Juan Urbieta's Cappelletti Romagnoli

Recipes

Cappelletti Romagnoli

By Juan Urbieta

Juan Urbieta’s Mexico upbringing notwithstanding, he chose to devote his career to the cuisine of a very different part of the world. But Urbieta sees some parallels. “They’re very similar,” he says of Mexico and Italy. “Both very seasonal, very local.” His culinary training sent him to Italy, specifically the city of Imola near Bologna, in the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. This area is known for its fresh egg pasta and things like tortellini and lasagna.

Monday was Urbieta’s day off from work and he and some buddies would make the drive to a little osteria in a small town. There, a mother and her son were the only employees. The mom was the cook, the son was the server. “I remember the mother rolling out the pasta. Rosa was her name. They had no menu. He would rattle off six to seven homemade pasta.” Other than that, they served two beverages – bottled water and homemade wine, not bottled. The pasta recipe here is in the tradition of Emilia-Romagna, where the pasta would be filled with a mix of ground chicken and pork. It’s topped with brown butter perfumed with sage and a bit of grated Parmigiano. “This is comfort food,” he says simply.

Ingredients

Serves 4 (12 cappelletti per person)

For the pasta

4 whole eggs

3/4 cup finely milled semolina flour

2 cups 00 flour (finely grated Italian flour)

For the filling

1/3 cup tightly packed ground chicken

1/3 cup tightly packed ground pork

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup and 3 tablespoons Pecorino Romano cheese

1 cup and 3 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1/2 cup tightly packed ricotta cheese

1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Instructions

Combine the ingredients for the pasta dough in a bowl. Once the dough has formed, transfer it to a lightly floured countertop and knead until smooth, about seven to 10 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for at least 30 minutes.

In a skillet, heat half of the oil and sauté the ground pork until well-cooked, about eight minutes. Remove the pork into a bowl, add the remaining olive oil and repeat the process with the ground chicken. When fully cooked, combine with the pork and allow the meats to cool completely to room temperature.

Add the cheeses in with the ground pork and chicken. Combine well to create the filling and season with salt and pepper to taste. To give the filling a smooth texture, lightly pulse it in a food processor in small batches.

To create the ravioli, stretch the dough very thin with the help of a rolling pin on a table lightly dusted with flour. Cut the pasta dough into 2-inch-by-2-inch squares. Place small knobs of filling in each and fold one corner into the opposite corner, pressing the tips together. Then press the two open ends together and fold these two tips behind the pasta pillows, overlapping each other and pressing them together again to form a “little hat,” or cappelletti in Italian. Repeat this process with all the pasta squares.

To cook the pasta, fill a pot with water and place it on the stovetop. Bring to a boil, adding salt to taste. Gently place the filled pasta into the boiling water. When the pasta edges are just tender, remove the pasta from the water and place it on a serving plate. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the sage leaves until hot and spoon it over the pasta. Grate Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to taste.

For yet another traditional, easy-to-make and tasty filling for this pasta, purée 250 grams of mortadella in the food processor with 50 grams of heavy cream and 25 grams of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to a smooth paste.

Bio

Juan Urbieta serves as executive chef of Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993, the flagship restaurant in The Bartolotta Restaurant's portfolio. For more than 20 years, Urbieta has been a key driver in the company’s success, securing multiple awards for Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993, including DiRoNA (Distinguished Restaurants of North America) honors, Wine Spectator’s “Award of Excellence” (annually since 2003), and a “25 Best Italian Restaurants in America” ranking by Thrillist, while maintaining an exemplary level of quality that defines The Bartolotta Restaurants. In 2020, Urbieta launched the “Un Viaggio in Italia” (“Tour of Italy”) series that takes guests on a culinary tour of Italy with a new menu introduced about every four weeks.

Juan Urbieta

Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993

Juan Urbieta

Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993

About Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993

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