Stuffed Pasta Parcel Dishes

Stuffed pasta dishes are traditional first courses for celebrations in Italy: these include meatless versions for the Christmas Eve dinner and rich, meaty versions for Christmas day.

In Lombardy, around the Bergamo and Brescia area, casoncelli (casoncei) are eaten. These are pasta sheets cut up into small, half-moon shaped parcels which are filled with meat and salami paste and cooked in capon broth. In the Mantua and Cremona area there are the pumpkin tortelli pasta parcels, which are dressed with melted butter, sage and grated parmesan cheese. As far as Milan is concerned a stuffed pasta cooked in broth is called for; but this is a tradition loaned to it by the nearby towns.

Cappelletti (literally 'little hats') are eaten in the regions of Romagna, Tuscany, the Marches and Umbria. This dish differs slightly from region to region, even though it has the same name. In Umbria, for example, the filling is made of capon and pigeon meat, whilst in Romagna there are two versions, a poor one (or "di magro" - without meat) filled with ricotta cheese and another soft cheese (the "bazzotto") and a meaty one, always served with hen or capon broth, and a small amount of lean beef.

In Bologna there are small tortellini, which look like little navels! It is said that when a native of Bologna begins eating a dish of tortellini in brodo he doesn't say another word until he has finished.

In Piedmont agnolotti al plin are eaten. These are pasta parcels filled with roast meat and served with butter and grated parmesan cheese, or juices from the roast meat. The "plin" in the name is the 'pinch' used to seal the agnolotto. The piece of cut, filled and folded pasta sheet, appropriately cut to size and filled, is pinched between the first finger, thumb and second finger. It is also traditional to serve the agnolotti without any dressing or sauce on a plain white table napkin or 'drowned' in a dish of red wine.

In Genoa they prepare ravioli filled with a mixture of veal meat, sweetbreads, egg, herbs, bread crumbs and grated parmesan cheese. In Sardinia, there are culigones de casu, which are a type of ravioli filled with fresh pecorino cheese (a type of sheep's milk cheese), Swiss chard, grated nutmeg and saffron, dressed with a tomato sauce and sprinkled with grated pecorino cheese.

Finally, in Calabria, pasta china is served. This consists of lasagne pasta sheets, or large macaroni-type pasta, filled with a mixture of little veal meat balls, spicy salami, and mild provola, caciocavallo and pecorino cheeses. The dish is cooked in the oven.