Capeletis a la Caruso

Capeletis a la Caruso is the iconic pasta dish of Uruguay, and Salsa Caruso (Caruso sauce) is Uruguay's most original contribution to Italian-Uruguayan cuisine. The sauce was invented in the 1950s by Italian-born chef Raymundo (Raimondo) Monti at the Restaurant Mario y Alberto in Montevideo. He named it after the legendary tenor Enrico Caruso (Caruso had popularized Italian food culture in the Americas during his tours). The sauce — cream, mushrooms, ham, cheese, and a secret touch of beef extract — became the canonical dressing for capeletis (small filled pasta, from the Italian cappelletti). It is now considered part of Uruguay's national patrimony.

A plate of small, plump pasta hats in a blanket of pale-gold cream sauce, flecked with mushrooms and pink ham. The pasta gives way to a savory meat filling; the sauce is rich, silky, savory — the cream and the mushroom and the ham are in perfect balance. It tastes like nothing else — a sauce that could only have been invented in Uruguay, where Italian tradition meets South American abundance.

The capeletis are filled pasta (like tiny tortellini) — the dough must be rolled thin, the filling (ground meat, parmesan, egg) placed in small mounds, and the dough folded and sealed tight (any gap leaks filling into the water). They cook in 4-5 minutes. The Salsa Caruso is built by sautéing mushrooms and ham in butter, then adding cream and a little beef extract (the secret ingredient that gives the sauce its depth), and reducing until thick. The sauce must coat the pasta without drowning it.