Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo)

Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes

Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo)

In my opinion this recipe is the work of a genius! There’s nothing that could give you a better example of how Italians can reinterpret recipes, just changing the method you process the ingredients rather than changing the ingredients. A while ago I published a great recipe called “zuppa pavese”, whose bulk ingredients were bread, egg and Parmesan cheese. Pavese comes from Pavia, a beautiful city south of Milan. Now, just move 300 km East, in the Romagna region of Italy, and you have the same bulk ingredients, processed in a different way, to make this wonderful dish called “passatelli”. Passatelli (plural word) means literally “to pass them through”, which recalls the act of making them using a kind of potato press specifically designed for passatelli. Passatelli are usually eaten “in brodo” (with stock), but can also be eaten dry, topped with a “ragu’ di carne” (meat sauce) or “ragu’ di pesce” (a sauce made with fish). The recipe belongs to the “cucina povera” (the cooking of the poor people), when people used to make ends meet with what they have got and where inventiveness played a big role to make the dishes more attractive. I got the recipe during a recent trip to Italy, in Romagna, where I also managed to speak with the locals and understands the variation on the theme you may find from family to family.
Note: when in Italy, I have found out that some people, especially restaurants, add some flour to keep the passatelli mixture together. Purists told me that adding flour is a short-cut for those who cannot make passatelli or for restaurants that cannot afford having problem with the mixture, just minutes before the service. 
5 from 2 votes
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 2 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4
Calories 650 kcal
Italian Apron
Serving bottles
Classic Italian Cooking

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Ingredients
 

  • 200 grams (7 oz) Breadcrumbs (from stale bread) Breadcrumbs should be made using stale bread that has become hard enough to be grated. Use bread that has been made without the adding of olive oil, otherwise you will end up with baby food once the passatelli are put into the boiling stock.
  • 200 grams (7 oz) Grated Parmesan cheese
  • 4 Eggs
  • 1 tsp Nutmeg
  • Lemon zest from a 1/4 of the lemon
  • Salt and pepper to season
  • Approx 3 litres of chicken stock

Instructions

  • First, reduce the bread in fine breadcrumbs and grate the Parmesan cheese.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Break the eggs into a large bowl.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Season with salt.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Season with pepper.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Whisk the eggs for few seconds and set the bowl apart.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Then, take a second bowl and add the breadcrumbs into it.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Add the nutmeg.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Stir to evenly distribute the nutmeg.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Add the Parmesan cheese.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Add the lemon zest.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Stir to evenly combine all the ingredients. I will call this mixture “dry mix”.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Gradually, add the dry mix to the eggs. Stir with a wooden spoon while doing so.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Once all the eggs have been absorbed into the dry mix, start working the mixture with your hands.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • It’s a bit like working a pasta dough with your hands. Work the dough for few minutes, until you think all the ingredients are well combined.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • The final result should be a compact ball, slightly harder than a pasta dough.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Wrap the ball with cling film. This will help to retain the moisture, while you are getting ready for the next stages. 
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Don’t put the ball in the fridge; just leave it in a cool place for the time necessary to get ready with the tool to make the passatelli and also to prepare the stock in which you will cook them.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • This is the tool you need. It’s a kind of potato press, but with wider holes approx 5 mm (3/16") in diameter. In Romagna region of Italy, locals use a different  traditional tool called “ferro per passatelli” that does the same job. Now, there are two schools of thought: one that says to make the passatelli and let them dry onto a working surface before throwing them into the boiling stock and one that says to press the passatelli directly over the boiling stock and let them fall straight into the boiling stock. I will describe both.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Unwrap the ball, and make a couple of smaller balls with it, so that they can easily fit inside the tool for passatelli.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Press all the balls through the tool and cut the passatelli when they are about 4 cm (1 3/4") long.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Gently, separate them over a working surface so that they dry evenly and let them dry for an hour or two depending on the ambient temperature. I found it useful to dry them onto a parchment paper, so that when it is time to put them into the pan, I let them slide directly from the paper.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Meanwhile, you should have prepared your chicken stock. Besides this, I also prepared a ragu’ di carne, to show the dry version of this dish.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Bring the stock to a gentle boil, put the dried passatelli into the pan and then lower the heat to a simmerring point. The passatelli will be ready when they are all afloat. Leave them into the pan for an extra minute and then take them out with a slotted spoon.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Serve the passatelli in a bowl filled with the same stock you used to cook the passatelli.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • These are the passatelli in their dry version, topped with a ragu’ di carne.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
  • Here, the picture shows the second method of making passastelli. Press them through, directly over the pan and when they are about 4 cm (1 3/4") long, cut them with a knife. I have found this method less forgiving because if you don’t get the right consistency of the ball mixture, the risk is that they will break once in contact with the boiling stock (this is why some people add flour into the mixture). For this method, you may have to try it few times before you nail it.
    Passatelli in broth (Passatelli in brodo) | Special Recipes
Italian Apron
Serving bottles
Classic Italian Cooking

Nutrition

Calories: 650kcal
Keyword Specials
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Published
Categorised as Specials

By Federico

Federico Pezzaioli is an ex-badass Italian Paratrooper on a mission - to make creating delicious authentic Italian food really easy. He researches, writes and photographs each recipe with the same attention to detail he used to apply to packing his parachute.

2 comments

  1. 5 stars
    Why is it so hard to squeeze my dough through the ricer? I do same amounts of bread crumbs and grated Parmesan, like your recipe. Maybe one more egg than you say. And my Ma and Nonni would use some oil. When I squeeze through ricer, it is so difficult it kills my hands and arms. What am I doing wrong?
    Please help! They taste delicious but I don’t look forward to make them because of that.

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