RECIPE

Roasted Jerusalem artichoke and walnut tortellini with Grana Padano broth

Feeds – 4-6

Preparation time – 40 minutes

Resting time for pasta – 30 minutes

Cooking time – 2-3 hours broth / 2 minutes for tortellini

Ingredients 

For the Grana Padano Broth  

A glug of oil

1 onion – halved

1 banana shallot – halved

Small bunch of fresh bay leaves

½ head of garlic

2 carrots – halved

Glass of white wine – around 175ml

1 large rind of Grana Padano Riserva 

1 tsp peppercorns

Small bunch of fresh thyme

Bunch of parsley

For the Roasted Jerusalem Artichoke Tortellini 

500g Jerusalem artichokes – cleaned

3 cloves of garlic – left in their skins

A glug of olive oil

Sprinkle of sea salt flakes

150ml water

6 tbsp of cream/water to loosen, plus a little extra if necessary

Around 6-8 large sage leaves – finely chopped

30g Grana Padano Riserva – finely grated

25g walnuts – toasted and finely chopped

For the Pasta  

300g ‘00’ pasta flour

3 Heritage Breed eggs

1 Heritage Breed yolk (add an extra yolk if your eggs are particularly small)

sprinkle of salt

Method

For the Grana Padano broth:

In a large casserole dish or saucepan (that can easily accommodate 2 litres) add a good glug of oil. Place over a medium heat and once hot add in your carrots, onion, shallots, bay leaves and garlic all flesh side down. Allow to soften and evenly brown slightly. Once evenly browned, add in your glass of white wine to deglaze the pan. Next add 2 litres of water and the large rind of the Grana Padano Riserva, pepper corns, fresh thyme and parsley. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat a little and allow to cook until it reduces to around 1 litre of liquid. This should take between 2.5 -3 hrs. Strain before serving.

For the roasted Jerusalem artichoke:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. In a roasting dish, add the Jerusalem artichoke, garlic cloves and seasoning. Roast for 30-40 minutes depending on how large the artichokes are. Ten minutes before removing from the oven, add in the water. Once cooked the artichokes should be soft and fluffy. Allow to cool a little, then roughly chop. I like to leave the skins on for maximum flavour. Place the Jerusalem artichoke in a blender and squeeze the roasted garlic from their skins.  Add these to the blender with the cream, the roughly chopped sage leaves and blitz until you have a smooth-ish consistency. Now add in the Grana Padano Riserva, stir, taste and season to your preference. Allow to cool ahead of filling your pasta. 

For the fresh pasta:

Pour the flour out onto your work surface and make a well in the middle. Crack the eggs and egg yolk into the well, add salt and combine the eggs and flour using a fork until it all comes together. Once it starts to come together, roll up your sleeves and get your hands involved. You’ll need to knead the dough for around five minutes or until the dough is smooth and springy. Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes-1 hour before rolling it out.

Once rested, divide the  dough into three pieces (keep the pieces you are not rolling out wrapped to avoid them drying out) then using a rolling pin, roll out each piece into a rectangular shape ready to pass through your pasta machine. Be sure to pass it through each setting twice, starting with the largest and working your way down to the smallest. You can also roll this out with a rolling pin, just ensure you roll out the pasta until it’s almost transparent and gently flour when rolling.  

Lay your long strips of pasta out on a clean lightly floured or lightly semolina coated work surface. Then with a pasta cutter (or glass) cut into even circles (about 3.5cm x 3.5cm).

Spoon one tsp of filling into the centre of each round then using your finger run a little water across one half of pasta so that when you fold it into a semi-circle the edges stick. Ensure there’s no air trapped around the filling, press the edges together firmly and then wrap the bottom of the semi-circle around your finger and fold one edge over the other. Repeat until you have made all your tortellini. Refrigerate until ready to cook. 

When both your broth and pasta are good to go, simply add your tortellini to your broth to cook for around one minute or two. With a slotted spoon, divide them up between your serving bowls before ladling the broth via a sieve into each of the serving bowls. Finish with a drizzle of oil, an extra grating of Grana Padano Riserva and freshly ground black pepper.

 FOR MORE INFO ON THE BRILLIANT GRANA PADANO HEAD HERE

IN COLLABORATION WITH GRANA PADANO

This is the kind of dish I relish cooking while grey skies prevail and the rain is constant. The kind of dish you commit an entire afternoon to, just to reap the rewards from these delicately rich, picture perfect, plump little bundles. Hours spent in the kitchen, dog at my feet who is appearing to snooze but wickedly alert and ready for any mishaps! The radio is on, hunger will be my only time constraint and the methodic and repetitive nature of making tortellini will allow my mind to wander and relax …this is my favourite kind of day! The process is joyous, requires patience, enough sampling to hold your attention and hunger and will deliver surprisingly hearty results.

 This may seem like a long and somewhat laborious recipe but once you’ve read it through you’ll see that the techniques are simple enough. Make this once and I promise you’ll be convinced and will be batch making (and probably freezing) ahead of your next gathering.

The Grana Padano broth is deliciously delicate, sweet, fresh and just completely delightful alongside the tortellini. For this recipe I am using Grana Padano Riserva, which is aged for over 20 months. Jerusalem artichoke is a favourite ingredient in our household, and pasta is the perfect vehicle to house it. This I can truly say is joyful cooking. All elements of this dish are born from the coming together and celebration of fresh, seasonal ingredients. I for one will be making up batches of these little bundles and will be sharing them with whoever is lucky enough.