How to make ravioli filled with beetroot – the dish of Winter Olympics co-host Cortina
Winter Olympic co-host Cortina is famous for the ravioli dish casunziei. Michelin-star Ristorante Tivoli’s Gianluca Belli shares a recipe
The ravioli-type dish, also known as casunziei all’Ampezzana, consists of home-made half-moon shaped pasta filled with puréed beetroot, topped with a sauce of melted butter, Parmesan cheese and poppy seeds.
It is a simple dish that harks back to the Alpine region’s poorer past – long before Cortina transformed into a winter playground for the international jet set. Even in the coldest days of winter, local families had the ingredients in their cupboards. Casunziei (pronounced cah-SOON-zi-eh) can also have other fillings replacing beetroot.
“It’s a typical local dish. My favourite casunziei are the ones cooked by my grandmother – the spinach ones,” says Stefania Constantini, a defending Olympic curling champion in mixed doubles and a Cortina native.
Casunziei is linked to Cortina’s Ladin culture that stretches back centuries. They can still be sampled at many Cortina establishments – both in high-end restaurants and more local, rustic spots.
Gianluca Belli, a chef at the one-Michelin-star Ristorante Tivoli, shows how to make casunziei while Luca Noale, manager of the restaurant The Roof, translates and explains the steps.