RAVIOLI WITH BEEF AND BROWN SAUCERavioli [agnolotti] alla piemontese
Piedmont Stuffing: Sauce: PUT a very small nut of butter in a small frying pan. When it is foaming add the cooked rice and fry, stirring, for 1 minute. Put on one side. TAKE the seeds and liquid out of the peeled tomatoes, and pass them through a vegetable mill. PUT the rest of the butter in a frying pan together with the chopped vegetables and parsley. Cook gently until the onion becomes transparent. Add the minced beef. Cook gently, stirring all the time, until the meat is golden brown. Add the wine. Reduce completely, so that no smell of wine remains. Add the tomato pulp and the rice, the chopped cabbage leaves, salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer gently for half an hour. By this time you should have a fairly thick mixture. TRANSFER this to a mixing bowL. Let it cool. Add the eggs, beating them first, and the Parmesan. Mix well. Use this for stuffing the ravioli which you can make following the instructions in Spinach and ricotta with butter and sage or Toasted ravioli. Cook the ravioli in abundant boiling salted water for 4 to 5 minutes. Taste one at the end of that time to see if they are properly cooked. WHILE the ravioli are cooking you should warm up the brown sauce. TRANSFER the ravioli from their pan to a heated serving dish, a layer at a time, using a perforated ladle. Sprinkle some of the grated Parmesan on each layer, put brown sauce on the cheese, and then add pats of butter. Continue until all the ravioli, brown sauce, Parmesan, and butter have been used up. SERVE. Adapted from: |