On Friday I made tortellini alla panna, and a huge portion at that: three packs of fresh tortellini at 400 g each. They turned out really well. I worked out the recipe beforehand with ChatGPT. The goal: no processed cheese and no wine, but still plenty of cheese flavour. Here that comes from Parmesan, Emmental and a small piece of Gorgonzola.
Ingredients
I really did cook 1.2 kg, but for mere mortals the quantities here are for one pack of 400 g fresh tortellini:
- about 130 g cooked ham
- about 200 ml cream
- 50 g Parmesan or Grana Padano, grated
- 40–50 g Emmental (or Fontina instead)
- 10–15 g Gorgonzola (you can do without it if need be)
- 1 clove of garlic (important in my opinion, but that’s a matter of taste, of course)
- a little butter
- pepper, nutmeg, salt only if needed
The Gorgonzola is only there to add depth, not to turn everything into a Gorgonzola sauce. So better start with 10 g, taste and then add more.
Method
Dice the ham or cut it into strips, chop the Emmental into small pieces, finely chop the garlic.
Heat a little butter in a large pot and briefly fry the ham.
Add the garlic and fry it for only about 30 seconds; it must not brown.
Pour in the cream and let it get hot, but don’t let it boil wildly.
Melt the Emmental and Gorgonzola in it over low heat.
Meanwhile, cook the tortellini according to the packet (3 minutes for mine) and keep some of the cooking water.
Take the sauce off the high heat and stir in the Parmesan bit by bit. Season with plenty of pepper and a little nutmeg.
Drain the tortellini and fold them straight into the sauce. If it’s too thick, add cooking water a splash at a time.
Let it stand for two to three minutes, only then taste and add salt if needed. Ham and Parmesan already bring plenty of salt. I didn’t add any extra salt at all.
The sauce may look a bit too thin before mixing. Parmesan and tortellini thicken it considerably afterwards. If it does end up too thin, don’t thicken it with flour, just add a bit more Parmesan.