Agnolotti pronounced ah-nyuh-LAHT-tee, meaning “priests hat” is a stuffed pasta. Traditionally using ricotta or left over cooked meats. It is roughly similar in size to a ravioli or tortellini. The difference being agnolotti is folded over to seal the filling, where as ravioli you place a second sheet of pasta a top the filling and seal it that way. The Piedmont region of Italy is well known for their agnolotti recipes, today it’s becoming increasingly more popular and you will see many chefs putting there own spin on it.
Pasta Dough
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups “00″ flour
6 large egg yolks
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon milk
Put flour onto a clean work surface and make a well in the center. Make sure that the well is wide enough to hold all the eggs without spilling over. Pour the egg yolks, egg, oil and milk into the well.
Use your fingers to break the eggs up. Still using your fingers, begin mixing the eggs in a circular motion. Make sure not to break the well as to not let the liquid ingredients spill out or over. Make sure not to incorporate the flour to quickly or your dough will become lumpy. Keep the eggs moving while slowly incorporating the flour. The mixture will thicken and become too tight to continue mixing with your fingers.
From here start incorporating the rest of the flour making sure to fold it into the dough. You can use a pastry scraper to help cut it into the dough, I prefer using my hands.
Bring the dough together into a ball, it will still be flaky but will hold together. Knead the dough by pressing it, in a forward motion with the heels of your hands. Re-form the dough into a ball and repeat the process several times. The dough should feel moist but not sticky. Let it rest for a few minutes while you clean the work surface of the scraps that didn’t make it into the ball.
Dust your work surface with a little flour. Knead the dough by pushing it in a forward motion with the heels of your hands. Form into a ball again and knead it again. Keep kneading till it becomes silky smooth. The kneading should take between 10-15 minutes. Even if you think you are finished knead for another 5 minutes. You cannot over knead this dough.
Once finished double wrap in plastic wrap to ensure it does not dry out. Let rest for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour before rolling it through the pasta machine. The dough can be made a day ahead, wrapped and refrigerated. Make sure to bring it to room temp before using.
Once the dough has rested, slice a 1/4 of the ball off and begin putting it through the pasta machine. I use the kitchen aid attachment which works great. Start off on the lowest setting passing it through a few times. If the dough starts becoming to narrow or wide fold it onto it self and pass it through that setting again, you should only have to do this in the very beginning. You want to run it through each setting twice going from 0-7. My pasta roller goes up to 8 but I find that 7 is perfect for stuffed pastas.
Once you have you pasta sheets done keep them covered with plastic wrap, you have to work fast with fresh pasta so that it doesn’t dry out. Lay one sheet at a time on a clean and lightly floured work surface, trim edges so that they are straight.
Place filling in a piping bag fitted with a 1/2 inch plain tip, a zip loc bag with the corner cut off works fine. Make sure not to make the whole to big though. Pipe a tube of filling across the bottom of the pasta sheet, leaving a 3/4 inch border of pasta on the bottom, as seen in the first picture.
Pull the bottom edge of the pasta up and over the filling. Seal the agnolotti by carefully molding the pasta over the filling and pressing lightly to seal the edge of the dough. Don’t run your finger down the pasta to seal as you will run the risk of tearing it. You then want to pinch the filling in 1-inch increments, making about 3/4 inch of “pinched” area between the agnolotti. If you don’t allow enough space between you run the risk of them coming unsealed when separated. It should look like the second picture.
Next is to fold it over the sealed edge as shown in the 3rd picture. Once folded over gently press the spots were you pinched the filling to secure the seal. Run a crimped pastry wheel along the top edge of the pasta sheet to make even. Then run the pastry wheel through the center of the pinched area.
Place cut agnolotti onto a baking sheet that is lightly dusted with semolina or cornmeal, this will help prevent the sticking, Don’t let them touch each other, or they may stick as well.
Repeat with remaining pasta sheets. Either cook the agnolotti immediately, or place baking sheet in freezer. Once frozen you can keep them in an air tight freezer bag for several weeks. Cook agnolotti while still frozen.
Buon appetito!
