Short-Rib-Stuffed Agnolotti del Plin

My friend Alexi became fixated on the video for these Short-Rib-Stuffed Agnolotti del Plin, and despite never having made pasta before, let alone a complicated, all-day-long recipe for fresh pasta stuffed with braised short ribs, he recruited me to work with him on trying it out for the first time.

So I studied the video, wrote out the recipe, and we gave it a shot. Despite a big learning curve with the fresh pasta (we initially tried using the ravioli attachment, but that required more skill & patience than we had that day), we did manage to get some pretty decent results – honestly, the filling is excellent, and flavour-wise you’re going to be happy no matter your skill with fresh pasta.

I’ve since learned a lot more about making fresh pasta, and you can find my go-to recipe for Fresh Pasta – Pasta Fresca all’uovo at the link; it’s slightly different from the pasta recipe below, and goes into more detail.

I’ve split this into three days, as you want to salt the meat the day before you cook it, and you want to make the pasta dough the day before you roll it out/cook it, and braising the short-ribs takes several hours (your house will smell amazing). This might look a bit daunting, but basically every braised beef recipe I’ve ever had has tasted okay the day I cook it but incredible the next day, so it’s definitely worth taking the time.

Short-Rib-Stuffed Agnolotti del Plin is a labour of love. This is a big undertaking – don’t rush it.

Short Rib-Stuffed Agnolotti del Plin

Special Equipment

• Kitchen Scale
• wooden board
• bench scraper
• cling wrap
• Dutch oven
• fat separator
• salad spinner
• rubber spatula
• food processor
• piping bag
• Sheet tray
• pasta machine – I have the Mercato Atlas 150
• pasta trimmer
• spray bottle with water
• spider or slotted spoon

Ingredients

Pasta dough

• 454g 00 Flour
• 270g eggs (approx 5 large eggs)

Braised Short Ribs

• 3.4 – 4lbs Short ribs, bone-in English cut, very meaty and lean
• (if you use boneless short ribs, you can get 2.5 lbs)
• Salt
• 1 medium Onion, roughly chopped
• 1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
• 1 carrot, roughly chopped
• cloves of garlic, mashed
• thyme
• rosemary
• sage
• bay leaf
• 10 whole peppercorns
• 4 cups brodo or good quality beef or chicken broth
• Northern Italian red wine (he uses Barbera D’Asti – save a splash of it for the sauce)

Pasta Filling

• Roasted Short Ribs
• Demi-glaze and fat from roasted short ribs
• large-leaf spinach – 1 bunch
• cloves of garlic, sliced thin
• 1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano

Pasta Sauce

• Semolina Flour
• 1 cup chicken stock
• Splash of red wine
• butter (he uses black truffle butter)
• Parmigiano Reggiano (to serve)

Short-Rib-Stuffed Agnolotti del Plin Method

Day One

Braised Short Ribs

1. In a pan, heavily salt the short ribs and leave to rest uncovered in the fridge overnight to dry the surface

Day Two

Pasta Dough

1. Beat eggs
2. Pour flour onto wooden board, and make a well in the centre of the flour
3. Pour the beaten eggs into the centre of the well, and use a fork to scramble the eggs, slowly working in the flour a little at a time
4. When the mixture in the well reaches the consistency of thick pancake batter, use a bench scraper to fold in the flour, cutting the flour into the mixture.  Continue cutting the flour into the mixture until you can form a ball of dough.
5. Begin kneading the dough; if it’s too dry, use the bench scraper to remove any excess flour from the board. Continue to knead.
6. Once the dough is well-kneaded, use your fingers to pinch together a seam. If the seam easily pulls apart, the dough is too dry.  Wet your hands and work that water into the dough until a seam that’s pinched together doesn’t pull apart.
7. Form the dough into a ball, cover in cling wrap, and leave to rest on the board for 15 minutes.
8. Remove cellophane; Dough should be shiny and smooth after resting
9. Begin kneading dough  on a clean wooden board; the dough should seal itself, and if it doesn’t, repeat the steps with wet hands above.
10. After 5-10 minutes of kneading, re-wrap the dough. If using the same day, let it rest 2-3 hours on the table. If using it the next day, refrigerate overnight.
11. Remove the dough from the fridge at least an hour prior to use to come to room temperature

Braised Short Ribs

1. Roughly chop onion, celery, and carrot, and mash garlic cloves
2. On the stove top, pre-heat a dutch oven and some olive oil on medium-high.  Once it’s hot, brown short ribs (starting meat-side down) on all sides really well.
3. Increase heat slightly, and add in the vegetables (remove the meat if desired) and saute until slightly caramelized and there is fond in the pan.
4. Reduce heat to low and add in 2 cups of red wine, and re-add the meat.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 350.
6. Cook until the wine is reduced and becomes thick and almost like a glaze.
7. Add the herbs and peppercorns, stirring to combine, and then add the broth and bring to a boil.
8. Put a lid on the pot, and place in the oven for two hours.
9. Once the short ribs have roasted for two hours, use a fork to poke the meat and see how tender it is to gauge cooking time. 
10. Remove the lid, and continue to roast it uncovered for approximately an hour.
11. After an hour, the broth should be reduced, the pot should be brown, and the meat should be browned and caramelized.
12. Remove the meat, separating the meat from the bones, and set both aside.
13. Using the remaining liquid and a rubber spatula, deglaze the pan.
14. Pour the liquid out of the dutch oven and strain out the vegetables and herbs, squeezing to make sure all of the juices are reserved. Pour into a fat separator; the liquid will separate into a demi-glaze layer and a bone-marrow/fat layer. Set aside.

Day Three

1. Remove dough from fridge 1-2 hours before using

The Filling

1. Wash and dry the spinach.
2. Place a high-rimmed pot on the stove over medium-high heat, coating the bottom in olive oil.
3. Toast the garlic slices in the olive oil until lightly browned.
4. Add the spinach and smash it into the bottom of the pan, which will release the water quickly.
5. Season the spinach mixture with salt, turn off the eat, and stir, allowing the residual heat to cook the spinach until it’s a glossy dark green.
6. Add short-rib meat to a food processor, removing any sinew.
7. Add cooked spinach and 1 cup parmigiano reggiano, and 1/4 cup of the reduced demi-glaze (from the bottom of the fat separator) and a few tablespoons of the fat. Add salt and pepper to taste.
8. Puree the mixture until smooth.
9. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
10. Add filling mixture to a piping bag, and chill in the refrigerator.

Pasta

1. Coat a sheet tray in semolina flour
2. Unwrap dough; it should be bouncy, soft, and well-hydrated
3. Cut the dough into quarters, and keep half covered
4. Flatten the 1/4 of dough, trying to make it an evenly-flat rectangle or square
5. Using your pasta machine, start at the 0 or widest setting and roll the dough through.  Flip the dough, and run it through again.
6. Repeat this process with higher or thinner settings until you get to the eight setting
7. Once you have a nice long strip of dough, move it to the cutting board and cut it into 2-3 sheets, trimming the imperfect edges.

Filling the pasta

1. Cut the tip off of the piping bag at about the thickness of your thumb.
2. Pipe out 1-2 teaspoons of filing onto the past sheet, keeping a thumbnail of space between each piped filling.
3. Once you’ve piped out a row of filling, spray the pasta and filling with water.
4. Grab the edge of the dough closest to you and gently fold it over the filling to meet the other dough.
5. With your index finger and your thumb, squeeze and pinch the space between each piece of filling, creating square pockets and sealing in the filling.
6. Pass over a second time to pinch the flat pats between the fillings really well to ensure a good seal.
7. Take the pasta cutter with the fluted side, and cut it on the flat side, about a thumbnail away from the filling.
8. Pull the dough away from the board to ensure that it isn’t stuck.
9. Spray the past again with water
10. Cut in between each piece of filling, coming from the folded side, so that the pasta trimmer seals the remaining flap of dough
11. Set on the sheet tray with the semolina

Cooking the finished pasta

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil, when it’s boiling, add salt
2. In a pan, add 1/4 cup of the demi-glaze, 1 cup chicken stock, and a splash of red wine, and reduce over medium heat.
3. Once the water is boiling, add salt, and crank up the heat on the sauce to really reduce it.
4. Add pasta to boiling water, reduce heat, and cook for 3 minutes.
5. Using a spider, remove the past from the water and add it directly to the sauce.  Continue cooking on high heat and reducing the sauce to a thick glaze texture that coats the past.
6. Turn off the heat, and add butter, slowly tossing until the butter is completely melted.
7. Serve with Parmigiano Reggiano and any additional sauce from the pan

I haven’t mastered the art of saving these before cooking the pasta, but if you’d like to, I thikn the best tack to take is to let them dry for a little while on a baking sheet before freezing them, one layer at a time. This is something I’m still learning – any tips are very welcome!

For more delicious recipes, check out my Family Recipes page.

Alexi Chatzilias Alexis

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