First course: mushroom tortellini in broth

Remeber the carrot pasta dough from a while back? I had some left in the freezer. I used it to make a few tortellini, to serve as a first course. I didn't have much dough left, nor many mushrooms, so I served the tortellini (4 per person) in broth. It was light, but tasty. And the good thing about home-made tortellini is you can make them as large as you like.

For the filling

• 4 big mushrooms. I used simple white mushrooms, but if you can mix various kinds, even better.
• 1 shallot
• half a teaspoon nutmeg
• half a clove of garlic
  
• a spoon of flour
  
• pinch of salt & pepper
  

Process everything in a food processor until it's a paste. Add a spoon of water if necessary for processing. Then transfer in a non-stick pot, and stir over low heat for 10-15 minutes, until the water from the mushrooms evaporates and the paste thickens a bit. Set aside to cool. You can add parmesan cheese if you want; I didn't.

For the tortellini

Roll the dough thin, and cut circles, about 3-inch in diameter.

Spoon some stuffing in the center of each circle.

Water your fingers and touch the circle around, and then fold it in half and press to stick the dough together.

Fold again, parallel to the first fold, and bring the corners together.

Water your finger and press the corners together to form the tortellini.

If you use 3-inch diameter circles, you'll end up with pretty large tortellini, with a lot of stuffing.

Then I cut up another mushroom, and I put it in a big pot with salt, two cups of beef broth and two-to-three cups of water. After it boiled for five minutes, I dropped the tortellini in to cook for another 3-4 minutes. Then I ladled four tortellini and some broth per person.

Sprinkle some chopped chives or green onion on top, for a bit of color.

It was quite good. Depending on how reduced and strong your broth is, you might want to use more or less water. The broth wasn't as clear as it could have been, but I was too bored to strain it through a cheesecloth. Ideally, your broth should be crystal-clear.