Capeletti em Brodo

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 5-liter pot
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Rolling pin or pasta machine
• •Bench scraper or knife
• •Floured tray
• •Small saute pan

Instructions

1. 1

   Brown the chicken

   Warm the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces in one layer and let them dourar until golden in spots, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Don't crowd the pot. If the pieces pile up, they release water, the temperature drops, and you start steaming instead of building color. Color is flavor, and this broth needs it.

2. 2

   Start the broth

   Add the quartered onion, carrot, celery or leek, crushed garlic, bay leaves, water, salt, and pepper. Scrape the bottom of the pot with a spoon so the browned bits dissolve into the water. Bring just to a boil, then lower the heat until the surface barely trembles. A hard boil makes the broth cloudy and rough. A gentle simmer keeps it clean and lets the chicken give itself up properly.

   Skim off any grey foam that rises in the first 20 minutes. It is not danger, just cooked proteins and impurities. Removing it gives you a cleaner-looking brodo.
3. 3

   Simmer and strain

   Simmer the broth for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, until the chicken is tender and the liquid tastes like chicken before you add anything else. Pull out the chicken pieces and strain the broth through a fine sieve. Taste it. It should be savory, clear, and a little stronger than you think, because the pasta will drink some of it. Set aside 1 cup shredded chicken for the filling.

4. 4

   Make the dough

   Put the flour on the counter or in a wide bowl and make a well in the center. Add the eggs and beat them with a fork, pulling flour in little by little until a shaggy dough forms. Knead for 8 to 10 minutes, until smooth and firm. If dry crumbs refuse to join, add water 1 teaspoon at a time. Pasta dough should feel firm, not sticky, because soft dough tears when you fold the capeletti.

5. 5

   Rest the dough

   Wrap the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. This is not a decorative pause. The rest lets the flour hydrate and the dough relax, so it rolls thin without fighting you like a stubborn door.

6. 6

   Build the filling

   Warm the oil or butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook until soft and see-through, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, just until you smell it. Stir in the shredded chicken, then take the pan off the heat and let it cool. Mix with the cheese, parsley, egg yolk, salt, and pepper. The filling should be moist enough to hold together, not wet. Wet filling leaks and makes tiny pasta tantrums.

7. 7

   Roll the pasta

   Cut the dough into 4 pieces and keep the pieces you are not using covered. Roll one piece very thin, either with a rolling pin or pasta machine, dusting lightly with flour only when it sticks. You should be able to see the shadow of your hand through it. Thick pasta turns heavy in broth, and then the little capeletti bully the bowl instead of floating in it.

8. 8

   Fill and fold

   Cut the sheet into 4 cm squares. Put 1/2 teaspoon filling in the center of each square. Fold corner to corner into a triangle, press out the air, seal the edges, then bring the two bottom corners around your finger and pinch them together. Use less filling than your pride wants. Too much filling bursts open in the broth, and then a gente has chicken confetti instead of capeletti.

   If the dough edge feels dry, touch it with a barely wet fingertip before sealing. Barely wet means barely wet. Soaked edges get slippery and won't close.
9. 9

   Dry briefly

   Set the shaped capeletti on a floured tray in a single layer while you finish the rest. Let them sit 10 to 15 minutes. This short rest firms the surface so they hold their shape when they meet the hot broth. Don't stack them, because fresh pasta sticks first and apologizes never.

10. 10

    Cook in brodo

    Bring the strained broth back to a gentle boil and taste the salt one more time. Add the capeletti and stir once so they don't grab the bottom. Cook 4 to 6 minutes, until they float and the dough is tender when you bite one. Keep the boil lively but not violent. A rolling attack can open the pasta; a sleepy simmer leaves it gummy.

11. 11

    Serve the bowls

    Ladle the capeletti and broth into warm bowls. Finish with a little parsley and grated cheese if you like. Serve right away, while the broth is glossy and clear and the pasta still has bite. This is not a soup that improves by waiting around in the pot.

Chef Tips

• •The honest Tuesday shortcut: use good fresh or frozen capeletti and put your work into the broth. The cost is that the filling will not taste like your kitchen. Still real enough. The forbidden shortcut is bouillon powder pretending to be brodo. That's not saving time, that's being sold a salty lie.
• •Use bones. Boneless chicken makes useful meat, not a proper broth. Bones, skin, and connective bits give the liquid body and a gentle stickiness on the lips.
• •Make the capeletti smaller than you think. In broth, tiny pasta feels delicate and generous. Big ones become a bowl of dumplings, which is not a tragedy, but it is a different dinner.
• •Taste the broth before the pasta goes in. It should taste finished already. If you wait to season at the table, the pasta will be seasoned outside and bland inside.
• •Serve it with something green if this is dinner: sauteed couve, a simple salad, or green beans. The pê-efe lesson still stands, even when the rice and beans are taking the night off.

Advance Preparation

• •The broth can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Chill it, lift off any solid fat you don't want, then reheat and taste the salt before cooking the pasta.
• •The filling can be made 1 day ahead and kept covered in the fridge.
• •Shaped capeletti can be frozen in a single layer on a tray, then bagged for up to 2 months. Cook straight from frozen in gently boiling broth, adding 1 to 2 minutes.
• •Do not store cooked capeletti sitting in the broth if you can avoid it. The pasta keeps drinking and turns soft. Store broth and uncooked or separately cooked pasta apart.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 450g)