Tordelli Lucchese

Tordelli lucchesi are the meat-stuffed half-moon pasta of the Versilia coast and the hills around Lucca, served as the Sunday pranzo opener and again, in miniature, as the deep-fried tordellino that appears with the bread basket at trattorie along the Tyrrhenian side of Tuscany. The dough is a stiff egg and durum-wheat pasta rolled thin and cut into rounds; the filling is a coarse mince of beef and a hint of pork shoulder, simmered with soffritto, mortadella, capon liver, a splash of dry Marsala and a small grated nugget of parmigiano, until the mixture is dense, glossy and aromatic. A round of filling is set on each pasta disc, the edges brushed with egg, then the disc is folded in half and twisted at the ends into the unmistakable tordello knot - a small spiral on each side that holds the parcel shut as it boils. Tordelli are served in a rich ragù of beef and pork, sometimes dressed simply with butter and sage, and they show up on the menus of trattorie in Lucca, Camaiore, Pietrasanta, where they are eaten from shallow bowls with the cooking broth and a glass of the local Colline Lucchesi red.

Tordelli Lucchese is a traditional stuffed pasta from the city of Lucca in Tuscany, Italy. Its history is closely tied to the region's peasant cuisine, where it was prepared for festive occasions and family gatherings, often served with a rich meat ragù.

While the basic shape - a large, semicircular ravioli-like pocket - is consistent, regional variations exist in the filling, which typically combines leftover meats, herbs, and sometimes breadcrumbs. In Lucca, it remains a symbol of local culinary identity, frequently appearing on Sunday tables and during Carnival, though its exact origins are debated.