For the meat lovers

Ravioli stuffed with beef, pork, carrot, celery and red wine

Recipe (4 servings) ingredients:

For the dough:

300g flour (I always use ‘de Cecco’ flour)
3 whole eggs
salt

How to prepare the pasta dough:

On a flat surface, sift the flour and dig a hole in the center into which the eggs will be added. Start mixing with a fork and incorporate the flour little by little. Once the flour is all mixed with the yolks, start mixing using your hands until the mixture is well homogeneous. Season with salt and if needed, add some water. Form the dough into a ball and wrap it inside a plastic wrap. Let it rest aside for at least 20 minutes and prepare the stuffing. For the pasta making, dust your work surface with some flour. Take a lump of dough and press it with your fingertips. Set the pasta machine at its widest setting and roll the pasta dough though it. If the pasta sticks, dust it with flour. Click the pasta machine down a setting and roll the dough through again. Fold the pasta in half, click the pasta machine back up to the widest setting and roll the dough through again. Repeat this process four to five times. The pasta dough becomes smooth and workable like that. Now it’s time to roll the dough out properly, working it through all the settings on the machine, from the widest down to the narrowest. Dust both sides of the pasta with some Cecco flour every time you roll it through the machine. When you’ve got down to the narrowest setting, fold the pasta in half lengthwise, then in half again, and again once more until you’ve got a square piece of dough. Turn it 90 degrees and pass it through the machine at the widest setting. As you roll it down through the settings for the last time, you should end up with a nice rectangular sheet of dough with straight sides.

If your dough is a little cracked at the edges, fold it in half just once, click the machine back two settings and feed it through again.

For the stuffing:

250g beef, cut into small pieces (you can also use minced beef)
150g pork, cut into small pieces (you can also use minced pork)
60g pancetta cut into small pieces
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot cut in small pieces
1 celery branch cut in small pieces
1 garlic clove cut in half
2 cloves
8-10 black pepper grains
300ml red wine
250ml water
150ml milk
3tbs freshly grated parmesan
250g fresh spinach
2 eggs
1tsp nutmeg
3tbs olive oil
salt

In a big bowl, mix together the chopped onion, celery and carrot with the garlic halves. Add the beef and the pork, the red wine, the cloves, the pepper grains and the olive oil. Mix all the ingredients well together by hand. Cover the mixture with a plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 12 hours to marinate.

Transfer the mixture into a cooking pan. Season with some salt. Add the pancetta and cover. Cook slowly for about 4 hours until the meat becomes tender. If needed (if there is evaporation) add some water. Stir occasionally.

In the meantime, cook the rice in milk in a cooking pot for about 20 minutes, over medium heat. In another cooking pot cook the spinach for about 10 minutes and drain it.

Once the mixture is cooked, transfer it into a mixer. Transfer the pulp into a big bowl together with the rice and the cooked spinach. Add the eggs and the freshly grated parmesan cheese. Add the nutmeg and season with some salt. Mix very well.

For the sauce:

150g butter
fresh sage leaves
100g parmesan cheese, freshly grated

In a sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the fresh sage leaves.

Once your ravioli are stuffed, place them in salted boiling water for about 3-4 minutes. Drain them and serve with the sauce on top and with some extra parmesan cheese if you please ! Combine that dish with a nice glass of red wine.

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