How to Make Cappelletti with Corn and Crescenza Like Flour + Water

Welcome to the Altitude Series! The next few posts were all done on a little get away in Tahoe over 10 days.

For me, there aren’t too many meals that rev my engine like fresh, hand-made, stuffed pasta (or fresh pasta in general), and this corn and crescenza cappelletti really does the trick. There are so many components to each dish, and although it may take time, the actual actions of making stuffed pastas are generally not that difficult. The end result is extremely satisfying because of the amount of hard work and effort you put into actually making each one near perfect.

Cappelletti is another great style of stuffed pasta, and a personal favorite. It is relatively easy to fold, and holds sauce perfectly thanks to its shape. It’s can also take a large amount of time to actually roll out a full ball of doughs worth, so this is best if you have 2 people to split time.

This is very much so a summer focused dish, so it’s the perfect time to make this. The one ingredient you may have trouble finding is the Crescenza cheese, which is a very soft, gooey, cream heavy fresh cheese. Bellweather makes it in the Bay Area and can typically be found at Cowgirl Creamery as well as some Whole Foods locations. This type of cheese is the star of the filling, and creates an amazing ooze when you bite into each one.

The owner of Flour + Water said he has nightmares thinking about taking this pasta off the menu because of how popular it is in the restaurant. That’s a pretty bold statement, and after finishing, I can clearly see why.

Can’t wait to hear about your results! Let’s get this going…

Cookbook – Flour + Water

Ingredients –

Dough –

Flour + Water Rav Dough

Filling –

Olive oil – 2 tbsp
Yellow onion – 1 – diced
Salt
Garlic clove – 1 minced
White corn kernels from 3 ears of corn, reserve the cobs for later use
Crescenza Cheese – 1 1/2 cups – I got 1 pound and made plenty of filling to go around.
Fresh Parmesan – 1/2 cup, finely grated (I usually use a microplane)

Corn Stock –

Cobs of corn – the 3 left over from the filling, cut into thirds
Yellow onion – 1/2 of it – thinly sliced
Peppercorns – 6 of them
Bay leaf – 1
Water – 4 cups

To Finish –

Unsalted Butter – 6 tbsp
Corn kernels – from 1 ear of corn
Corn stock – (1 cup from recipe above)
Minced chives – 2 tbsp
Fresh lemon juice
Salt
Freshly grated Parmesan to top

Tools –

Pasta Roller
Bench Scraper
Spray bottle
Blender
3 inch ring mold or cookie cutter (I actually used the lid to my cocktail shaker and it worked like a dream)
Piping bag and tip
Pasta drying rack, or baking sheets dusted with semolina flour

Step 1 – Make the Filling

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a ~12 inch pan. Once hot, add the onions and a pinch of salt. Cook until translucent, about 12-15 minutes. Add the garlic and corn, stirring constantly. Cook for about another 10 minutes, if the kernels are popping, slightly lower the heat. Remove the pan from the heat and add the Crescenza cheese, stirring aggressively so it melts. Immediately transfer to a blender and puree until smooth.

Transfer to a bowl and stir in the Parmesan. Season with salt, but keep in mind that there is plenty of salt in the Parmesan and Crescenza, so it should not need much, if any at all. This is your first insight into how great the pasta is going to be. Set aside to fully chill in the fridge, or briefly accelerate it in the freezer the transfer to the fridge if you are short on time.

Step 2 – Make the Dough

Follow the recipe for the Flour + Water Rav dough

Step 3 – Make the Corn Stock

In a large pot/stock pot, combine the cobs, onion, peppercorns, and bay leaf. Cover with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to a simmer and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Check occasionally so it is not scalding. Strain and discard the solids, set aside, cover and refrigerate until ready for use.

You should yield more stock than is needed for the recipe. You can also make this in advance and will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Step 4 – Time to Roll and Fold

Start to roll the dough out as instructed in the rav dough recipe. The thickness we are looking for is when the dough is just barely translucent, not too thick, not too thin.

Roll the first sheet of dough to be barely translucent. This is the second to last setting on my pasta roller, but may be different on yours. Lay your dough flat on a work surface, and punch the 3 inch mold into the dough to form many circles, work your way down the entire sheet, reserve and cover the excess dough for later use. Using the piping bag or a spoon, place about 1 tsp of filling into the center of each circle. I found us using slightly more, but as you fill and fold a few, you will see what works best for you.

To fold into the little hat, start by folding in half to make a half moon shape. If you find the dough is dry and not sticking, wet your finger tip and wipe along the inside edges to help seal it close. Once sealed into a half moon, hold the cappelletti with the curved shape facing you, holding the corners with both of your hands. Take your right index finger, gently press into the center of the filling, the outside should slightly bend up, pull the two corners each other and press together. The hat will stand up on its own on the drying rack or baking sheet. Great work! Only about 50 more to fold.

Repeat with the rest of the remaining dough. I reserved the excess dough into one pile, while not incorporating it with the fresh dough. When I had used up all of my fresh dough, I made and rolled out a final batch with scraped dough. There is only so much you can work pasta dough and you will be able to see a big difference when rolling it out.

After rolling, take a breather, that took a while. But make sure to admire your work, some of the best looking pasta you thought you could never roll. I ended up with around 50 cappelletti’s.

Step 5 – Finish the Dish

Start bringing a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Add the butter, corn kernels, and stock to a 12 inch saute pan and place of medium high heat. Bring to a simmer and swirl the butter to create an emulsion.

Drop the pasta when the water is boiling, cook for 2-3 minutes, cooking about 80% through. Drain, and add pasta to the sauce, also add the chives and lemon juice. Mix thoroughly until the sauce noticeably coats the pasta creating a pasta nirvana with the sauce.

Divide between dishes and top with fresh parmesan. Enjoy, easily one of the best pastas on this blog.

And that’s it! This is an epic dish to make, and an insane crowd pleaser. For the amount of work you put in, your are rewarded greatly. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Ratings –

Difficulty of ingredients to find – 5/5 stars – A few special trips will be needed to find some ingredients.
Perceived difficulty going into recipe – 4/5 stars – This will take some effort
Difficulty after recipe – 4.5/5 stars – this took some effort, but it is mainly around the time needed to roll ~50 cappellettis
Time taken – 5/5 stars – more than 4 hours are needed for this
Taste – 5/5 stars – Amazing dish, would eat again in a heartbeat.
Make again? – 5/5 stars – Without a doubt, everyday if I could