Making Fresh Pasta | Fresh Filled Pasta in Bologna, Italy

In many towns in Italy, there are pastifici artigianali, small family-owned shops where fresh pasta is made daily. Today we visit a famous pastificio in Bologna with Piergiorgio, our guide to the wonderful foods of that ancient city. Martina and Barbara, who have been making pasta for years, show us how to make pasta fresca, starting with the dough. They combine 00 flour and fresh eggs, kneading the dough on a floured table—if you’ve never made pasta, you can learn how to mound the flour and whisk in the eggs like an expert. Then we watch as they create farfalle, three types of tagliatelle, and some filled pastas, including caramelle, little “candies” filled with a mixture of artichokes, ricotta and parmigiano; then tortellini and tortelloni. Learn the classic fillings for these pastas, and the typical simple sauces used to accentuate their flavors. Read more about filled pastas in the article Pasta Surprises—The Unexpected Delights of Filled Pasta.