Cappelletti (“caplet” in Romagnolo dialect) are a small pasta shapes filled with pork, beef, parmigiano and ricotta cheese, particularly popular as Christmas Day lunch in Romagna.

Traditionally served in a capon or other meat broth, cappelletti shape has the same characteristic of a Medieval hat, hence the name. The Napoleonic inquests into the traditions of Italy attest to the extreme poverty of the rural areas, where the consumption of cappelletti was typically limited to no more than three times a year, on feast days.

Often, they were on the table only once, for Christmas lunch, when even the poorest peasants made the effort to serve cappelletti filled with ricotta. “On Christmas Day, each family makes a soup of pasta with ricotta filling called cappelletti. The greed for this dish is so general that everyone, especially the priests, places bet on who can eat the largest number, with some reaching four hundred or five hundred, and each year this customs leads to death of some individuals, who succumbs to grave indigestion” This might be what the poet Giacomo Leopardi was talking about when, on December 19 1825, he wrote from bologna to his brother Pierfrancesco; “Wish Don Vincenzo a merry Christmas and tell him not to eat too many cappelletti”.

Featured region : EMILIA-ROMAGNA

The recipe (For 6 ppl)

Gnocchi Al Pesto Di Ortica E Noci

Ingredients

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