Shiitake Mushroom Tortellini With Soy Cream Sauce

Join me on this wild ride and let’s take a break with a delicious bowl of shiitake mushroom tortellini in soy cream sauce.

We recently had a family discussion about substituting wonton skins for ravioli, which led to the creation of these shiitake mushroom “tortellini” with soy cream sauce. This is a trend on the internet and the Food Network, but I’ve never understood why; wonton skins are far too thin to make good ravioli.

Wonton skins aren’t designed to be folded in half and boiled. In a simple tortellini recipe, they should be folded like a wonton. Instead of the monotonous result of folding them in half, you get the ideal combination of textures that would otherwise be lost.

So I came up with this: mushrooms, ricotta, and scallions folded like a cross between wontons and tortellini, then quickly cooked in a cream and soy sauce. And then some salt was added? Panko-crusted “pangritata.” Pangritata, consisting of fried breadcrumbs, was developed as a substitute for cheese in dishes where the poor could not afford it. We chose panko because:

1) it’s VERY crunchy and 2) since the whole Asian theme is what we’re going for in this context.

A little lightheartedness aside, this mushroom tortellini recipe was a success, and I hope it’s just the beginning of many more tortellini creations in my kitchen.

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 6 oz. of fresh shiitake mushrooms (finely chopped)
• 1/3 cup of minced scallion
• 1/2 tsp. of crushed red pepper flake
• ½ cup of Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup of ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper to taste
• 36-42 pcs. of wonton wrappers
• ½ cup of panko breadcrumbs
• 3 cloves of garlic (sliced)
• 2/3 cup of milk (160 ml)
• ½ cup of heavy cream (120 ml)
• 2 tsp. of soy sauce
• 1 tsp. of dark soy sauce

Instructions:

1. Add several generous glugs of olive oil to a skillet and place it over medium heat. Salt the mixture, then add the mushrooms. Caramelize and soften the mushrooms in a saute pan. Take your time with something that could take a while! At the end of the caramelization process for the mushrooms, you may find some sticky residue at the bottom of the pan. Remove the glaze by adding some water.
2. Add the scallion, crushed red pepper flakes, Parmesan, ricotta cheese, egg, and salt and pepper to taste the cooked mushrooms in a mixing bowl.
3. Place a teaspoon of filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper and moisten the edges. Make a triangle by folding something in half along the diagonal. Check for air bubbles and ensure a good seal all around the edges. Create a “tortellini” shape by combining the two outer triangle corners. Keep putting them together until you have no more filling left.
4. To prepare the tortellini, bring a pot of water to a boil. Several tablespoons of olive oil should be heated in a pan over medium heat. Toss in the panko, and keep stirring until it turns golden. Take out of the frying pan and put to the side.
5. Two tablespoons of oil, plus the garlic, to a hot skillet. Prepare for 1 minute. Pour in the milk and cream and reduce the heat to low. Add the soy sauces and continue cooking for another 2 minutes. Adding pepper is a good idea.
6. The ravioli should have been dropped into boiling water by now. The ravioli only take 20 seconds to cook time in boiling water. The ravioli should be added to the sauce using a slotted spoon and simmer for another 60 seconds to a minute.
7. The panko pangrittata and scallions can be added as a garnish before serving.