Vegetarian tortellini in peel broth

“Everything broth” (brodo di tutto) is Massimo Bottura’s invention to dignify vegetable scraps and peels, extracting a broth with complex and dense flavors. In my version, the skins of pumpkin, carrots, the outer leaves of cabbage and onion served as the base, to accommodate vegetarian tortelli di magro, stuffed with pumpkin, potatoes, wild garlic and Parmigiano Reggiano. I also reduced cooking time in the oven, baking the peels for 10, maximum 15 minutes: check while cooking to prevent burning.

The recipe can also be declined into a vegan version, removing the Parmigiano Reggiano from the filling and using, instead of egg dough, a pastry made of remilled durum wheat semolina and water (200 g semolina, 100 g water).

The peel broth can be made with different vegetable peels, according to seasonality.
Try the version you prefer.
Wild garlic can be substituted with other herbs such as parsley and thyme.
To make the broth more flavorful, you can also use dried mushrooms.

Ingredients for 3 persons

200 g mixed vegetable peels (pumpkin, cabbage, onion, carrot)
200 g all purpose flour
2 eggs
200 g boiled pumpkin
1 boiled potato
15 blanched wild garlic leaves
100 g grated Parmesan cheese
salt
pepper

Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Let’s cook!

Place the peels on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake them for 20 minutes in a 200-degree oven: this will concentrate their flavor.

Then simmer them for a couple of hours in a pot filled 3/4 full of water. Salt when cooked through.

Mash the squash and potato in a potato masher, mince the wild garlic (or parsley) and mix them together with the Parmigiano cheese. Adjust for salt and pepper.

Prepare the fresh pasta with 200 g of flour with 2 eggs. Knead the mixture until you have a ball with a smooth and elastic consistency. Let it rest for 30 minutes. Roll the mass into sheets 1 mm high and divide them into 4.5×4.5 cm squares. Stuff them with a walnut filling in the center, fold the square in half, making a triangle, and press down with your fingers all around the filling to remove any remaining air. Overlap the two edges to form the tortellini.

Continue until all the dough is used up (the filling I had left over I mixed later with 2 eggs and made an omelet). Cook the tortellini in the broth and serve with a generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

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