Tortelli with baccalà and chickpeas
When it comes to showing holiday spirit, the table is the altar at which my family has always prayed. Food and the cooking of it have always been somewhat of an obsession for us, and no time of the year is marked by planning, discussing, concocting, experimenting as much as this. In this vein, my sister Silvia, who has already started making the cappelletti for which she's famous and sells throughout the month of December, found the inspiration in a central Italian specialty-baccalà e ceci-for a pasta dish to satisfy the requirement of a meatless Christmas Eve.
These tortelli are simply amazing. Grazie Silvia!
The pictures, by the way, are courtesy of my wonderful students.
Tortelli di Silvia al baccalà e ceci
Silvia’s codfish and chickpeas tortelli
for the filling and sauce
1/2 pound salted codfish (or fresh true cod)
2 cups chickpeas
1 small onion
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
1 bay leaf
3 black peppercorns
1/2 bunch parsley
1 lemon
2 eggs
1 garlic clove
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
for the pasta dough
5 large eggs (or 3 to 4 duck eggs)
500 grams flour (1 pound + 1.5 ounces)
salt
This recipe needs some advance planning. Three days before you plan to make it, wash the codfish to remove the surface salt and soak it in cold water.
The water on the codfish will need to be changed 3 to 4 times a day over the course of 3 days. Note that you can use fresh codin a pinch.
Place the chickpeas in cold water to soak for 24 hours.
After the chickpeas soaking period, clean and chunk the onion, carrot and celery and place them in a pot of water with the bay leaf, 2 to 3 parsley sprigs, the peppercorns and 2 tablespoons of salt.
Bring the water to a boil and add the drained chickpeas. Lower the heat to medium and cook the chickpeas until they are soft enough to be easily smashed with a fork. It will take about an hour.
To make the dough, salt the flour and mound it in a well on a wooden board. make a well in the center and add the eggs and a pinch of salt. Using a fork, start working the eggs gradually incorporating the flour while keeping the well from falling and the eggs from running.
When the dough and flour become too dense to work with a fork, bring the dough together by pressing it with your hands or working it with 2 bench scrapers in samurai like motions.
When you have a somewhat shaggy ball of dough, start kneading by stretching the top third of the dough with your fingers up and away from you, folding and pressing it into the middle third with the heel of your hand and finally bringing everything into the bottom third. Turn the dough 90˚ or 1/4 hour and repeat the motions described above.
The folding and pressing motion will slowly turn the dough inside out and outward in, ensuring that all of it is kneaded. Continue kneading until the dough is somewhat smooth and elastic and quickly snaps back into place when pulled. It will take about 15 minutes.
You can also use a mixer with a hook attachment, just place the ingredients and mix on medium until everything comes together nicely and the dough looks homogeneous and elastic. Wrap tightly and let relax for at least 30 minutes before rolling.
In the meantime, prepare the filling.
Bring the water to a boil and put in the codfish. Lower the temperature to a simmer and poach the fish for about 20 minutes.
While the fish is cooking, mince the parsley and grate the zest off the lemon.
Smash the fish and half the chickpeas with a fork and mix well with the half the parsley, the zest, 1 egg and 3 to 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
In a small bowl, whisk an egg with 3 tablespoons of water.
Using a pasta machine or the KitchenAid pasta attachments, roll the pasta into strips thin enough for you to be able to see the outline of your hand through them.
Lay the strips of pasta on a lightly floured surface and using a pastry wheel cut them into squares about 2x2". Spoon a small mound of filling in the center of each square.
Dip a small pastry brush in the egg wash and wipe off excess liquid. Very lightly brush the top and left sides of each square.
Fold one square into a triangle and seal it by matching the bottom right corner onto the top left one and lightly pressing along the 2 longer sides, paying mind to pushing out excess air.
Grab the 2 smaller corners of the triangles in between your thumbs and index fingers and lift it off the table-the 90˚ angle should be pointing down
Bring the 2 tips towards each other until they kiss. Slightly overlap them and press them together.
Repeat the process starting from the rolling of the pasta strips until you have finished the filling and/or the dough.
Line a baking pan with parchment paper and dust it with flour. Arrange the ravioli on it so that they do not overlap. Refrigerate until ready to cook.
Drop the tortelli in salted boiling water and cook for 2 to 3 minutes after they float to the surface.
In the meantime, process the remaining chick peas and the garlic clove with a few spoonfuls of the tortelli cooking water and enough olive oil to yield a rather runny, shiny purée. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Douse the bottom of a warm serving platter with 1/3 of the chickpeas purèe.
Drain the tortelli with a slotted spoon and arrange them on the platter. Douse with the sauce, dust with the remaining parsley and sprinkle a few drops of lemon juice. Serve immediately.