Tortellini in chicken and Champagne broth

Tortellini in Chicken and Champagne Broth: I made this tortellini soup for Gourmet Gabrielle and her lovely family as we celebrated Christmas, while living in Formia, Italy.
If you know how difficult it is to please Italians when serving them food, then you will understand my delight as they finished it all off.

Tortellini is traditionally served in a light broth of either fish, chicken or vegetable. We make a lot of tortellini here at The Big Dream Factory and often we are asked to fill them with your chosen flavour. Rule of thumb for serving your tortellini in a broth is just to make the broth match the flavour of your tortellini.

Tortellini in chicken and Champagne broth – serves 4 – 6

  • 2 tablespoons of fat and ‘fond’ from cooking chicken (yes folks, if there is some left over after making your gravy, pop it in a pot and keep for occasions just like these)
  • 2/3rds bottle of Champagne or any other sparkly as long as it’s dry
  • 50 grams (2 oz) salted butter
  • 1.5 – 2 litres (6 – 8 cups) water
  • 1 chicken stock
  • salt to season
  • 2 tablespoons cream
  • 400 grams (12 oz) Parma ham and Parmesan cheese tortellini
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • Black truffle pepper
champagne soup
Black truffle pepper started out as a shriveled black truffle that we were given wrapped in kitchen paper, was placed a very safe place and promptly forgotten about.  It had dried to the size of a nutmeg so we got my handy nutmeg grater and grated the dried offering into what looked to us like pepper. “Voila!’ Black truffle pepper was born and if anyone bottles it, let me know because we think we invented it!
 
inside a black truffle
  1. Add the chicken fat and fond to a large saucepan with the Champagne
  2. Bring everything to a boil then reduce the heat and allow everything to simmer until the liquid has reduced by 2/3rds.  I know this seems a lot, but it will enrich the flavour of your stock if you are patient.
  3. Add the butter, water and cream and bring everything back to a boil
  4. Check the seasoning before adding the tortellini.  On my packets of tortellini it asked for 4 minutes of cooking time.
  5. Add the tortellini and cook until al-dente
  6. Pour into your serving dish and top with the fresh parsley and truffle pepper
  7. Serve with extra grated Parmesan cheese or Pecorino and some fresh, crusty bread
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