Triangoli are the first filled pasta I teach my cooks to make and they are where anyone who wants to learn to make fresh filled pasta should start. The process teaches the beginning motions of making slightly more advanced pasta shapes such as Tortelloni (page 148), Balanzoni (page 160), and Tortellini (page 172), while also imparting the supremely important lesson of single thickness (see page 24).
Filled pasta is labor intensive, but you can make it ahead and successfully refrigerate it for about a week, or even freeze it. The key is to blanch the filled pasta first. If you refrigerate triangoli or other filled pastas directly after making them, moisture from the filling sweats through the pasta, resulting in a tacky dough. Blanching (see page 136), however, cooks the surface protein of the pasta, which seals the moisture inside the dough and limits the sweating effect.
