Agnolotti del Plin
with roast sauce

A dish whose roots lie in the Langhe and Monferrato, once served during the Christmas period and on special occasions. But why are they called Plin? The term Plin means “pinch” and refers to the technique with which the filling is closed inside the fresh pasta, gently pinching the ends. An ancient custom used to consume ravioli in a folded napkin, so as to retain all its incredible softness. They were eaten without seasoning, if not in rare cases accompanied by a cup of broth and a glass of wine.

Ingredients

For the pastry

  • 300 gr. of flour 00
  • 1 whole egg
  • 3 yolks
  • Durum wheat semolina to taste

For the stuffing

  • 250 gr of veal
  • 150 gr of pork
  • 200 g rabbit legs
  • 600 gr of spinach
  • a head of escarole or endive
  • 1 egg
  • 150 g of Parmesan cheese
  • nutmeg
  • rosemary
  • onion, celery, carrot
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 glass of red wine
  • oil, salt, pepper
anchovies al green

Method

For the pastry:
Start with the preparation of fresh pasta. Arrange the sifted flour on a pastry board, create a hollow and insert the 3 egg yolks and the whole egg inside. At first, gently beat the eggs with a fork, then work the ingredients with your hands until the dough is smooth and homogeneous. Cover the fresh pasta with plastic wrap and let it rest in a cool place for about 1 hour. Now proceed with the preparation of the Plin. Roll out the dough until you get a very thin sheet. On the lower half of each pastry with the help of the pastry bag, arrange a ball of filling of about 20 grams, leaving a space of 2 centimeters between each ball. Then fold the dough on itself from the long side and pinch the edges of the dough on the sides of the filling balls with your fingers. With a wheel cut the dough lengthwise a few millimeters from the filling.

For the stuffing:
Cut the vegetables and set them aside. After removing the fat from the meat, heat a few tablespoons of oil in a pan and let the pork and veal brown until golden brown. In a separate pan, brown the rabbit legs in two tablespoons of oil, until they are also golden. Then combine all types of meat in a single and large pot. Add the rosemary, carrots, celery and onion and deglaze with a glass of red wine. Cook over a high flame for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add a ladle of broth. Cover with a lid and cook over low heat for about 1 hour. When the meats are cooked, let them cool out of the pot. Keep the cooking sauce aside because it will be the sauce for the plin. Meanwhile, cook the spinach in a pan with a drizzle of oil until wilted (it will take about 5 minutes).

Then de-bone the rabbit, chop the pork and veal and put them in a mixer to chop them. Combine the egg, vegetables and cheese, then blend all the ingredients and transfer the mixture into a pastry bag.

Have you finished preparing the filling and pasta?
Then it’s time to cook the plins in boiling salted water for a few minutes. Drain them and toss them in the pan with the roast sauce in which you have added a few sage leaves and a generous knob of butter.
Serve the plin with roast sauce piping hot, with a generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.
And finally… enjoy your meal!