The masterpiece of the local culinary tradition is the Tortellini di Valeggio, in dialect “agnolin”.
Handmade one by one, with a thin puff of pasta and a delicate filling of meat, they are the dish that cannot be missing on the table of the feasts or anniversaries of the Valeggiani. You can enjoy dry with butter and sage or in broth.
The recipe and origins of this dish are connected with the stories and fairy tales handed down from one generation to the next in the intimacy of the houses.
In particular, the story is linked to a legend set at the end of the 1300s in which the origin of this authentic gem of local cuisine is traced back: legend tells the story of two lovers, the nymph Silvia and Captain Malco who left on the banks of the River Mincio a yellow silk drape annotated as a pledge of their contrasting love.
And it is precisely this story that inspires the most famous and fortunate denomination of tortellino di Valeggio, which thanks to the intuition and perseverance of the Association of Local Restaurateurs today known and conquered the most refined palates throughout Europe and in part of the world as “The Knot of Love”.
The classic recipe for 4 people
- pasta puff pastry: 1/2 kg of flour 00
- 5 whole eggs + 1 yolk
- salt qb
- meat filling: 150 g overcooked beef, 50 g pork, 50 g veal pulp, 25 g chicken durelli
- 1 egg
- sage, nutmeg, butter
Procedure
Cook the beef, pork and veal and livers separately with onion beat, carrots and celery and a bunch of herbs in butter, spraying them with white wine. Grind everything, let cool and add a beaten egg to keep with a pinch of nutmeg.
Spread the puff pastry of very thin dough, obtained by kneading eggs and flour and cut it into squares. In the center of each of these arrange a teaspoon of meat filling, close them giving them the characteristic shape of the tortellino, first folding them in half and then joining the opposite flaps.
Let them air dry and cook them in boiling broth for a couple of minutes. At the end of cooking them with melted butter and sage leaves.
