Ham Hock Tortellini

This is a pretty easy way to make a filled pasta, kind of like a ravioli but a bit bigger, you could use them as a starter or, as in this case, with a soup.

Start by making up your pasta dough as per my previous recipe, I've used 100g flour which will make about 12 of these tortellini.

For the filling I've used here take 1 ham hock, place it in a deep pan, cover with water and bring this to the boil for about 3-4 minutes. Drain off the water, cover with fresh cold water and drain again. Then cover with water again, this time add a couple of bay leaves, 10 black peppercorns and a couple of cloves, cover and simmer on a low heat for 3 hours, making sure the pan doesn't dry out and skimming off any 'scum' that settles on the top (mmmm......ham scum).

After 3 hours you can remove the hock from the water and the meat will just fall off the bone. Chop this finely and then mix with a chicken mousse (this is simply a raw, minced chick breast mixed with 75ml whipped cream. whipped until stiff). Season the mixture and that's your stuffing done.

To make the tortellini you need to roll the pasta dough to the thinnest setting (too thick and they just become stodgy). Cut out discs using a 3 inch pastry cutter. Place a teaspoon of the stuffing mixture just below the centre of the pasta disc then it's origami time!

1. Brush the edge of the disc with water or beaten egg white.
2. Fold the disc in half so you have a semi circle with a 'bulge' of stuffing in the middle, leave a clear edge of about 4mm around the stuffing and press down to seal.
3. Place the little finger of your left hand on the 'stuffing bulge' the bring the two edges of the long side of the semi-circle together, the nail of your little finger should now be resting on the stuffing bulge while the two corners of the semi circle are on the pad of your little finger. Squeeze this together to seal.


That's basically it! Very difficult to explain but hopefully my creative use of phrases such as "stuffing bulge" combined with the photo at the top of the page will give you an idea!

To cook them, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta for about 4 minutes. It's best to do a tester first, we're dealing with raw chicken here you don't want to take any chances!