WHAT ARE MEZZELUNE?

These stuffed half-moon ravioli cousins are made from a buckwheat, semolina flour mix. A dumpling-type pasta, they can be boiled or fried and served with sugar and honey (if the stuffing is appropriate).

WHERE ARE MEZZELUNE MADE?

Being a northern Italian staple, Mezzelune has snuck across the Tyrolian Alps to also become a German delicacy. There is it called “Schlutzkrapfen”.  Say that three times fast if you want to dislocate your tongue.  Though there German stuffing involves a lot more cabbage and beer with which to wash it down.

THE SWISS MAKE RAVIOLI TOO!  THOUGH THEIRS HAS JUST A DASH MORE HORSE D.N.A.?

When you get to be one of the largest food producers in the world, quality control becomes increasingly difficult with so many factories, products, suppliers and moving parts.  Nestlé ran into this problem in 2013 when traces amounts of horse were found in raviolis sold to Italian and Spanish consumers.  Ignoring the issue of accurate ingredient labeling,  ironically in some countries horse meat is a delicacy.  Long ago in the States for example, lobster was considered only fit to serve in prison.  Today people have their tails flown across the world.  To read more about Nestlé ‘s incident, click here!

WHAT SAUCES GO WELL WITH MEZZELUNE?

Ricotta cheese, spinach and meat (when not abstaining) are classic pairings for these dumplings.  Different local areas have their own variations like stuffing them with beets (casunziei).  In any event, dumplings are boiled or fried, so your sauce needs to take this into account.  For fried foods, nothing will stick to this oily shell.  So make SURE that you salt the dumplings as soon as they come out of the oil (so salt doesn’t bounce off the cooled oil shell), and go with pasta sauces like pesto or marinara.  If boiled, you can treat mezzelune like any other pasta.  But remember the cut’s surface is not al bronzo extruded (so sauce won’t stick).