
I found a deliciousTortelli d’erbetta recipeon Food52 by Josh Cohen. The chef used herbs in the filling, and I find that very interesting,
Tortelli di erbetta recipe
serves 4
Ingredients
Pasta dough
eggs, 3
all-purpose flour, 300 g
Filling
ricotta cheese, 300 g
grated Parmigiano Reggiano, 100 g
chard, 350 g (weight of uncooked vegetable)
egg, 1
nutmeg, 1 g
salt to taste
Method
Filling
Clean and wash the chard, boil it in unsalted water, drain, and let it cool for about 30 minutes.
Then squeeze the chard and chop it.
In a bowl, combine and mix the filling ingredients with a fork. Cover and let stand for about 2 hours in the refrigerator.
Pasta dough
Arrange the flour on the cutting board. Then create a hole in the center, and place the eggs.
Break the eggs with a fork, slowly incorporate the flour from the sides and mix with the eggs.
When the dough is too compact for the fork, continue kneading with your hands until the dough is smooth, not too hard or soft.
Wrap the dough with plastic film. Let it rest out of the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
Roll out a thin sheet with a rolling pin or a pasta machine.
Tortelli d’erbetta
Cut strips of sheet 6-7 cm wide, then place some filling (one tablespoon for large tortelli, and one teaspoon for regular tortelli, close the sheet on itself, press gently around the filling to let the air out, and with the pastry cutter cut out the tortelli with a pastry cutter. If there is too much excess pastry along the edges, remove it by cutting it away.
Dry the tortelli on a floured tray for at least an hour, turning them.
Bring a pan full of salted water to a boil, and while the tortelli are cooking, melt the butter in a skillet.
Place half the melted butter and sprinkle with lots of Parmesan on a serving plate.
Using a slotted spoon, take the tortelli from the boiling water, place them on the plate, and cover them with the rest of the melted butter and Parmesan cheese.
Serve the tortelli immediately.
Store any leftovers in a covered dish in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
After making the tortelli, let them dry on a tray and then store them in the freezer for up to a month without fail. When ready to use them, cook them frozen in boiling salted water.
