Short Rib-Stuffed Agnolotti del Plin

Tools

Pasta dough

Roasted 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

Pasta Sauce

Day One

Roasted Short Ribs

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

Pasta Dough

Beat eggs
Pour flour onto wooden board, and make a well in the centre of the flour
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
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.
Begin kneading the dough; if it’s too dry, use the bench scraper to remove any excess flour from the board. Continue to knead.
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.
Form the dough into a ball, cover in cling wrap, and leave to rest on the board for 15 minutes.
Remove cellophane; Dough should be shiny and smooth after resting
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.
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.
Remove the dough from the fridge at least an hour prior to use to come to room temperature

Day Two

Roasted Short Ribs

Roughly chop onion, celery, and carrot, and mash garlic cloves
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.
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.
Reduce heat to low and add in 2 cups of red wine, and re-add the meat.
Pre-heat the oven to 350.
Cook until the wine is reduced and becomes thick and almost like a glaze.
Add the herbs and peppercorns, stirring to combine, and then add the broth and bring to a boil.
Put a lid on the pot, and place in the oven for two hours.
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.
Remove the lid, and continue to roast it uncovered for approximately an hour.
After an hour, the broth should be reduced, the pot should be brown, and the meat should be browned and caramelized.
Remove the meat, separating the meat from the bones, and set both aside.
Using the remaining liquid and a rubber spatula, deglaze the pan.
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.

The Filling

Wash and dry the spinach.
Place a high-rimmed pot on the stove over medium-high heat, coating the bottom in olive oil.
Toast the garlic slices in the olive oil until lightly browned.
Add the spinach and smash it into the bottom of the pan, which will release the water quickly.
Season the spinach mixture with salt, turn off the eat, and stirr, allowing the residual heat to cook the spinach until it’s a glossy dark green.
Add short-rib meat to a food processor, removing any sinew.
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.
Puree the mixture until smooth.
Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
Add filling mixture to a piping bag, and chill in the refrigerator.

Pasta

Coat a sheet tray in semolina flour
Unwrap dough; it should be bouncy, soft, and well-hydrated
Cut the dough into quarters, and keep half covered
Flatten the 1/4 of dough, trying to make it an evenly-flat rectangle or square
Using your pasta machine, start at the 0 or widest setting and roll the dough through. Flip the dough, and run it through again.
Repeat this process with higher or thinner settings until you get to the eight setting
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

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

Cooking the finished pasta

Bring a pot of water to a boil, when it’s boiling, add salt
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.
Once the water is boiling, add salt, and crank up the heat on the sauce to really reduce it.
Add pasta to boiling water, reduce heat, and cook for 3 minutes.
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.
Turn off the heat, and add butter, slowly tossing until the butter is completely melted.
Serve with Parmigiano Reggiano and any additional sauce from the pan

Alexi Chatzilias

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