Working for my friend’s father near Ferrera in Emilia Romagna, I learned to make pasta. In fact, I was making 20kg a day to be precise. Made mostly by machine but there was the hand cutting and forming of both tortellini and cappelletti. No one spoke Italian and I wanted to learn, but they all spoke Ferraris, a local dialect. Being the only man in the kitchen as the chefs were doing national service for three months, the older women used to rib me, but all in good fun. They are traditionally cut into squares and mean “little pies” or “cakes”. I use 8cm cutter. There is an array of fillings to choose from. An alternative filling is butternut squash & ricotta cheese served with a sage butter sauce.