Meat & spinach filled agnolotti

Agnolotti recipe

Preparation and cooking

• - Cook meat. Preliminary stage if you have no cooked meat left.
  Put meat in a saucepan with butter (40g - 1 1/2 ounce) and salt.
  Cover and cook gently until tender.
  If necessary, add one or more tablespoons of water.
  Chill and mince.
• - Prepare agnolotti filling.
  Place minced meat in a bowl together with egg yolk (put apart white, it will serve for pasta dough), spinach, grated Parmesan, ham, salami, dry Marsala, nutmeg, salt and chilli.
  Mix together all your ingredients with a wooden spoon.
  For a better result I suggest not to use a food processor.
• - Prepare pasta dough.
  Incorporate all listed ingredients on a work surface and work until you have your pasta dough. Link to instructions below.
  Let your pasta dough rest for at least 30 minutes in a cool place.
• - Prepare agnolotti.
  Roll your dough extra thin, at least 0,2cm (1/8in).
  Lay a dough strip on a lightly floured surface and cut crossways in half.
  Work on one half. Drop 1/2 teaspoon of the filling in vertical rows about 4cm (1 1/2in) apart.
  Dip a pastry brush or your fingers sparingly in water and moisten pasta dough round every filling.
  At this point lay the other half on top.
  Press your dough sheets together between the mounds of filling.
  Using a pasta wheel, cut vertical and then horizontal lines between the filled squared.
  Transfer agnolotti to a floured tea towel and let rest for 1 hour. You can store up to 1 day.
  I suggest you not to put a piece of agnolotti on another; in this case they might stick.

Note

Tips

• - This is my own version of Italian agnolotti but I want to assure you that In Piedmont every family has his own version ;))
• - With these ingredients you can make about 80 pieces of agnolotti. My agnolotti are not too big.
• - This fresh pasta could be planned when you have any cooked meat left. Your dish will be better.
• - This dish is traditional in autumn and winter in the north of Italy.

Menu planning

• - Agnolotti is a tasty one-plate meal for your Sunday lunch in family but it can be a first course in a full menu too, according to the Italian tradition (it's a special dish for Holiday season).
  If served as one-plate meal, complete your menu with a green salad and fresh fruit. In this case the doses are enough for 4 people.
  If served in a full menu, this dish serve 8 and more people, especially if you have children at table.
• - Here are some tips to cook and dress agnolotti.
  Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil.
  Toss in agnolotti and cook until puffy (cooking time depends on dough thickness - about 10 minutes).
  Drain well. Dress with:
  - "sugo di carne" (meat sauce)
  - butter and grated Parmesan .
  - melted butter and sage
  - tomato sauce.

Useful links for this recipe

• - You could be interested in reading instructions for egg fresh pasta.
• - Other useful recipes for you are Italian sauces, right?

Healthy eating

• - I calculated nutrition facts without any sauce. So be careful and choose the sauce you prefer according to your diet.
• - To decrease calories and fat:
  you can use olive oil (1 1/2 tablespoons) instead of butter when you cook meat;
  boiled ham and salami can be replaced, in the filling, with 2 tablespoons of boiled, drained and minced escarole.
  All tricks that my grandmother and mother had the habit to make, at Christmas, when on the table there was always more than necessary. Unless we had to use even salami left (rarely =_^)

Loretta

What's the right wine ?

Grignolino or Barolo (both red wines from Piedmont) are the best choice to pair to agnolotti dish.