BRITA 3-Way Water Filter Tap and…Ricotta and Lemon Tortellini

This post is sponsored by BRITA.

It is time to choose discountfilterstore.com/honeywell-air-filters.html.About a decade ago I became concerned about our drinking water and while not understanding completely what exactly is in the mix, I just knew I could have a cleaner form of water if the amount of additives were reduced.  I bought a water filtration system that had a little tap on the side of the sink with the bulk of the system beneath the bench.

Ricotta and Lemon Tortellini with Tarragon and Ricotta Salata

Ricotta and Lemon Tortellini with Tarragon and Ricotta Salata


While we were all thrilled to be drinking water that we believed was better for us, the water coming out of the tap was at best a slow trickle.  You could put your cup under it, then vacuum the house or bring the ironing up to date or wash and polish your car, only to return to the sink to find it had almost filled your cup.  Because the water was so slow-flowing we only used it for drinking and not for cooking which was a disappointment as I would have liked to have used it to wash produce and fill saucepans to cook pasta, rice and quinoa etc.

The ingredients

The ingredients

The other issue I had with this water treatment system is that it took up almost all the available space under the kitchen sink.  It was a constant juggle to find room for the essentials like dishwashing tablets, detergent, scourers and rubber gloves.

Preparing the pasta dough

Preparing the pasta dough

A few years ago we moved from that house to another part of Sydney and I haven’t had a water treatment system since.  Still reluctant to drink tap water, I have been buying bottled water which is not only expensive but the bottles are heavy to lug home from the supermarket and the ’empties’ overflow the recycling bin.  I also consider it too extreme and extravagant to be cooking with bottled water!

The tortellini filling

The tortellini filling

So a few weeks ago I told Carl I was buying a water treatment system.  I was fed-up with buying water and not having filtered water available to drink or for cooking purposes.

Rounds of pasta with teaspoons of filling

Rounds of pasta with teaspoons of filling

But can you believe, just as I was about to begin researching water systems, I was contacted by BRITA to see if I would be interested in reviewing their 3-Way Water Filter Tap in exchange for an honest review!  Incredible timing!

Each round is halved with the edges sealed with egg wash

Each round is halved with the edges sealed with egg wash

The BRITA 3-Way Water Filter Tap is installed as a very slick, smart, and minimalist-looking stainless steel tap unit.  On the right side of the tap unit is a lever for hot and cold water and on the left you have the lever for filtered water.  I was very pleased to find the water flow from the filtered tap is excellent and it rapidly fills either the sink for washing vegetables or a large pot to take to the stove.

BRITA 3-Way Tap

BRITA 3-Way Tap

Another relieving feature is that the unit takes up very little space under the kitchen sink; it’s barely noticeable.  The filter will last for around six months and will beep when it needs to be replaced.

It doesn't take up much room under your kitchen sink

It doesn’t take up much room under your kitchen sink

I’m so happy to have filtered water plumbed through my kitchen sink again.  Everyone in the family is drinking more water and I’m enjoying being able to use it for all my cooking.

A compact replacement filter

A compact replacement filter

Celebrity Chef, Gary Mehigan is the ambassador for BRITA Water.  He says having good water is ‘like using a good salt or olive oil, if all the basics are right, you have the foundations for good cooking’.  I cooked one of Gary’s recipes, Ricotta and Lemon Tortellini with Tarragon and Ricotta Salata, using filtered water as one of the key ingredients.  As the pot of water came to boil, there was no chlorine smell and I felt I was putting the tortellini into a very clean and fresh pan of water.  

Resting for a few minutes on white semolina

Resting for a few minutes on white semolina

In terms of this ricotta and lemon tortellini, I’d have to say it was incredible.  This is a restaurant-quality dish that isn’t actually as intimidating as it might appear.  I enjoying dusting down my pasta maker and creating these little Italian bites.  Yes, it’s a messy process and I did seem to have flour from one end of the kitchen to the other but I can only say it was absolutely worth it.  I’d like to cook this again as an entree for a dinner party.

Handmade Tortellini - and you can certainly taste the difference!

Handmade Tortellini – and you can certainly taste the difference!

BRITA and Gary Mehigan have many more fantastic recipes on their website.  You can see those and this tortellini recipe here!

Ricotta and Lemon Tortellini

Ricotta and Lemon Tortellini

5.0 from 9 reviews
Ricotta and Lemon Tortellini
Author: 
Recipe type: Pasta
Cuisine: Italian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ricotta and Lemon Tortellini with Tarragon and Ricotta Salata
Ingredients
  • For the pasta:
  • 300g OO (strong) flour
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp filtered water
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 whole eggs
  • For the filling:
  • 300 g ricotta
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 100g ricotta salata (salted dried ricotta)
  • 50 parmesan
  • ¼ cup fresh tarragon leaves
  • pinch of freshly ground black pepper
  • pinch flaked salt
  • 1 for egg wash
  • ¼ cup fine white semolina
  • For the sauce:
  • zest and juice juice of 1 lemon
  • 100ml extra virgin olive oil
  • tarragon leaves to decorate
  • Filtered water for boiling
Instructions
  1. Place the plain flour, salt, olive oil, filtered water and 3 eggs into a food processor and blend to a fine moist crumb. Turn the dough out onto the bench and knead into a ball. Continue to knead until the pasta is smooth, cohesive and elastic. Press the dough into a rough rectangle and wrap in cling wrap and set aside in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  2. Unwrap the dough and place onto a lightly floured bench. Use a rolling pin to elongate the rectangle so that it will pass easily through the widest setting of your pasta machine. Turn the handle and feed the pasta through the machine, teasing the rolled dough along the bench as it feeds through the machine. Remember to lightly flour the pasta dough between each rolling to prevent the dough from sticking.
  3. Repeat the process reducing the gap between the rollers each time it goes through until you reach the second last setting. The pasta should be thin but not so thin you can see your hand through it. The density gives mouth feel and some sturdiness to the tortellini. (On my pasta machine I started at 9 and went down to 5 - any thinner and I was starting to see my hand).
  4. Meanwhile place a large pot of filtered water on the stove to boil. Add salt.
  5. Cut 20, 10 cm circles out from the dough sheets with a pastry cutter and cover with a damp cloth.
  6. Mix the drained ricotta and lemon zest from one lemon. Add the ricotta, grated salata and parmesan (leaving some to garnish) as well as ¾ of the tarragon leaves mix and season with salt and pepper.
  7. Place a heaped teaspoon of the ricotta mixture in the centre of each pasta circle and brush half the edge with egg wash, then fold in half. Press the edge down with your fingers to seal in the mixture and form a little half moon or ravioli. Turn the two corners of the half moon shaped ravioli towards each other to form a tortellini. Stick the leading edges together and place onto a plate or tray sprinkled with the semolina.
  8. Sit them up and set aside for a few minutes.
  9. Place the second lemon zest and juice into a bowl. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and whisk in the extra virgin olive oil.
  10. Place tortellini in boiling salted filtered water for 2 – 3 minutes or until just tender. Drain and place them in a bowl. Drizzle with lemon oil, a few of the remaining tarragon leaves and grate the dried ricotta salata or parmesan over the top and serve.
Ricotta and Lemon Tortellini with Tarragon and Ricotta Salata

Ricotta and Lemon Tortellini with Tarragon and Ricotta Salata

Do you have the convenience of filtered water through a tap?

Tortellini

Tortellini

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Comments

  1. I am so craving a bowl of your ricotta and lemon tortellini. They are gorgeous! As far as the whole water thing goes, China water needs more that a water filter to make it safe for drinking. So we must rely on bottled water for drinking and cooking and ours actually comes from Australia. I can’t seem to get my mind off of your tortellini, I think I will have to try your recipe soon. Take Care, BAM

    • Hi Bam, I have a sister living in Beijing and so I know about the water quality over in China! Not good! I think my sister has a water treatment system as well as air-treatment systems.

  2. I’m with Bam on this one when it comes to water! The first thing I do when I walk through the door in Melbourne is go and get a glass of water from the tap and drink it 🙂 It tastes like nectar I promise. But I totally understand why you would want a filter. Your tortellini certainly look restaurant quality that’s for sure.

    • Thanks Nancy, I definitely agree that we have a lot less to worry about than the Chinese when it comes to water quality. But I’m just so pleased I know longer have that chlorine smell and taste in my water.

  3. Yum Charlie! Your tortellini look totally delicious! No, we don’t have filtered water.

  4. G’day! Looks terrific Charlie! I could go for some of this right now and we do have filtered water as Adelaide’s water is not the best!
    Love Gary’s recipes! Great mouthwatering photos!
    Cheers! Joanne

    • Hi Joanne, yes, Gary has some really good recipes. Enjoy your filtered water and I hope you give this tortellini recipe a try – you won’t regret it!

  5. I love that tortellini. What a win with the water filtration system. I worry that I’ll forget to change the filter. 🙂

    • Hi Maureen, I hope you do try to make the tortellini one day; it’s one of the best dishes I’ve cooked this year and my husband is insisting I make it again as an entree for a dinner party he’s planning. I should be right with the filter as it will beep and let me know.

  6. This is the second advertisement for Brita that I have seen today. ( the other one came on My Darling Lemon Thyme). May I suggest to all those worried about the nasty chlorine taste in the water that installing a rainwater tank is a much better option. It would pay for itself in no time at all and can be used to water the garden as well. I don’t know about drinking water that comes from plastic thingies under the sink.

    That recipe looks fantastic and so delicious- I am craving pasta!

    • Hi Francesa. Here’s a story that will shock you. Years ago my husband and I were building a house and we wanted to install rain water tanks. The council wouldn’t approve them – they were illegal! Then came the 10-year drought and didn’t that change things! I agree that water tanks are a good option but only if you have room for them and if you own the property you are living in.

  7. That’s pretty compact for a water filter system. BRITA to the rescue! I got amused reading until I noticed it was time to sample the Tortellini! Looks good!!!

    Julie
    Gourmet Getaways

    • Hi Julie, yes, it’s very compact which is a relief because my kitchen cupboards (all of them) are filled to capacity. I hope you make the tortellini one day; it’s well worth it.

  8. I think we are pretty darn lucky with our water in Canberra, it’s pretty great next to other cities. But when I travel I have a mini BRITA (I think) filtration jug. Its brilliant!
    Love that you were contacted to try their product, right when you really wanted it too. Awesome when that happens. 🙂

  9. Struth Charlie – I’m inspired – here in France the water is heavily calcified which makes it unsuitable for serious gourmet pursuits and the alternative is an expensive mains water filter – maybe BRITA need a European distributor.

    You and Carl should visit sometime — Best David

    • Hi David, so you’re living in France! How lovely and absolutely we would love to visit you. That’s a shame about the water quality in France. Like you say, perhaps BRITA should start exporting their systems as they’d be so much cheaper than a mains water filter. And very definitely I do want to come to France – I feel the urge to become a travel writer!

  10. I’m so glad you got the water cleaning system you needed! That is fantastic. 🙂 And your tortellini is gorgeous. 🙂

  11. No filtered water here and I buy bottled water only for travel and the occasional party. I don’t like the plastic issue.

    Anyway, the pasta looks delicious.

    • Thanks Audrey, I’m so glad I don’t have to buy bottled water any more. I can just fill up a bottle from my sink! Yes, the pasta was wonderful and it’s definitely a recipe I’ll be making again.

  12. Sweet Posy Dreams says:

    So impressive! The pasta absolutely looks like it would be served in a fine restaurant, but probably tastes even better.

    • Thanks Posy, yes, I thought this was a restaurant-quality dish. It certainly has that appearance. The good thing is, you don’t have to be a professionally trained chef to make it. This is a recipe is not too challenging for the home cook.

  13. The tortellini looks fantastic! We used to drink tap water but then got a tap installed and it’s brilliant. They even contact us when the filter needs changing because I wouldn’t ever remember that!

    • Hi Lorraine, thanks so much for the lovely compliment. I’d recommend this recipe to you; it’s definitely one of the best dishes I’ve cooked this year. Yes, it’s a relief to know the water is now filtered.

  14. What a terrific coincidence. The timing couldn’t have been better. I’m looking forward to making my own tortellini now that I finally have the clamp to my machine. I’ve made ravioli (the details of the difference between the two escape me) in the past and it was a lot of fun.

    Right now I’m torn between using the last of the ricotta in my fridge for a lemon bundt cake recipe or these. 🙂

    • Hi Marie, yes, it was an amazing coincidence. I’m so glad you found the clamp for your machine! Now if only I could find mine. I can’t believe I’ve lost it. Where did it go??? I think the only difference between ravioli and tortellini is in the shape! I hope you do try this recipe because it was sensational.

      • I made the lemon ricotta bundt cake (I’m posting the recipe and pictures later today when I glaze the cake) even though I had bought some parmesan cheese to make these. I thought I’d use the feta cheese in my freezer in place of the ricotta salata. Oh well, I needed an excuse to go to the city market next week. And for making spinach pasta.

  15. Our refrigerator has a filter for the drinking water it dispenses, so we use that for drinking. We really should do something like this for cooking, though — we had a whole house filter in Florida, and it really makes a difference. Love the tortellini recipe! So delish — thanks.

    • Hi John, my mother has a filter in her fridge as well but for a while she’s been wanting a filter on her kitchen sink. The only thing putting her off has been the size of the filtering units because she doesn’t have much room under the sink. But now that she’s seen this she’s all inspired. I hope you and Mrs Riffs give this recipe a try.

  16. We have a filter on our tap as well. I love it. This tortellini looks beyond delicious!!! Pasta is my downfall. I can’t stop with one helping. 🙂

    • Hi Kristy, I know what you mean about pasta being a downfall. It truly is one of those dishes where you hope there was enough made for seconds. Good to know you’re loving your tap filter – we’re very happy with ours as well.

  17. Great job Charlie, congrats about your new system. It is really small and takes almost no space under the sink… how lovely is that.
    Loved your dish nothing better than homemade pasta.

    • Thanks Amira, yes, it’s a great system and we’re very happy with it. I’m so thrilled it’s small enough to not occupy all available space under the sink. Yes, there is such a difference between dried pasta and handmade.

  18. Melissa says:

    Those tortellini look fantastic Charlie. I’m always surprised that anyone living in Sydney has any problem with our fantastic water. We’re very lucky to have super-clean fluoridated water. Though I’ve never noticed any chlorine smell, it’s easily dealt with by letting water sit for a short time. Adelaide water is a different story though.

    • Thanks so much, Melissa. I think my concern with Sydney water goes back to when we had that cryptosporidium outbreak and we were all warned on the news not to drink the water. I’ve been wanting filtered water ever since then. I keep hearing that Adelaide water is no good; I wonder what’s going on down there.

  19. O I could eat this right now. Sounds and looks perfect. I have heard that Sydney water is not as good as Melbourne’s – but that could be just the normal interstate rivalry clinging to urban myth.

    • Hi Denise, yes, the tortellini was wonderful and I sure wish I had made a double quantity – I would love some right now. It appears from earlier comments on this blog that the consensus is that the worst water is in Adelaide!

  20. What yummy looking pasta Charlie, very professional looking indeed! You lucky duck with the filter, great news. We have a little one that just piddles along slowly, so we only use it for drinking not cooking 🙁 I really like the idea that the filter will beep when it needs replacing, very convenient indeed xox

  21. Terrific blog! Now, on a very much humbler scale I have used a Brita water jug for about ten years and I could not live without it. Totally believe in it, like the taste of the water . . . and living mostly alone, find that it works fast and cheap for me, whereas you would need a more sophisticated setup for a family. Am glad for the link to the website: have quite frankly been too busy to think of looking for it myself!! Oh, methinks the tortellini will be copied also 🙂 !!!!

  22. I have a very similar tap! I went from buying bottled water to one of those brita jugs but it took so long to filter the water and a certain husband would never fill it up so it drove me nuts. The tap was expensive but it was so worth it. I can truly taste the difference. When the filter ran out I could tell. I wish mine had a beep though.
    I’ve never made tortellini but my mouth actually watered when I read ‘lemon and ricotta.’ One for my home grown lemons I think!

  23. That looks really yummy, and will be going trough your recipes 🙂

  24. I currently have a filter pitcher that I keep in the refrigerator. It works, but the capacity is not that high, so it’s only for drinking. I would love to have a sink mounted filter!

  25. Beautiful pasta!! I wish I could find ricotta salata over here. They look at me funny when I ask for it! Folding pasta is so therapeutic, don’t you think?

  26. We have been having water issues for a while in our town, instaling such a filter looks like a good idea. Love the pasta dish Charlie.

  27. i love the water filter system we have here at work but its so much effort to convince the family to install one at home!

  28. Thankfully the water in NYC is clean and delicious, otherwise I’d be investing in one of these as well. and your tortellini are adorable!! I’m so impressed.

  29. That IS good timin I love having good water on tap, because it’s just so easy! Your tortellini looks amazing! 🙂 xo

  30. Drooling! I’ve never made pasta… just working up to it. Love the idea of lemon and ricotta filling. Hope the filer system keeps working well.

  31. This looks like a great system. I always filter my water and have a bench top model. I like the idea of a system that beeps when the filter needs changing because with mine it’s hard to tell.

  32. Fortunately our water in the city is very good quality (I had an independent test done on it shortly after our renovation about 7 years ago). However, the water at the cottage is something else entirely! It comes from the lake and we all know what goes on even in a rustic old lake up north. So I had a water purifier installed but shortly after they stopped making the filters for that model, so now the tap sits to the right of the sink with no purpose! This Brita (a well trusted name) is something I will research because we must buy bottled water for the cottage and it’s expensive and a lot to recycle (bring back to the city). I would love a simple tap like the one you received, except I would not require hot water — it would save a lot of time and money (time from the aspect of having to keep track of how much bottled water we have on hand and buying it every second weekend).
    Now that tortellini not only looks fantastic but lemon and ricotta are one of my all time favourite combinations so it sounds fabulous too. Restaurant quality in looks is definitely there and you did a great job with the manual pasta maker (I took mine to the cottage when I got the KitchenAid attachment for Christmas one year, although I have yet to use it. Even though we don’t eat much pasta, a few little pillows of these as an appetizer would be a perfect start to a gourmet meal and would be very impressive. I think I’ll make these for our next guests at the cottage (another foodie couple, so I have to have my game on!)

  33. The Ricotta and Lemon Tortellini looks DELISH))!!
    We get our water from Lake Superior, which is supposed to be one of the purest lakes in the world…also, the COLDEST!

    Great review. FAB FOOD. xxx

  34. This looks amazing, I hope one day I have enough patience to make homemade tortellini!

  35. I hate “envy,” but I admit to feeling a tad envious of your treatment system. My tap water is not drinkable and we have 5 gallon bottles delivered each weak. Not a perfect solution, but better than when we had to boil it ourselves. The tortellini look amazing. I have made ravioli with wontons or gyozo wrappers before, but not tortellini. Must try these.

  36. We enjoy our little Brita water container with the disposable filter…but this three-way water tap is really impressive. I hope I see one of these in our local home center at some point! I’d be very interested. And your tortellini looks fabulous, too. I’ve been following the adventures of Miss Arabella but reading from work and not commenting. Tonight is catch up night and I’m reading again. I find your stories (and your family) so entertaining! Have a good weekend…how can we be there again already!

  37. You nailed that recipe Charlie. What a great uidea having a tap like that. its very small and compact

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