Chef Simona Di Marco‘s recipe
Oasis Beach Restaurant
Marina di Ravenna
Ingredients for 3 people
- 300g flour
- 3 eggs
- Parmesan cheese and squacquerone cheese
- nutmeg
- vegetable stock
Chef Simona is a vegan and her choice, in ethical terms, is to put it into practice and promote it.
Perhaps this is also why, as a tribute to her twin passions, she has had the tastiest produce of the earth tattooed on her arms: tomatoes, courgettes, onions and aubergines.
For the clients of her restaurant, the “Oasi Beach” in Marina di Ravenna, however, this does not preclude cooking the gamut of dishes and, above all, serving the traditional specialities with respect and feeling.
Typical fare on her menu are cappelletti, with a filling that, she is keen to underline, is “exclusively made of cheese” (once Fossa, today Parmesan and, if you wish, with a dollop of squacquerone cheese) simmered in vegetable broth.
Meat cappelletti, on the other hand, would require a broth “rigorously” made of capon boiled on the stove for at least 4 hours. “Without genuine stock – says chef Simona – the Romagna DOC wine won’t even sit at table”.
To prepare the dough, the eggs are proudly those of the local hens and the quantity of flour per egg is measured by hand: as much flour a fist can hold. Starting from the centre, the flour is mixed in with the eggs by squeezing it through the fingertips.
Once the dough has taken shape, it is put to rest for half an hour, so that the gluten it contains can thoroughly expand.
To roll out the dough in the best way, the chef selects the right rolling pin (or “e sciadur” in dialect) and, once it has been rolled out, she prefers using the tip of a knife to cut the squares on which she will place the rich filling prepared separately with Parmesan, 20% squacquerone cheese, a pinch of nutmeg, pepper and an egg to bind everything well.
To obtain the classic cappelletto shape, the square piece of dough is folded into a triangle, sealed along the sides to contain the filling and, turning the tips of the long side inward, it is closed in a ring, taking care to hold the edge together (like the brim of a hat, precisely).
At this point the cappelletti are ready to cook in stock for 4 or 5 minutes. As an alternative condiment, for those who prefer them dry, Simona proposes an Adriatic fish sauce based on cuttlefish, anchovies, mullet, mussels, piers with yellow date tomatoes.
The right portion for a plate of cappelletti is 18/20 pieces, “if anything two more, but never two less!” is the chef’s advice.
