Tortellacci for the High School Italian Club

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My nieces belong to the Italian club at their high school though neither are students of Italian language. Ironically, they both take French though I have never heard of them belonging to the French club. One of the highlights of their association with the Italian club has been the annual tortellacci dinner. Every year a club member’s Grandmother made the 1500 tortellacci’s required for the 100 guests who attend, which can only be described as a labor of love.

Since last fall, I have been volunteering to help make tortellacci’s because it was a skill I was interested in learning. In nearby Highwood, it was has been long known women will get together to help each other make quantities of tortellacci and tortellini especially as the holiday’s approach. I have made many attempts to join these groups but never quite made the right connection. My best chance seemed to reside in helping the Italian Club make their tortellacci’s. I was in luck because this year was the first time the Italian Club members were making the tortellacci’s themselves under the supervision of the President’s grandmother affectionately referred to as Nonna Mary.

Tortellacci is a two day process: the first day the pasta and fillings were made by Nonna Mary. The filling was made of spinach, mozarella, ricotta and parmesan. The pasta was made of olive oil, eggs and flour. No water, which I double-checked because I was surprised at the absence of water and the use of olive oil.



The second day the club members congregated to assemble the tortellacci. Prior to our arrival, the dining room table was laid out with floured wood boards for mass assembly.



The kitchen table was where the pasta would be rolled out.



Nonna Mary began by rolling out the dough with her rolling pin, then cut the dough into pieces and placed in a pan with plastic covering waiting until they were fed into her pasta roller.



The pasta rolls through several times with the notch beginning at the widest setting. The final notch for rolling was number 2 just before the thinnest setting.



The past was laid out, then the filling was distributed on the pasta, which was cut down the middle and across into squares.



The squares of pasta were folded over to make either a rectangle, which was Nonna Mary’s favored style, or into triangles favored by the amateurs.



The filling was sealed into the pasta pocket by pressing with your fingers. This must be carefully attended to otherwise the filling may leak out when cooked.



The corner was flipped up, then the two ends were mated together to create the tortellacci.



On the tortellacci's made from rectangles, they also did a flip up motion before mating the ends.

Over the 4 hours I was present, we made trays and trays of tortellacci, which were whisked to the freezer.



Since we were beginners, some tortellacci were bigger than others. I overheard the ladies discussing how they would sort the sizes into different bags because of the differing cooking times.

Just last week we finally saw the fruits of our efforts at the dinner. This is a peek into a tray of tortellacci dressed in a tomato cream sauce waiting to be served.



Accompanied by a salad:



Bread donated by Il Mulino bakery of Highwood:



Desserts were a mix of homemade by the kids, donations from local bakeries like the Bent Fork and store-bought by various families.

Nonna Mary has been making tortellacci forever and seemed a bit nervous her reputation might fail with all her students. She really had nothing to worry about, because everyone did a best effort. Not only was her reputation preserved, she contributed to a younger generation’s new appreciation and skills on making tortellacci.



I also made an important contact as I have a future date to make tortellini this fall, which knowledgeable ladies rolled their eyes to explain it is much harder than tortellacci to make.

Regards,

Absolutely beautiful post!
Please post on the board if Nonna Mary is accepting any new "students" in the fall.

HI,

Since it has taken forever to get an invitation to make tortellini or tortellacci, I'm not in a position to extend it further. However it doesn't mean we cannot eventually create our own pasta making social circle.

It will be the gift that keeps on giving!

Regards,

Boy, the thread and photos bring back memories of my youth.

Each week, my nonie would make batches of meat-filled tortellini (and the occassional tortellacci) with a group of local older ladies in her basement. During the summer months, my sister and I got to help out.

While I never got good at folding, I was a whiz with cutting the pasta into rectangles and filling them. I usually didn't roll the pasta out since the rollers were hooked up via pulleys to a motor and that was the realm of the grownups.

The handmade version is SOOO much better than the commercial, machine-made ones. Much thinner pasta and generally can be made much smaller.

To this day, a staple at family holiday gatherings is a big pot of tortellini in chicken broth for supper along with the dinner leftovers. We rarely use sauce at home.

Even now, my favorite present from my nonie is a couple packages of homemade tortellini. They keep well in the freezer but I can never seem to keep them around very long anyway.

Mmmmm....

Now to track down the recipe and get practicing so I can have them whenever I want.

Joe

Now to track down the recipe and get practicing so I can have them whenever I want.

Since it appears your Nonie is still here, you then have the opportunity to ask questions and learn the little things not always noted on a recipe. My Oma died when I was 15 and didn't quite have all her recipes down. It took several years of experimentation to get things up to her standard and beyond. It is so much easier to learn from the source as well as a wonderful family treasure to possess.

I'm glad my post brought back memories.

Regards,

Hi,

Now that I know how to integrate film clips via You,Tube, this is a small snippet of Nonna Mary hand forming tortellacci.

I hope I get invited this Fall to the tortellini production intended for Christmas!

Regards,

Yes. We have to use YouTube more; thanks for breaking the LTH cherry on this one (I think you're the first, right?).

Oh, and you'll be glad to know that right after viewing your vid, I was invited to see a Ted Kennedy clip regarding Net Neutrality. Did you request that follow-up link?

Hammond

Hi,

I am not the 1st, though I am the 2nd and 3rd. We have Bill/SFNM to thank for the initial idea.

I have a few film clips collected over time to simply remind how to do something. I didn't realize there was a way to upload them until I followed Bill's lead. I was aware of youtube.com, I just wasn't aware I could upload the film clips made on my digital camera.

Gosh I get suggested clips on cats, babies and noodles. I guess we both give off different vibes.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:I am not the 1st, though I am the 2nd and 3rd. We have Bill/SFNM to thank for the initial idea.

Guesss I've been out of touch for the past few days. Kudos to Bill/SFNM -- More vids!

Hammond