This version braises the veal and pork in white wine instead of roasting them, which keeps the filling moist enough to bind with about three tablespoons of the juices, the Parmigiano and the nutmeg. The choice that matters is squeezing the spinach completely dry: any water left in the filling turns to steam in the pot and splits the pinch. Butter and sage stay in the background, so what you taste is the meat.
Make ahead Braise the meat and mix the filling a day ahead and keep it covered in the fridge: cold, it is firmer and much easier to pipe.
Agnolotti del Plin Burro e Salvia
Prep 1 hr 30 min · Cook 1 hr 15 min · Rest 30 min · Serves 6 · Difficulty Hard
Method
Make the dough: mound the flour, crack in the eggs, and knead 10 minutes to a smooth, elastic ball. Wrap and rest 30 minutes at room temperature.
15 min
Brown the veal and pork in olive oil with a pinch of salt. Add the wine, cover, and braise gently until completely tender, about 50 minutes. Cool slightly.
1 hr
Grind or finely chop the meats with the squeezed spinach. Beat in the Parmigiano, about 3 tablespoons (45 ml) of the braising juices, the nutmeg, salt, and pepper. The filling should hold together like a soft paste.
15 min
Roll the pasta into thin sheets (setting 7 of 9 on a machine). Work one sheet at a time, keeping the rest covered.
20 min
Pipe or spoon hazelnut-sized dots of filling in a row a finger above the long edge. Fold the edge over, press around each mound, then pinch firmly between each one: the plin. Cut along the row, then between the pinches with a fluted wheel.
30 min
Melt the butter in a wide pan until it smells toasty; add the sage leaves and let them crisp. Keep warm off the heat.
5 min
Boil the agnolotti in well-salted water until they float and the pinch is tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Lift them into the sage butter with a little pasta water and swirl to gloss.
4 min
Serve immediately with more Parmigiano. In the Langhe, no sauce ever puddles on the plate.
Kitchen notes
Squeeze the spinach hard. Water in the filling steams the pasta from inside and bursts the seams. Squeeze the wilted spinach until your hand aches, then squeeze again.
The pinch seals the deal. Pinch hard enough to feel your fingers meet through the dough. A lazy plin opens in the pot.
Tradition also serves plin in warm meat broth, or even on a napkin, nudi, to prove the pasta. Butter and sage is the family compromise.
