making anolini with silvana {video}

There are a series of towns in Emilia Romagna that all run in a straight line, more or less, along the Autostrada A1 connecting  Bologna, Modena, Reggio Emilia and Parma, with Bologna being the biggest in the bunch. Although one is not further than 30 kilometers from the next, I found that when it comes to stuffed pasta, you better know your terms before asking for something.

Maria Chiara, who works at the Consorzio di Parmigiano Reggiano had organized a few visits for me to local rezdore. Loosely translated rezdora means house wife, but what it really means is queen of the kitchen. It is the word that is used to describe the women, usually older, who are keeping alive the traditions of the recipes of Emilia Romagna. And so I was thrilled to be able to visit some of them near Maria Chiara’s home town of Calestano, just south of Parma.

When I first walked into Silvana’s house, everyone was in the kitchen, talking.  I spied the pasta she had made earlier that day. laid out carefully on the kitchen table, with a dish cloth covering it. I lifted the edge, and said  “Oh! ravioli!” All conversation stopped. Everyone was looking at me. I though, oh no, I should never have touched the cloth. But no, it wasn’t that. While Silvana gave me a look, Maria Chiara explained what had shocked

everyone. “Those aren’t ravioli” she said, “They are anolini.”

Never heard of anolini? Me neither. nor seen them even. This is how specific stuffed pasta can be.  I doubt there is even a restaurant in Rome that serves anolini. Or possibly even in Bologna. They are very specific to the region around Parma and involve an even more complicated procedure than tortellini.

Every single ingredient has its reason for being there, and a specific way of preparing it. Not just any bread crumbs, but fresh bread, cut in cubes the day before, then dried out in the oven then turned into crumbs in the food processor but “Not too fine, not too big, but in the middle.” Also? The bread itself was homemade.

And the discussion about which kind of Parmigiano to use went on for ages. In the end Silvana decided to use a mixture of both 32-month-old and 22-month-old. When you see the huge quantity of parmigiano that goes into these little shapes you’ll begin to understand why the quality of this essential ingredient is so important.

One thing that we tend to forget today, is what a special occasion even any of these stuffed pastas were. While watching Silvana make both the stuffing for the anolini, as well as the broth, I realized just how expensive these ingredients must have been in the past. There was a ton of meat involved, both for the filling and the broth, as well as expensive aged Parmigiano. Today, while we are used to stuffed pasta filling up aisles at the supermarket it was both impressive, and daunting, to see the skill and time and effort that went into making these miniature works of culinary art.

Although the term anolini refers to stuffed pasta in general, in the Parma area they are always stuffed with a stuffing of pot roast and parmigiano. And the shape is always round, and always smooth along the edge.

Here is a very long video I shot that day. While I usually try to keep the videos here short and sweet, we spent the ENTIRE day with Silvana as she crafted these little works of wonder. And so this video clocks in at 9 minutes. Which is a pretty condensed version of the 9 hours it actually took to make the anolini.

This blog post is an excerpt from my latest b0ok, Eating My Way Through Italy. You can find the full (and very long!)  recipe for Silvana’s Anonlini in Brodo on page. 45.

There are most recipes and other information advice about following your appetite through Italy in Eating My Way Through Italy and Eating Rome.

For more on where to eat in Italy, please download my app EAT ITALY, available for iPhone and Android.

And if you’d like to join us around the table in Italy have a look at our Week in Italy Tours.