Tortellini with ham and cream

To prepare the tortellini with ham and cream, start with fresh egg pasta: place the flour 1 on a work surface and create a mound with a well in the center. Pour the eggs into the well. Break them with a fork, picking up the flour around them gradually 2 until they are absorbed. Knead the mixture with your hands until the dough is soft and smooth 3, then cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 30 minutes in a cool place.

In the meantime prepare the meat filling: cut the veal 4 and the pork loin into coarse pieces and set them aside then repeat with the prosciutto 5 and mortadella 6.

Melt the butter in a large pan then add both the pork loin and the veal chunks 7: brown for about 10 minutes or until the meat has released its juices. Let it cool. In a food processor add the prosciutto crudo mortadella and browned meat now at room temperature 8. Blend until you obtain a homogeneous mixture then add the Parmesan cheese 9,

nutmeg pepper to taste and the egg 10. Run the food processor again to mix all the ingredients 11. Add salt if necessary (both the ham and Parmesan cheese are quite salty), transfer the mixture to a bowl and let it cool completely. At this point take the fresh pasta and roll it out with a rolling pin (or a pasta machine) 12. You will need to make a thin sheet trying to preserve the moisture (do not overdo it when dusting with flour to roll it out it more easily). According to traditional rules the sheet should be about 0.6 mm thick (slightly less than half the thickness of a dime).

Using a smooth pastry cutter, remove the irregular edges (keep the scraps in plastic wrap film to usue later) and cut out squares measuring 1.6 inches (4 cm) per side 13. In the middle of each square of pasta, lay about .07 oz (2 g) of filling, now cold 14. Now you can start making tortellini pasta: take a square and fold it into a triangle, matching up the edges without pressing too hard (if the dough has dried slightly, lightly brush the edges with a little water) 15.

Pinch the two corners at the base of each tortellino 16 with your thumb and index finger and twist the edges around your index finger 17 exerting light pressure with your your thumb 18. Gently pull the tortellino off your finger and continue in the same way for all the others. Place the finished tortellini on a lightly floured cloth as you go. Let the tortellini pasta rest in a cool place.

Now it's time to prepare the sauce: first, slice the ham into strips, then into cubes 19. Melt the butter in a very large pan 20 and brown the ham for a few seconds 21.

Pour in the cream and mix it all together 22. Sprinkle with nutmeg 23 and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook the tortellini pasta in a large pot with plenty of water salted to taste 24.

When they are cooked, drain 25 and transfer them to the pan with the sauce 6. Stir briefly over low heat then serve the tortellini with ham and cream sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese if you like 27!