Agnolotti del Plin

Agnolotti del Plin

Agnolotti del Plin

Duration: 2h 30min + 2h rest

Difficulty: Demanding

Region: Piemonte

Agnolotti del Plin are a type of stuffed pasta typical of the Langhe in Piedmont. The plin is the pinch with which this particular type of agnolotti is closed. In fact, the agnolotto from the Langhe differs from the more well-known Turinese one in some characteristics. First of all its small size, then for the filling which, reflecting the influences of the Ligurian tradition, is made of meat (leftovers from roast pork and veal) accompanied by vegetables. There are variants with meat that can be rabbit or sausage, as in vegetables that instead of spinach can be present beets, cabbage, carrots, etc. Turinese, due to the size, reduced and because the filling also includes vegetables, as the Ligurian tradition also wants. It can often happen that different or unusual meats are used for a filling, such as rabbit meat.

Ingredients

For 4 people:

• 500 g of flour
• 2 eggs + 3 yolks
• 250 g of Veal Shoulder Fesone
• 250 g of pork leg
• 300 g of spinach or chard
• 50 g of grated Grana Padano
• 1 sprig of Rosemary
• Nutmeg
• Broth
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Butter
• 4 Sage leaves
• Pepper
• salt

How to Proceed

First we have to prepare the filling for the agnolotti.

Take a saucepan and add a drizzle of oil and a knob of butter. Brown the meat cut into pieces  (not minced) together with the rosemary and garlic. Add the salt only after the meat is well browned and finally dampened with the broth. Let the meat cook well, adding the broth when it gets too dry (the cooking time depends on the size of the pieces of meat).

While the meat is cooking, wash the spinach leaves well (or chard if you prefer) and blanch them in boiling water for a few minutes. Drain the spinach and squeeze them to remove the water inside. Put them back in the pan for a few minutes with a knob of butter to complete the cooking and dry them well.

Once the meat and vegetables are ready, let everything cool down. Then take a meat grinder (or a blender) and pass everything in order to obtain a dough for the filling, which you will pour into a bowl. Then add 2 whole eggs and the grated Grana Padano. Give a generous grating of nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. Mix everything well with a wooden spoon.

Now it’s time to prepare the pasta for the agnolotti.

Make a fountain on a pastry board and add two whole eggs + 4 egg yolks in the center. Also add a teaspoon of oil. Mix everything until you get a smooth and homogeneous dough. Let the dough rest for half an hour. Then make a sheet as thin as possible. Divide the dough into strips of pastry about 6 cm wide.

Roll out the strips of puff pastry well on the floured work surface and start placing piles of filling in a row at a distance of 1 cm from one of the two edges of the strip of pastry, helping yourself with a teaspoon for the doses. The mound should be the size of a hazelnut. There shouldn’t be much space between the various mounds, about 1 cm apart. Then fold the dough along its length, so as to obtain a strip of about 3 cm. Press the edge well with your fingers to adhere the two edges of the dough and close it perfectly.

Cut the edges of the strip of pasta with the toothed wheel and then with the pizzotto (plin) weld the pasta between two fillings. Finally separate them definitively with the toothed wheel.

Now that the fresh pasta is ready, let it dry for about a couple of hours.

After this time, boil a pot of salted water and pour in the agnolotti. The cooking time is only 3-4 minutes. Drain them and dress them with a sauce of melted butter and scalded sage in it.