BIRTHDAYS

ARE ALWAYS festive occasions and it is such a pleasure to celebrate someone's life with friends and good food. My sister Monica celebrated such a birthday a few weeks so it was only fitting that I should cook an extravaganza for her, my other sister and her closest friends. We had a jolly old time. 

I am still amazed that I am capable of pulling off a sit-down dinner for eight in my tiny apartment, but I did. Of course, serving a 5-course meal requires time and planning: cooking stock, pâté, hors d'oeuvres and desserts days in advance always helps and, I was indeed cooking and cleaning all week. Here's what we had!

Chicken Liver Pâtè

Goat Cheese wrapped in Seaweed

Caponata

Olives

Prosecco

Vichyssoise

Chardonnay, Louis Latour

***

Lasagna with Eggplant, Veal and Four Cheeses

Jeff Carrell 2014

***

Watermelon and Lime Ice with Bombay Sapphire

***

Navarin d'Agneau made in the style of Beouf Bourguignon

Pommes Dauphinoise with Roasted Whole Plum Tomatoes

Gaia Barbaresco 2011

***

Ricotta Torte with Lemon and Almonds

Apricot Tart

Potato Chip Cookies

Brownies

Truffles

Caffè

Now, to write it all down!

VICHYSSOISE

Vichyssoise is the most classic of soups. It is relatively simple to make if you are well versed in stocks and have the fortitude and patience to keep it in the fridge untouched until ready to serve because once seasoned and chilled it is unbelievably delicious; it can also be extremely rich if eaten in large quantities. 

Start with a rich chicken stock made from the carcass of a roasted chicken: boiled, skimmed and then simmered in a large pot of water. After skimming the stock, add one whole leek, one large unpeeled onion, 2 stalks of celery, 3 medium sized carrots and bring back to the boil. Immediately turn the heat down to the lowest setting, add a bouquet garni made of parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, a bay leaf and a few black peppercorns wrapped in cheesecloth or ensased in the hard green leaves of a large leek and tied with string. Simmer for 3 hours covered. After the stock is a rich, deep color, let it cool, uncovered and then degrease and strain through a china cap strainer lined in cheesecloth or paper towels and discard the vegetables. You will need 3 quarts of stock for this recipe.

4 tbl. butter

2 tbl. EVOO

2 whole leeks

1 small white onion or 4 shallots (optional)

5 potatoes, peeled and then cut into 1/2 inch dice

1/2 quart milk

1/2 quart heavy cream

nutmeg

salt and white pepper

chopped chives 

Clean the leeks thoroughly until there is absolutely no sand of any kind left in the leaves. Chop off a good 3 inches of the green leaves and reserve for another use (bouquet garni comes to mind here). Chop the leeks and onions and sauté in the butter and EVOO over moderate heat until they soften but do not brown. Add the stock and the potatoes and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and add the milk, bring to a boil again and then simmer. When the potatoes are completely cooked (after 20 minutes or so), continue to cook for another 15 or 20 minutes to let the soup amass the flavors of the leeks and potatoes. Turn off the heat and allow to cool for about 15-20 minutes. At this point you can either use a hand emulsion blender or a food processor blend all of the ingredients. At this point, the soup should be a somewhat thick purée. Allow to cool further and strain again through a sieve or china cap strainer to weed out any hard pieces of leek that may remain. Season with the nutmeg, salt and white pepper (chilled soups require over-salting so be careful not to salt too much until the soup is completely chilled and the rest of the cream has been added). Add half of the cream and chill. Allow to chill at least 12 hours, add the rest of the cream and season to taste. Chill another 8-10 hours before serving with a garnish of chopped chives.

I've written about lasagna several times in these pages so the recipes can be found if you search "Lasagna"

WATERMELON ICE

2 cups chopped watermelon

3 limes

1/2 cup sugar syrup (1/2 cup water, 4tbls. sugar brought to the boil until sugar dissolves)

1 small airplane-sized bottle of Bombay Sapphire

Place all ingredients in the blender and blend to a smooth consistency. Let cool and place in the refrigerator to chill (at least 8 hours but preferably overnight). Place in the frozen element of an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions on making gelato or granite. Keep in freezer until ready to serve and scoop out very small portions on chilled glass plates or in sherry glasses to cleanse the palette.

NAVARIN D'AGNEAU

This is a variation on Beuof Bouguignon found in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The simple substitution of lamb for beef transforms this dish into a gamey dish of great succulence and flavor.

6 oz. slab bacon cut into lardon pieces

3 pounds lean lamb cut into 1 inch pieces

3 tbl. flour

1 onion, finely chopped

1 lb. carrots cut into large julienne

2 qts. beef or lamb stock

1/2 bottle rich red wine (Burgundy, Côte du Rhone, or a very good Chianti will do)

4 tb. unsalted butter 

18-24 pearl white onions peeled

3 tb. unsalted butter

1 tb. EVOO

1 lb. slices mushrooms 

salt and pepper

a couple of scrapes of nutmeg

white wine

Madeira or Port or any other sweet wine such as Sherry or Marsala

In a large casserole dish, melt some butter with the lardon and cook until the lardon has rendered most of its fat and begins to turn a deep brownish red. Remove lardon, add some olive oil and sauté the pieces of lamb (do not overcrowd the pan or the lamb won't cook evenly). When all the lamb pieces are browned on all sides add all of it to the pot and sprinkle the flour over the pieces and let the lamb acquire a glaze. This will allow the sauce to thicken once you've added the liquid. Add the carrots and the onion and saute momentarily with the lamb. Add the stock and then the wine and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer over the stove covered or place in a 375º oven (preferred) for 2-2½ hours. Once the lamb is cooked, take out of the oven and let it rest with the top slightly ajar. (Up to this point, you can make this at least 24 hours beforehand and refrigerate and reheat when it is time to serve.)

While the lamb is cooking in the oven (or reheating), prepare the onions by using a small paring knife and cut off a thin slice of the root and cut a criss-cross at the other end of each onion. Place the onions in a small pot of boiling water for about 10 seconds and drain. The thin skins should slide right off and you will retain a whole onion for cooking. In a rather large sauté pan, sauté the onions over moderately high heat. Season with salt and pepper. You must be on the lookout here because you want to make sure the onions brown on all sides so you need to shake the pan and roll the onions round and round to brown them evenly. This should take about 20 minutes or so; they should take on the color of deep amber. Splash a little white wine on the onions and allow to cook for a few minutes more. Never one to shy away from the gilded lily, I add some cream at the end to thicken the butter sauce just before adding the onions to the lamb.

After you've cooked the onions, melt the butter and oil in a deep pan. Add the sliced mushrooms, salt and pepper and nutmeg. Cook covered over moderate heat for about 5 minutes. Uncover and stir. There should be quite a lot of juice from the mushrooms which you will need to let reduce. Turn the heat up higher and allow to reduce to about 2 tbs. of liquid in the pan. Splash with a good dose of white wine and cook until the wine is completely reduced. Add the Medeira and cook until that has been reduced to a thick syrup. Take off the heat.

Just before serving, add the onions and mushrooms to the lamb and serve garnished with parsley.

POMMES DAUPHINOISE WITH ROASTED TOMATOES

This isn't exactly a traditional way to make potatoes in the dauphinoise manner but the experiment paid off. Truly! I decided to layer roasted tomatoes in between thin slices of potatoes covered in a good dousing of heavy cream diluted with a little milk. 

Butter to grease an oven proof dish

1 clove garlic smashed 

4 Potatoes, peeled and sliced very thinly on a mandolin

1/2 dozen roasted tomatoes cut in half 

  (see blog entry dated February 4, 2016)

1 pint heavy cream

1/4 cup full milk

Butter to dot the layers of potatoes

Salt and pepper

Rub the garlic all over the baking dish. Grease the dish with butter and start layering potatoes. Dot the potatoes with little pieces of butter and season with salt and pepper. Add layer of potato and continue alternating with each layer and finish with a layer of potato. Dot the top as befoe with a little butter and drizzle all of the milk and cream all over the sides and top. 

Place the dish in a 375º preheated oven and bake until the cream thickens and bubbles into a rich custard. Take out of oven to settle and serve.

The desserts can be found in other entries by doing a simple search in this blog. 

Afterwards, we went for a stroll on the Sun Terrace of my building where we were treated to a fabulous view of the New York Skyline at night!

The next evening we dined at Gramercy Tavern and enjoyed a lavish 6-course Chef's Tasting Menu. They topped it all off with their own personal birthday greetings!

COME TO MY SHOW!!! ENTERTAINING III

HERE IS PART OF THE REASON WHY I haven't been writing so much lately . . . 

ENTERTAINING II: EASTER FEAST!

II TOOK ME FOREVER to write this - I am busy practicing after all, but here it is, finally, Part II!

EASTER CAME VERY EARLY this year and I wasn't sure that I'd be able to give two dinner parties back to back but it all turned out rather well. Considering that Easter is the most important event in the liturgical year, impromptu this dinner certainly wasn't. In fact, plans were in the works for at least a year since friends from Berlin were coming to dinner.

As you can tell from the photograph above, all the silverware means only one thing: many courses! Five in all if you include the Grapefruit-Lime Granita to cleanse the palette in between the pasta and the lamb. And, of course, like the dinner party the previous Monday, music, champagne and hors d'oeuvres preceded dinner.

People ask me "how do you do it - perform and cook a lavish meal all in one evening?" The answer is simple: planning, and a big oven and refrigerator! It isn't difficult practicing 6 hours a day and letting something simmer on the stove, or bake in the oven, days before the event. In other cases, as the previous Monday, everything was cooked well before any of the guests arrived.The most important motto for me, though, is make the appetizers and the desserts first! I usually do this at least a day beforehand. So, what did we eat?

We started nibbling on Balsamic Chicken Liver Mousse and Cheese to the music of Chopin, Schubert and Takemitsu! Talk about a change of pace!

Afterwards, we began to eat in earnest:

Liver Dumpling Soup

Veal and Spinach Lasagna with Saffron Pasta

Riesling

Grapefruit and Lime Granita

Roast stuffed and rolled Leg of Lamb

Lima Beans, Peas and Brussels Sprouts Poached 

in Lamb Broth

Stuffed Tomato

Sauteed Mushrooms

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano

Crème Caramel

Pavlova with Strawberries and Whipped Cream*

Dinner lasted 6 hours with a dog walking break in between and loads of gossip and laughter! 

So, you can probably guess that I made the liver mousse on Thursday as well as the meringue for the Pavlova (it needs to dry out in the open air after sitting in a warm oven with the door slightly ajar for at least 24 hours. I made the Crème Caramel on the Tuesday before Easter - the longer it sits in the fridge, the more the hardened caramel softens and is absorbed into the custard. By Sunday, what was a mold that adhered to the sides of the dish, now turned round and round swirling and swimming in caramel sauce.

Liver Dumpling Soup

Lasagna with Saffron Pasta

Saffron Pasta

Harry's Bar Dinner Rolls

* Recipes for the Pavolova can be seen in the following entry: 

http://paoloknows.blogspot.com/search?q=Pavlova

Crème Caramel

This recipe is for either a small or large custard depending on how many people you're going to serve. 

Caramel:

1 ¼ cups vanilla sugar

½ cup water

Custard:

2 fresh vanilla beans

3/4.5 cups whole milk

¾/1.25 cups vanilla sugar

3/5 whole eggs

6/9 egg yolks

PREHEAT OVEN TO 325 DEGREES

For the caramel:

Place sugar and water in a heavy saucepan.

Put on medium heat and simmer until it caramelizes, a dark amber color.  Too far and it will burn and taste bitter, so keep your eye on it! This takes time so prepare to wait....and wait....and wait. When sugar starts to crystallize do not stir and use a pastry brush dipped in water to push sugar crystals down from the sides of the pan.

Pour the caramel into the ramekin or baking pan (for one big creme caramel, I use a souffle dish) and let it cool overnight.  

For the custard:

Steep the vanilla and milk – put vanilla beans in milk and scald (170º), cover and let infuse for 10 -15 minutes.

Put all eggs into a large mixing bowl.  Once the milk is fully infused add the sugar and whisk vigorously. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the egg and sugar mixture while whisking. Be sure to scrape all the seeds in the pod into this mixture.

Pour the custard base into the mold.  Place in a water bath (boiling) in the oven and cook until set and a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, 1 – 1 ½ hours depending on size and heat of your oven.

Let cool completely and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. I usually let it sit in the fridge for 2 or 3 days so the caramel liquifies around the set custard. 

Place a plate over the dish, invert to unmold and serve.

Buon appetito!

ENTERTAINING I

THIS IS THE FIRST of two entries regarding my first forays in entertaining on a grand scale in my shoebox apartment. 

I've mentioned off and on that I am a pianist so this party of 8 (!) was, for lack of a better word, the litmus test to see if I could pull it all off. Playing for 80 minutes AND cooking a four-course dinner for 8 people can be daunting enough but this was meant to kill two birds with one stone, perhaps three actually. The first was to run through a dozen or so Chopin Nocturnes which I am preparing to record (all 19 of them actually) later this year. The second was to give a dear friend her belated leap year birthday party (sweet 16 as it were!) as well as reunite with the "black dog crew" from my old neighborhood. And finally, the last challenge was feeding people with dietary restrictions: no gluten, low carbs and almost no sugar and no meat (I gave it up for Lent anyway).  

In all humility, I must say that the evening proved to be a lot of fun in every way! Since it was Bach's birthday on the evening in question (I did say belated leap year), I started with the aria from the Italian Concerto and then worked my way through most of the Nocturnes. Afterwards, we began with a roasted bell pepper stuffed with tomato followed by a Sicilian Salt Cod stew with leeks, olives, potatoes, tomato and saffron cooked in a fish broth.

As if this weren't enough, we moved on to Caesar Salad (see blog entry dated January 12, 2014), followed by a Flourless Chocolate Ricotta Cake topped with mixed berries and whipped cream.

16 CANDLES!

All of this was accompanied by some pretty fabulous wines starting with Prosecco and moving on to a couple of delicious and hefty reds (see below).

 

It's pretty amazing when people arrive exactly on time (6:00) and don't leave until close to 11:00. Of course, we ate and laughed the evening away with my little Ludwig vying for everyone's attention and whatever wayward morsels from the table coming his way!

SALT COD STEW

Serves 8-10 people

Soak 2 pounds of salt cod in cold water for two days, changing the water as frequently as you can but at least 2 or 3 times. 

Rice Flour for dredging the fish

Sunflower or Canola Oil

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (as needed)

2 leeks

6 cloves garlic

1/2 cup white wine

1 cup fish stock

a pinch of saffron soaked in 1 tbs olive oil

1 can whole peeled tomatoes (crushed by hand in a bowl)

1 tsp fennel extract or 1/4 cup Pernod

1 tsp ground fennel seeds

4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into large dice

1/2 pound pitted black olives

salt and pepper to taste

chopped parsley

Cut the pieces of cod into plump, square serving pieces and dredge in the rice flour. You should have roughly a dozen pieces.

You will need a large enough pot to fit all of the ingredients once finished. I use a large and deep oval roasting pan.

Lightly sauté the cod in sunflower or canola oil, a few pieces at a time (don't crowd the pan). Reserve for later and clean out the pan. Return the pan to the stove and pour enough olive oil in the pan for even cooking. Add the leeks and the garlic and sauté until tender. Add the white wine and reduce by half. Add the fish stock and the saffron and bring to the boil. Reduce heat somewhat and add the tomatoes, the fennel seeds and the extract or Pernod and cook for about 15 minutes. Add potatoes and cook for another 10 minutes and add the fish. Make sure everything is coated with sauce and bring the mixture to the boil again and then reduce heat to a simmer and cover and cook for 30 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste, add chopped parsley and serve immediately.

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE RICOTTA TORTE

This cake is incredibly dense and packs a complete and total chocolate punch! Topped with berries and whipped cream or just dusted with cocoa powder or powdered sugar - any or all of these toppings make for a dramatic presentation.

Grease a 9 inch spring form pan with butter and dust with cocoa powder.

Heat the oven to 375º.

1 cup fresh Ricotta Cheese (I make my own - it's the best!)

4 eggs

1/2 cup powdered sugar

8 oz. finest quality bittersweet chocolate cut into pieces

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted) 

In a stand mixer, cream the cheese and sugar until blended and then add the eggs until the cheese is creamy. 

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate pieces and the butter until completely melted and smooth. Slowly whisk the sifted  cocoa powder into the melted chocolate until completely incorporated. 

Add the chocolate to the cheese mixture. Mix for about 20 seconds or until it is blended completely

Pour contents into baking pan and bake in the middle of the oven for 25-35 minutes or until the edges of the cake shrink from the pan. Test the cake with a toothpick for doneness. Don't worry if it comes out gooey in the center; the cake with set as it cools. 

Cool the cake for about 10 minutes in the pan and remove the spring form but keep the bottom of the pan under the cake and let cool on a rack or a plate.

Serve warm or cold. This cake will stay very fresh for 24 hours so if you're entertaining as I do, you can make it the day before with no worries of it getting dry. You can refrigerate it if you like but do not cover it in plastic wrap and let come to room temperature before serving.

Vi auguro e buon appetito!

Next up: Entertaining II: Easter!

NEW GADGETS

IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT PAST, I had a little lunch party for an old friend who, like me, moved away from the old neighborhood and returned to New York for a short visit. We were pals from the doggy trails in the environs of Grant's Tomb on Riverside Drive (where many a friendship is forged through the love of dogs) and I had promised to make her lunch and play some Chopin. She was accompanied by her sister, who happened to be visiting New York as well. So, our little trio had a great time chatting, laughing and talking about our lives over Fennel and Orange Salad, Split Pea Soup, Fried Eggplant and Roasted Pears with Yogurt and Raspberry Jam and Ricotta Gelato. Even Ludwig got to eat something special in his kibble: chicken livers! A few weeks later, a fancy card arrived from Sur La Table with a $50.00 gift card enclosed. They sent it in appreciation of the wonderful time we all had.  

I was happy enough when I found a Trudeau Salt Mill, and just as I was about to give up (I had only spent half of the amount on the card), I thought: Eureka! Let me ask: "Do you by chance happen to carry a Chitarra?" The sales person responded: "A what?" After describing what it was and what it did, they checked and lo and behold, there it was, right in fronT of our noses! So, thank you Kate and Melanie for your kind and thoughtful gifts!

CHITARRA WITH WIRES TO MAKE TAGLIATELLE

REVERSE: TAGLIOLINI

SALT MILL AND PINK HIMALAYAN SALT

The Chitarra is rather handsome, n'est çe pas? And the salt mill is gorgeous and works like a charm. I haven't used the chitarra yet, but rest assured, you'll be hearing all about it very soon!

LEFTOVERS AND NOT . . .

I WAS IN THE KITCHEN yesterday morning roasting tomatoes, a cauliflower and some eggplant and came upon some leftover chicken that I had cooked for Ludwig. You remember my dog, Ludwig, yes? I cook chicken for him and mix it with his kibble and you must also know by now that I share Ludwig with my sister, so he's uptown at the moment. The dilemma: what to do with the chicken he doesn't eat; it's only boiled of course and I suppose I could carry it uptown with him, but this time around, I didn't. So . . . I made chicken salad:

CHICKEN SALAD WITH ROASTED TOMATOES

Some leftover chicken (roughly 1+/- cup)

1/2 onion, chopped

2 stalks chopped celery

One chopped scallion (green part only) 

Salt and pepper

1 heaping tbs. mayonnaise

1 tsp. dry mustard

A couple of squirts of tabasco

Fresh tarragon but only a little

Finish with the juice of 1/2 a lime

Mix all ingredients together and taste for seasoning before adding the lime juice. You don't need a lot of salt if using mayo from a jar. 

ROASTED PLUM TOMATOES

Normally, I roast cherry tomatoes but I found some plum tomatoes that looked good, so I thought: "Why not?!"

Preheat oven to 400º.

Take 8-10 plum tomatoes and cut them from the stem to the bottom (the long way) into uniform slices. Line a large roasting sheet pan with parchment paper and place the tomato slices in rows in the pan (you can remove the seeds if you like but I don't). Sprinkle salt, pepper, some dried thyme and a few fennel seeds over the tomatoes. Generously drizzle some Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the tomatoes and place in the middle of the oven and roast for about 45 minutes. Start checking after 30 minutes to make sure they're roasting evenly (I turn the pan around after half an hour). Some cooks may like them roasted to the soft stage but I like them sort of caramely with crinkled skin (about 50-60 minutes in the oven). I don't mean to say that I like them burnt but just to the sticking point, when the sugar starts to dominate  the tomato. Thus is transformed a rather lackluster tomato into a thing of deliciousness.

Speaking of deliciousness, I make this pasta dish . . . 

SPAGHETTINI WITH ONIONS AND ROASTED TOMATOES

Of course, when there are roasted vegetables in the house (almost always), I sometimes get the "voglia" to eat spaghettini (thin spaghetti) with a simple dressing of olive oil, sauteed onions and garlic, some crushed red pepper flakes, parsley and Romano cheese. However, last night, with some pretty delicious tomatoes looking me in the face, I decided to add tomatoes into the equation. So, while listening to a DVD of TOSCA filmed with Domingo on location in Rome, I boiled some spaghettini (1/4 pound) and sauteed 1/2 an onion (sliced the long way) and two sliced cloves of garlic. After the onions became translucent and start to sizzle to the point that they look somewhat brucciate (burnt) at the edges, I added about 12 shakes of the pepper flake shaker and the tomatoes (4 or 5 slices is enough for one serving). By this time the spaghettini should be almost ready. When the pasta is al dente, add about 2 tbs. of the pasta cooking water to the oil and 4 tbs. finely chopped parsley. Drain the pasta and add it to the pan with the onions and tomatoes, toss, drizzle the juice of one lemon over the dish, toss again and serve immediately with Romano* cheese. 

Buon Appetito.

* I have made this dish without tomatoes many times and have added other ingredients which you can do as well. Pine nuts and raisins are a good substitute served with bread crumbs (the Sicilian way), or with crushed almonds or pistachios; olives or anchovies (yum!). Any combination will suffice, but the simplest, i.e., the Italian way — no more than 5 ingredients — is always delicious.

FANCY PASTA AND NOT

WHENEVER I prepare a holiday meal, I often "rehearse" some of the dishes. Making home made pasta is tricky enough but when you are really ambitious and want to do something completely over the top, a bit of practice helps. 

I have been wanting to make Tortellone for the longest time and because I made some ricotta yesterday and didn't have any spinach in the house, I decided to saute some baby kale and process that in the Cuisinart with the ricotta, mortadella and some Grana Padano for the filling. Here is how they turned out!

Tortelloni and Tortellini

I have to confess that the photograph is a bit stylized and I should point out that the white stuff that looks like snow is actually rice flour (it doesn't stick like regular floor and is perfect for allowing the pasta to dry before packaging for freezing, which is what I did). 

What you need to do is roll out a pasta sheet and then very precisely - with a ruler - measure out the strips and then squares to cut for each piece. Excess pieces from the 3 inch wide strips can be cut into maltagliatti (badly cut) to be used in brodo (broth), which could possibly look like this:

MALTAGLIATTI

Or you could cut them along the long strips and wind up with quite a few very attractive Pappardelle:

PAPPARDELL

A good tortelloni should measure 3 square inches and a tortellini should be half that size (which is much more difficult to maneuver!). Tortelloni is normally filled with ricotta or squash or any kind of combination of vegetable and cheese (be creative!) and the classical tortellini is almost always filled with veal, prosciutto and mortadella. 

Un Tortellone

As you can see from the photograph above, place the filling in the center of the square. Dip you finger in a small cup of milk and moisten two sides of the square, immediately fold over the other two sides forming a triangle making sure that there is no air in the filling sack. Moisten two corners of the triangle and fold the tortelloni in a circle so the two corners meet. Press them together and hold together while folding over the other corner to make a large belly button as seen in the first picture of this entry.

Place each tortellone on a tray lined in rice flour and let them dry. If you're not going to cook them that day, Refrigerate until completely cold and them put the tray in the freezer until they are frozen. Only then are frozen, they won't stick to each other in the bag. They will keep in the freezer for us to 3 months.

Of course, it goes without saying that these gorgeous morsels should be prepared with panna (the Italian word for cream) - the traditional way to serve tortellini is in brodo. The marriage of cream, butter and cheese, however, is definitely the way to go with the larger counterpart!

For four servings of tortelloni you'll need 1 cup of heavy cream, 2-3 tbl. unsalted butter and 1/2 cup Parmiggiano, heated together until well incorporated and thickened. Cook the tortelloni in lots of salted water, drain and bathe in the cream and serve immediately.
Buon appetito.