Capeletti is a special soup that my Nonna used to make only twice a year (once at Christmas, and once at Easter). This year will be the first year that we won’t be having capeletti at Christmas, because of the very large amount of work it takes for her to make it, so last week I decided to ask my aunt Tina for the recipe (or, more accurately, a rough set of guidelines as to how to make it), so John and I could make it ourselves.
Capeletti is basically a soup — you may have had it as a pasta at a restaurant, but for me it is and always will be a soup — anyways, it is basically a soup where the noodles are shaped like little hats and are filled with delicious meats.
Making capeletti is a long and involved process (that’s why Nonna only made it twice a year!). In the version Tina gave me, the meat is made by making tomato sauce first, then by taking the meat out and turning it into a mince, and then by making the pasta by hand, cutting it into little squares, and stuffing and folding each square into the hat-shape. It generally takes at least two days, and sometimes three or more, depending on how many you plan to make! The tomato sauce is not actually used in the soup itself, it’s just a bonus!
Today, John and I made the tomato sauce and the meat.
First, we went out and bought the stuff we’d need, including four cans of tomatoes, some herbs, and some cooking wine. We also had to go borrow John’s sister’s large pot, as our biggest pot is not big enough for this!
Oh, and we had to buy the meat! Sausage, beef, pork, and chicken, plus some mortadella, and romano and parmigiano cheese for the second part.
First, we chopped up and fried the garlic, onions, and herbs. I forgot we were almost out of olive out, but fortunately we had just enough for today! While I was doing that, John prepared the meat. Soon the kitchen was filled with the smell of frying onions and garlic. I love that smell!
We put the meat into the pot and let it cook for about thirty minutes, then added the wine (after John “tested” it to make sure it was good), and the cans of tomatos. At this point, the sauce mostly smelled like beef and didn’t look very appetizing.
But after three more hours of simmering, the house started to smell REALLY good and the sauce looked much more tasty (and it was very tasty indeed!).
Keep in mind that all of this work is really just to get the meat ready. The actual pasta sauce being made is not used in the soup at all!
Anyway, the final step (for today) was to pull the meat out of the sauce and put the sauce into jars.
Tomorrow: Make the pasta and stuff the noodles! I hope we can do it all!
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