The pumpkin Tortelli alla Mantovana are spectacular, a traditional peasant dish which with its unmistakable sweet and sour flavor has now become a classic with which to celebrate important occasions. Homemade with a good pumpkin and expertly balancing the sweet and sour, they offer great flavours.
Ingredients (filling for 4 people):
- 700 grams of pumpkin (possibly Chioggia marine variety);
- 2 tablespoons of Cremona mustard and a chopped apple or pear;
- 2 “amaretti” biscuits;
- 70 grams of parmesan;
- salt, pepper and nutmeg;
- 4 slices of bread;
- 1 shallot (optional);
The first major controversy over pumpkin tortelli concerns how to cook the pumpkin. Most people, including many people from Mantua, cook it in the oven. They cut it into pieces (including the peel), and place it on a baking tray covered with foil. The pumpkin is ready when you can sink a fork into the pulp. This cooking method has the advantage of giving us a dry pulp.
Instead, we prefer to cut the pumpkin into pieces (without the peel) and cook it in a pan with sautéed shallots and pepper. Once cooked (about 30 minutes) we blend it, adding salt, nutmeg, slices of bread, grated parmesan, Cremona mustard with chopped fruit.
Let the filling rest in the fridge for a couple of hours before using it.
These are our doses but in Mantua the “filling” is flavored in the sense that each house makes it differently. More parmesan, more mustard, more amaretto etc.
As for the pasta, use our foolproof recipe (click here).
For seasoning, in Mantua and its surroundings there are three methods:
In the city: butter and sage plus parmesan (our favorite);
In the province: simple tomato and parmesan
Also in the province: tomato with bacon or sausage
