Cappelletti in Brodo

Food & Stories · Amelia, Umbria

Cappelletti
in Brodo

A family recipe associated with Fulvio’s grandmother Angelina and preserved in the handwriting of his mother Iris.

This is the Jacocagni family version, with the details and variations remembered and preserved inside the family.

Handmade cappelletti prepared on a floured surface

The family story

Fulvio was born in Amelia, Umbria, and grew up knowing the cooking of his grandmother Angelina. The recipe was later written by hand by his mother Iris, preserving the ingredients, technique and family advice that make the dish recognisable at home.

The broth traditionally included vegetables such as celery, carrots and onion together with capon. The cooked capon could then be served as a second course. A beef version was also used for people who preferred it.

Food & Stories begins here because this recipe carries more than instructions: it carries family, place, memory and continuity.

Family cappelletti photograph — An original photograph connected with the dish.

Preparing the filling

Cut the veal and pork into pieces of roughly 1 cm.

Heat about one tablespoon of olive oil with the garlic clove, rosemary sprig and the fat trimmed from the cured ham. Keep the lean ham and mortadella for later.

Add the cut meat and brown it evenly. When the meat is coloured, add about half a glass of dry white wine.

Continue cooking until the steam no longer smells strongly of wine. Remove the rosemary and garlic.

Lower the heat, cover and cook gently for about 15–30 minutes. Do not allow the meat to become too dry.

Leave the cooked meat to cool, then mince it together with the lean cured ham and mortadella.

Bind with two or three eggs, grated Parmigiano, a restrained amount of nutmeg, black pepper and only a little salt.

Preparing the pasta

Place the flour on a stone, marble or wooden work surface and form a well.

Add the eggs one at a time and a little salt.

Mix, then knead by hand until the dough is elastic and no longer sticky.

Wrap the dough in a clean cotton cloth moistened with cold water and lightly wrung out. Rest in a cool place for about 30 minutes.

Roll the pasta very thin, approximately 1 mm or slightly less.

Cut discs about 45–50 mm in diameter and put a small portion of filling in the centre.

Fold, seal and join the tips to form the small closed “hat” that gives the cappelletto its name.

The broth

There are two family versions: capon, associated with Amelia, or boiling beef.

Place the meat or capon, vegetables, a little olive oil, peppercorns and very little salt into a large pot while everything is still cold.
Bring to the boil and cook slowly for approximately five hours.
Check the seasoning and adjust only toward the end.
Filter the very hot broth into another pot.
Cook the cappelletti in batches if necessary. When they rise and float, allow roughly one more minute.
Transfer immediately to a preheated ceramic serving bowl and serve at once.

Every family shapes them differently.

This is Angelina and Iris’s family tradition as remembered by Fulvio. Food & Stories invites other families to preserve their own version.

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