Agnolotti Alessandrini
This recipe belongs to the tradition of Alessandria families for generations and is characterized by the abundant and robust Barbera, in which adult bovine meat taken from the neck is cooked.
To accompany with a Barbera Superiore d'Asti DOCG
- 1 kilogram beef
- 150 grams sausage
- 1 spleen
- 100 grams cooked salami
- 1 liter Barbera wine
- 50 grams butter
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic
- 1 carrot
- 1 stick of celery
- 1 Cinnamon
- 1 Juniper grains
- 250 grams Escarole
- 2
- 2 laurel leaves
- Salt and pepper
- 400 grams 00 flour
- 6 eggs
- salt
- For the stew
After cutting the meat into regular pieces, cover it with the vegetables cut into pieces and with all the herbs; pour the bottle of Barbera and leave to marinate in a cool place overnight, taking care to always leave the meat covered in wine. Drain the carrot, celery and onion, chop them and place everything in an earthenware pan with the oil and butter. Drain the meat, dry it first with a cloth, roll it in the flour, then brown it carefully. The wine from the marinade, filtered and boiled separately, will be added still hot to the pan,
so that the meat doesn't lose its heat. Add a piece of spleen that has been washed, blanched and scraped with a salt knife and add a pinch of sugar: continue cooking for over two hours on a moderate heat. Blend two or three pieces of meat that you will add to the sauce that will be used to season the agnolotti. Prepare the filling by finely chopping the stew by hand (or not too finely by machine). Boil an escarole plant, squeeze it thoroughly and chop it. Add the sausage after having "untied" it with a fork. Chop the
cooked salami. Break three eggs and add two yolks and the parmesan. Bring everything together, mixing carefully and seasoning with salt. - for pasta
Form a pastry with the flour, a pinch of salt, three whole eggs and three egg yolks; add, only if necessary, a drop of warm water and knead the dough until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous mixture.
Make the agnolotti by rolling out a thin sheet of dough and passing it through the appropriate machine, 40 or 50 centimeters long and about 10 centimeters wide. Place small piles of filling in a row on top of the pastry the size of a cherry, spaced about a centimeter apart, fold the pastry lengthwise to cover the filling.
Make the dough adhere well with your hands all around the filling without leaving gaps, then trim the dough and divide the agnolotti with the ravioli cutter. The classic Alessandria agnolotto is slightly large, around 3.5 or 4 centimeters on each side. - Cooking
Boil the agnolotti in salted water or broth for a few minutes. The agnolotto must be cooked just right, not “al dente”, but not overcooked either. Serve the agnolotti in a bowl, seasoning them with the stew sauce. Sprinkle with grated parmesan.
Don't forget to serve a separate bowl with a dozen agnolotti covered in Barbera wine.