Christmas Dinner, First Course: Agnolotti alla Cavour

Ingredients

• For the pasta dough:
• 300 g (about 2 1/2 cups) semolina flour
• 3 eggs
• 
  For the filling:
• 150 g (5 oz) pork pancetta
• 300 g (10 oz) yellow onions
• 1 kg (2.2 lb) ground veal (top round)
• 1 kg (2.2 lb) ground pork (neck cut)
• Plenty of sage
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• Butter and extra-virgin olive oil
• 250 g (1 cup) Barbera red wine
• 65 g (2 1/4 oz) salt
• 
  To complete the filling:
• Cooked meats (see directions)
• 100 g (3 1/2 oz) cooked and chopped spinach
• 400 g (14 oz) rice (cooked in unsalted vegetable broth, drained well, and finely chopped)
• 5 whole eggs
• 400 g (14 oz) Parmigiano Reggiano aged 24 months
• Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

Method

For the pasta dough:

• Knead the flour and eggs thoroughly for about 15 minutes, until you get a smooth, elastic dough.
• Let the dough rest at room temperature for about 20–30 minutes, covered with a cloth or plastic wrap.
• After resting, roll the dough out into a very thin sheet.
• Cut the sheet into squares and fill them generously to form agnolotti, following the traditional Turin style.

For the meat filling:

• Finely chop the pancetta, sage, and onions.
• In a large pot, sauté the chopped mixture in a generous amount of butter and olive oil.
• When golden, add the ground meats, rosemary, and bay leaves.
• Cook over high heat, breaking up the meat so it doesn’t clump, and brown it evenly.
• Add the red wine and salt.
• Continue cooking until the mixture is dry, golden, and fragrant.
• Turn off the heat and let it cool completely.

Preparing the filling:

• Once cooled, transfer the cooked meat to a large bowl.
• Add the chopped spinach, cooked rice, eggs, grated Parmigiano, and a pinch of nutmeg.
• Mix everything well until you have a smooth, uniform mixture.