Beef and spinach agnolotti

Step 1

For the homemade pasta dough

Step 4

Place the flour on your working surface and make a well in its center. Add in the eggs, lightly beaten, the olive oil, and the salt.

Step 5

Mix with a fork, incorporating a little flour at a time. When the dough starts forming and you aren’t able to continue mixing with the fork, start kneading with your hands.

Step 6

At first, the dough will stick to your fingers but if you knead it constantly for at least 10 minutes, you will see it thickening and getting the desired consistency. If you want, you can make the dough in the mixer, too.

Step 7

When it’s ready (it will have a velvety texture and it won’t stick to your hands anymore), wrap it in plastic wrap so that it doesn’t dry, and let it rest for 30-60 minutes.

Step 10

For the stuffing

Step 13

In a pot add half of the butter, the onion, the beef, and sauté until the meat is golden brown.

Step 14

Add the rosemary, the garlic, the flour, and mix very well.

Step 15

Add the tomato sauce, salt, and sauté for 1 more minute. Then, add the stock.

Step 16

Lower the heat, cover the pot, and simmer for about 1 hour until the meat is very tender.

Step 17

Drain the meat, remove the rosemary, and put the sauce aside.

Step 18

In a pot, heat the spinach until it wilts. Drain it and add it to the meat.

Step 19

Transfer the meat along with the spinach into a food processor.

Step 20

Add half of the parmesan, the egg yolk, the nutmeg, and process until there is a uniform mixture.

Step 21

Add the stuffing in a pastry bag and refrigerate it for 30 minutes until it thickens.

Step 24

For the agnolotti

Step 27

With a rolling pin or a pasta maker, roll out the dough into a long, thin sheet.

Step 28

With a pastry bag, shape a line with the stuffing along the sheet, 1-2 cm away from the edges of the side that is in front of you.

Step 29

Cover the stuffing with the sheet that is in front of you, and -with your hands- roll the side with the stuffing twice inwards (technically, you will create a thin roll with the stuffing at its center).

Step 30

With a pastry cutter wheel or with a knife, cut the remaining dough lengthwise (that is, what is left after double-rolling the dough).

Step 31

Starting from the beginning of the roll, “divide” it into pieces using your fingers (do not cut them, simply shape cavities along the roll).

Step 32

Then, with the pastry cutter wheel, cut the right and left sides (where the cavities are), creating the agnolotti.

Step 33

In the end, you will have created small, rectangular pieces that will have the stuffing at the center.

Step 34

In a pot, boil the agnolotti in salted water, for 5-7 minutes.

Step 35

Drain them and put aside 50-70 g of the water where the pasta boiled.

Step 36

In a small frying pan, add the sauce that you put aside when you drained the meat.

Step 37

Add the rest of the butter and the water from the pasta that you put aside.

Step 38

Add in the agnolotti and boil them for 2 minutes.

Step 39

Serve right away, sprinkling with the rest of the parmesan and a little finely chopped parsley.