You Make Me So Very Happy...

Have you ever played that game where you have to pick three foods that you would want as your final meal? The first two picks are pretty easy for me: a grilled cheese sandwich - Comte cheese and Dijon mustard please - and a hot brownie sundae with melting vanilla ice cream on top. Yum. For my third choice I have the basic idea down; it's just the geography I can't commit to. Dumplings in all their forms, but specifically either Chinese dumplings or the Italian version ravioli, or in my very specific current geography, tortelli.

Here in the area around Parma, you find in most every restaurant two types of tortelli: di erbetta featuring a ricotta cheese and bitter green stuffing or zucca, pumpkin. To say that I am a fan would be like saying that God is smart. Always on the search for the best out there, I could not wait to try Ai Due Platani, where many locals claim to find the tortelli to end all tortelli. For real?

Given the fact that we have been trying to get a table at the humble trattoria for over a year, I figured something really good must be going on there. So you can imagine my glee when I mentioned in passing to my friend Isa that I wanted to eat there, only to have her respond that she is close friends with the owner.

Diving into the menu we all quickly zoomed by the cured meat appetizers since 5 out of the 6 of us work within that field (yes, cured meat is a professional field. Didn't you know?). Rather we all went for fois gras, either in its entirety or, as I chose, as a pate' served with brioche and sweet balsamic onions. Insane. Seriously. The richness of the smooth pate, tempered with the mild acidity of the onions, all of it toppling off the buttery bread...I honestly debated ordering it for dessert. It was that good and I was sad to swallow the last bite. But despair not, because what was up next? The tortelli that I came for.

So, the criteria on which I judge tortelli are: pasta texture and then of course the filling. The dough should never be too thick, or in the event it is on the thicker side of the spectrum, it must have a lot of filling so I am getting some of it in each bite and not just a mouthful of pasta. When talking about the zucca filling, I prefer mine not to be too sweet (some nearby areas add amaretti cookies to theirs), for the ricotta I like a good bit of tang from the Parmigiano that has been grated in. Since it is May, regardless of what the thermometer might read, there was just tortelli di erbetta on the menu since pumpkin is not in season.

How was it? Well I think I just might have found it. The best, I mean. The eggy pasta was rolled so beautifully thin and in between its silky layers blanketed the creamy, slightly tangy filling. It was the tortelli of my dreams.

Perfection in a bite

Dessert was fun. A made-to-order helping of frothy zabaglione. Gorgeous in its presentation, perhaps a grain or two too sweet for my palate.

Zabaglione arrives whipped up just for you in a gorgeous copper pot. Served table-side.

Next time I'll go for a second helping of the fois or torelli. Deciding won't be easy though.

Oh, what's a girl to do?


Ai Due Platani
Strada Budellungo 104/a
43100 Coloreto (Pr)
0521 645626