Agnolotti With Sage Buttter Food

AGNOLOTTI WITH BROWN BUTTER AND SAGE

Steps:

• Brown the meat in the olive oil, removing the pieces as they brown. Add the chopped carrot, celery and onion and saute this until translucent. Add the bay leaves, sherry and broth and return the squirrel pieces to the pot. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until the meat wants to fall off the bones.
• Fish out the meat and debone it. Chop roughly and put the meat into a food processor. Pulse it into an almost-paste. Let it cool in a bowl. Once the meat is cool, add all the remaining filling ingredients and mix well.
• While the meat is cooking, make the pasta dough. Mix all the pasta ingredients together in a bowl and knead well for about 5 minutes. Wrap in plastic wrap and let the dough sit an hour to hydrate, or vacuum seal and it'll hydrate immediately.
• Once the dough has hydrated and the filling is ready, cut the pasta into five pieces. Keep all but the piece you are working on wrapped in plastic so it doesn't dry out.
• Roll out the pasta into long, thin rectangles. On my Atlas pasta roller, I roll to No. 7, which is two settings away from the thinnest, which is No. 9. That'll give you an idea how thin to roll it.
• Place a teaspoon of filling at intervals on the pasta sheet. Remember you are folding over this sheet, so put the filling about halfway down the sheet. Fold the sheet over the filling. Using the thumb and forefinger of both hands, pinch the pasta over the filling to seal, pushing out all the air.
• Use a ravioli cutter to even out the edge of the whole sheet where the top and bottom come together. Discard that little bit of pasta. Use the same ravioli roller to separate each agnolotto. Set them on a baking sheet dusted with semolina flour or corn meal. Repeat with the remaining dough.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add enough salt to make the water taste salty. Boil the agnolotti until they float, and then 1 minute more.
• Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large pan, ideally non-stick. Add the sage and toasted pine nuts and let this fry over medium heat. When the agnolotti are cooked, move them to this pan, toss to coat with the sage brown butter and pine nuts, and serve at once.

WHITE CORN AGNOLOTTI

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In a heavy saute pan, add chicken stock, chopped sage, and butter. Boil until mixture emulsifies. Season with salt and pepper.
• Cook the agnolotti in the water until al dente, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and toss gently in the sage butter. Serve in soup plates and shave white truffles on top.
• To take advantage of the wonderful truffle aroma, cover each individual bowl of agnolotti with another plate. When brought to the table, remove the top plate so that the truffle aroma escapes just as the guest takes the first bite.
• In a medium saute pan, bring the cream to a boil. Reduce until only 1/3 cup remains. Stir in the grated corn, salt, pepper and sugar. Bring the mixture to a slow boil, stirring constantly. Continue to cook until the mixture reduces and thickly coats the back of a spoon.
• Transfer mixture to a medium bowl. Stir in the cheeses and thyme and mix until well blended. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Place bowl over ice bath to allow filling to set.
• Make the agnolotti: Roll out the dough very thin. Brush with eggwash. Mound little heaps of filling about 1-inch apart. Fold over and squeeze dough together in between filling mounds. With a serrated pasta cutter, cut agnolotti. Cut away excess dough lengthwise; there should be no more than 1/4-inch around the edges.
• Yield: about 2 cups of filling, makes about 100 agnolotti
• In a food processor fitted with the steel blade, combine the flour, egg yolks, salt, olive oil, and 2 tablespoons of the water. Process until the dough begins to hold together, then stop the machine and pinch the dough to test it. If it's too dry, add up to 1 more tablespoon of water and process until it forms a moist ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured smooth work surface and knead by hand, until a smooth ball is formed. Loosely wrap in plastic and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces. Keep the other pieces covered in plastic while you roll out one piece at a time, by hand with a rolling pin or through the rollers of a pasta machine, stretching the dough to the desired thickness.
• If using a pasta machine, set the rollers at the widest opening. Flatten the first piece of dough into a thick strip no wider than the machine, to enable it to pass through the rollers. If necessary, dust the pasta very lightly with flour. Run the pasta through the machine. Fold in thirds, crosswise, and run through the machine again. Repeat this procedure 2 more times, until the dough is smooth and somewhat elastic.
• Set the machine to the next smaller opening and run the dough through the rollers. Continue rolling and stretching the dough, using the smaller opening each time, until the next to the last or the last opening is reached, dusting lightly with flour only as necessary. (The strip of dough will be long. If you don't have enough space on your worktable, halfway through the rolling process, cut the strip of dough in half and continue to work with each piece separately, keeping the unused dough covered).

GORGONZOLA AND PEAR AGNOLOTTI WITH SAGE & WALNUT BROWN BUTTER SAUCE

Steps:

• Add the flour and eggs to the bowl of a food processor. Blend for 30 seconds until the mixture is sandy but holds together when pressed between your fingers. Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface. It will be crumbly, but once you start kneading, it will all come together. Gather the dough and begin to knead with the heel of your hand until it's supple and shiny, 1 to 2 minutes. If the dough feels too dry and not springy enough, add a touch of water and continue to knead until it reaches the right consistency. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and allow it to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Add the pink peppercorns to a small saute pan over medium heat. Toast the peppercorns until fragrant, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer into a spice grinder and blend. Set aside.
• Heat a large, high-sided saute pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and the pear and saute, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Transfer the sauteed pear to a small sheet tray to cool.
• Add the garlic and stick of butter into the same pan and gently melt over medium heat. Add the walnuts and sage. Cook the butter, swirling occasionally, until the milk solids have separated, and the butter is nutty and browned, but not burned, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the apple cider vinegar, then remove the garlic and discard.
• Stir together the mascarpone and Gorgonzola dolce in a large bowl, beating well with a rubber spatula until fully combined. Add the cooled sauteed pears and 1/4 teaspoon of the toasted pink peppercorns and gently stir to combine. Season to taste with salt. Set up a pastry bag with a large round tip. Fill the bag with the mascarpone and Gorgonzola filling, then set aside.
• To roll out the pasta, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time (keeping the others covered with plastic wrap so they don't dry out), flatten the dough with your palm. Feed the dough through your pasta roller on the widest setting. Fold the dough on either end to create an envelope, then feed through the pasta roller a second time. Fold the dough into an envelope again, decrease the pasta roller setting to make it thinner and run the dough through again. Repeat this process of folding and running through the pasta roller two times before decreasing the thickness of the roller, finishing with the thinnest setting.
• Lay the sheets of pasta on a parchment paper-lined sheet tray and cover with a damp towel while you repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.
• To fill and shape the agnolotti, lay a pasta sheet on a floured board with one of the long edges closest to you. Brush the edge closest to you with water. Pipe a line of filling down the center of the dough. Fold over the top portion of the dough to meet the edge that's been brushed with water. Pinch the dough on either side of each mound of filling to seal the dough and to ensure there are no air pockets. Using a fluted pasta wheel, trim the edge of the dough where it's folded to create a clean edge. Pinch the line of filling into 1-inch mounds. Cut between each mound of filling and pinch the sides. Transfer the agnolotti to a sheet tray dusted with flour and repeat with the remaining dough sheets and filling.
• Set up a large pot of boiling water and season generously with kosher salt. Add the agnolotti and cook for 2 to 3 minutes; they will cook quickly.
• Transfer the agnolotti directly into the brown butter sage sauce and toss gently to ensure they're fully covered. To serve, plate and garnish with more ground pink peppercorns, Parmigiano-Reggiano and pecorino.

AGNOLOTTI WITH SAGE BUTTER - TRATTORIA I BOLOGNA, ITALY

Steps:

• Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef and pork; saute until brown, about 3 minutes. Add spinach and saute until wilted and liquid has evaporated, about 3 minutes. Cool.
• Finely chop mixture in processor. Tranfer to medium bowl. Mix in cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in egg.
• Lightly flour baking sheet. Arrange 12 wonton wrappers on work surface. Spoon 1 teaspoon filling in center of each. Brush edges with water. Fold each wrapper in half, forming triangle. Press edges together. Using 2-inch diameter ruffled cookie cutter, cut edges to form half-moon shape. Transfer to baking sheet. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling. (Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover; chill.).
• Melt butter in heavy medium skillet over low heat. Add sage; keep warm.
• Meanwhile, working in batches, cook agnolotti in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, about 3 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer agnolotti to shallow soup bowls. Spoon sage butter over and serve.

AGNOLOTTI WITH SAGE BUTTTER

Steps:

• Cook ravioli in boiling water.
• In large frying pan, melt butter. Add sage leaves and cook 30 seconds or until just wilted.
• Drain pasta. Toss with butter and sage. Serve topped with cheese and pepper.