Cappelletti in Brodo

The first useful thing to know about Italian cooking is that, as such, it actually doesn't exist. There is Bolognese cooking and Romagnol cooking, and they are not the same. Bologna has tortellini; Romagna has cappelletti. Both are small filled pastas served in broth. Both appear on Christmas tables. But the resemblance ends there.

Cappelletti are smaller, their shape subtly different, their filling lighter. In Romagna, the traditional filling combines soft fresh cheeses, ricotta and the nearly impossible-to-find raviggiolo, bound with egg and Parmigiano. No meat. The result is delicate, almost ethereal when floating in proper broth. Bologna stuffs its tortellini with mortadella and prosciutto. The Romagnoli look at this and shake their heads.

The broth matters as much as the pasta. This is not the place for chicken stock from a carton. You need capon, a castrated rooster whose flesh is more flavorful and whose fat produces a richer, more golden broth. Beef shank adds body. The two simmer together for hours, filling the house with the smell of Christmas, of anticipation, of something worth waiting for.