Cappelletti

Cappelletti (“little hats”) are a filled pasta from Emilia-Romagna. Three versions are on the national list of traditional food products: Romagna-style cappelletti (caplet, Forlì-Cesena), the cappelletti of Ferrara (caplitt) and the cappelletto of Reggio Emilia (cappelletto reggiano).

According to the regional description, Romagna cappelletti are made of a dough of flour and eggs only. The filling contains ricotta (or half ricotta and half raveggiolo), finely chopped capon breast cooked in butter, parmigiano, egg, egg yolk and nutmeg. The filling is placed on discs of dough, which are folded into a half-moon and the ends joined. They are cooked for 3–4 minutes in boiling capon broth.

The cappelletto reggiano measures about 4 cm. Its filling is traditionally only stewed beef; pork, chicken and mortadella were added later. The thin dough is cut into squares of a few centimetres, folded into a triangle and turned around the index finger into the hat shape; the ideal way to cook it is in capon broth. According to the region it differs considerably from the tortellini of Bologna and Modena despite the almost identical shape, and from the cappelletti of Romagna.

The traditional products of Romagna also include the pasticcio di cappelletti: a baked dish in sweet shortcrust pastry with ragù and béchamel, for which the cappelletti are first boiled in broth and dressed with butter and parmigiano; baking takes about 1 hour.