In Italy, there are countless recipes for stuffed pasta, and they vary from region to region, or sometimes even city to city. They feature names in dialect and differ from each other in how their fresh pasta and filling are made. In the province of Bergamo we find Bertù di San Lorenzo and Tosei di Rovetta as standouts among the treasures. Both are fresh pastas made with stone-ground whole wheat flour, one in a vegetarian version, the other with cotechino, salt, oil, wine, onion, bread, Grana Padano cheese, parsley and a mix of spices, dressed with butter, sage and pancetta. Their shape is at the origin of the name because, in the now almost-extinct dialect of Bergamo’s Gaì shepherds, bertù means “donkey ears.” But the main ingredient is still their history.
The American chef from Atlanta
If Bertù ravioli are still with us today, it’s thanks to a chef from Atlanta, Mike Patrick. As a true lover of Italian cuisine, one day he decided to open a gastronomic fresh-pasta restaurant in America (which over time has turned into three), offering all of Italy’s different regional variations. Before setting off on his journey up and down the Italian peninsula, where he learned the art of cooking from house to house, he studied the Enciclopedia della Pasta by Oretta Zanini De Vita, in which – from among many stories and traditions – he learned of Bertù di San Lorenzo. But while searching for someone to welcome him to San Lorenzo di Rovetta, in Val Seriana, he was faced with a unpleasant surprise: no one prepared Bertù ravioli anymore. Indeed, many didn’t even know what they were.
Cinzia and Matteo: From restaurant to pasta shop
Enter Cinzia and Matteo, our two other protagonists, since it’s also thanks to them that Bertù are still with us today. The two of them had once had a restaurant in Rovetta, since 1992, with him in the kitchen and her in the dining room, until they received an email from Mike Patrick looking for information on a product from their region that they’d never heard of and which was in risk of disappearing. Cinzia and Matteo immediately took the matter to heart and began talking to San Lorenzo’s oldest residents to learn about the pasta. In this way, they discovered that these ravioli were large and dark (because of the flour), eaten with mountain cheese and consumed only in October during a local festival. Within eight months they’d perfected the recipe, with an in-depth study of the best blends to make Bertù with stone-ground whole wheat flour enriched with bran. After teaching the recipe to Mike during a visit, they decided to offer them in their restaurant as well, together with the better-known casoncelli. That is, until their totally unexpected success marked a turning point in their lives. Faced with a huge demand now only for this new pasta, in 2014 they decided to close the restaurant and open a pasta shop dedicated entirely to Bertù, with a trademark. Other products were added over time, many of which are made from Rovetta red corn. And Tradizioni e Delizie in the town of Onere is still the only place that prepares and sells Bertù to private individuals and restaurants in the area, such as Morgan’s in Clusone (where they also make excellent Scrocchiarella and gluten-free pizza).
The vegetarian version
To cope with vegetarians, Cinzia and Matteo created Tosei di Rovetta, which in the Gaì dialect means “untreated wheat.” It’s a very delicate dough, made with a little egg, stone-ground whole wheat flour, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, bread, Grana Padano cheese, butter, sage and spices. When cooking, a few small tricks should be respected such as, for example, using a very wide, low saucepan as Tosei increase in volume, just like Bertù. They are prepared with butter and sage and accompanied by a good glass of Val Calepio wine.