Short Rib and Lemon Agnolotti Pasta

You have to try this fantastic short rib and lemon agnolotti pasta recipe, one that takes some time but is well worth the work!

This recipe is a little bit of Ying and Yang. It is basically two pasta dishes in one. Lemon and ricotta and Braised Beef with its jus. When I originally made this recipe it was a little bit of spring mixed with a little bit of winter. The inspiration is that time period during the spring harvest and weather turning from cold to warm.

That moment when you're almost out of winter but heading into spring and you want something a little light and a little heavy. Just getting back from Italy a few days ago this recipe really hits home with me because of all the pasta I had each and every day. You could also easily translate this from summer to fall. I love pasta and I hope you enjoy this one too!  

Basic Egg Pasta
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
2 tbsp warm water
2 cups flour
1 cup semolina
1 tsp of salt 

Ricotta filling
1 lb of home made ricotta  (see here)
2 oz of grated parmesan
1 lemon zested
Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup of cream 1 lemon juiced 1 lemon zested 4 tbsp of butter

3 lb of boneless kobe short ribs cut into 2 inch pieces ( if you have them on the bone that is fine, more flavor)
1 onion
6 garlic cloves chopped
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
3 tbsp of tomato paste
3 cups of red wine
5 cups of  beef stock or chicken
1 sprig of rosemary
1 large sprig of thyme and parsley
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

 For the short ribs,

Season the short ribs with salt and pepper on both sides.  In a medium size braising pot on high heat add oil and short ribs.  Sear for roughly 5 minutes on the first side and then turn over.  Then add all the vegetables and cook for another 5 minutes.  Then add your wine and tomato paste.  Reduce the wine by half and then add your stock or water.  Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer, add your herbs and cover.  Cook for about 2- 2 1/2 hours or until they are tender and almost falling apart.  Take the meat out of the pot and place in a bowl while it is still hot.  Then take half of the liquid and puree in a vita mix with all the vegetables from the braising pot.  Puree and pour over the short ribs.  Let the meat rest in half of the puree liquid to cool completely ( the short ribs should be completely covered so not to dry out..  Place the other half of braising liquid  with the left over puree sauce into small sauce pot and reduce it by half or until is starts to thicken or glaze a spoon.  Strain and season with salt and set aside and keep warm.  

When the short ribs have completely cooled take them out of the pureed sauce and chop or shred somewhat fine.  It should be able to almost do this with your hands because they will be so tender.  Once you have a bowl of fine shredded or chopped (could do it in a food processor as well but don't puree too much so you don't end up with baby food mashed meat).  Season the meat with salt and pepper, and add a few spoonfuls of the pureed sauce into the meat mixture.  You want to make the meat taste delicious and moist.  You don't want dried un-flavorful meat for your agnolotti filling.  So I would add maybe 8 oz of the sauce to the meat to make it juicy but not runny.  Once you have a moist, not soaked, meat filling place it back in the refrigerator until the  sauce has adhered to the meat and congealed. ( about 2 hours)

For the ricotta filling,

Place all the ingredients except the egg into a food processor. Puree everything until smooth.  While the food processor is still running add your egg.  Season with salt and pepper and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

To make the agnolotti,

For the Pasta

Place 2 cups of flour with semolina in a bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour.  Add eggs, water, and salt.  With a fork stir the egg mixture until it starts to form a ball of dough.  Then use your hands to form the dough.   Add more flour if the dough is wet.  Knead the pasta for 5 minutes and then cover and raring

Take your pasta and cut in half.  Leave one half covered while you work with the other half.  Take the half of the pasta with a rolling pin and roll until the dough is thin enough to fit inside the biggest setting on your pasta machine ( I use the kitchen aid attachment).  Then run the pasta all the way down to the lowest setting twice.  Dusting the dough with flour if it is too wet. Then on the third time run it down to the second to last setting.  Again, Use a little flour for dusting.  You should have long sheets at this point.  Using your pastry bag pipe the cheese mixture along the bottom of the pasta leaving about a 1/2 inch from the edge.  Run it along the whole length of the pasta sheet leaving about an inch or two at the ends (one long tube of filling).  

Then take a pastry brush or spray bottle of water and brush the top portion of the pasta sheet.  Take the bottom part pasta closest to the filling and roll over to the brushed top portion.  You should now have a long tube like pasta running all the way down the length of the pasta.  Now, at every 1/2 inch use your index fingers and press down with with each index finger to create a little "ravioli"  Continue the same thing all the way down the pasta sheet.  Then using a pinwheel cutter cut away the excess pasta at the top.  Then cut in between each press that you make with your fingers to create each agnolotti.  Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and extra semolina flower to help prevent sticking.   Set aside while you aside while you repeat the same process with the other half of the pasta ball.  

This time you want to fill with the pasta with the short rib filling but instead of using a continuous line of cheese filling we want to leave about a 1/8 inch gap every 1/2 inch to create the same size agnolotti as the cheese ones.  Because the cheese filling is easy to manipulate you can make one continuous line but with the meat being cold and being meat it is a little easier to leave a space between each agnolotti (the space I/8 inch is where you will press your fingers to make the shape.  Continue this the whole length of the pasta and repeat the same steps from above with the cheese.

To Finish,

Place your beef agnolotti pasta in salted boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes until they float to the top.  Strain off and place in the saute pan with the beef sauce, add a touch of butter and season with salt and pepper, set aside and keep warm.  Place your ricotta pasta in the water and cook for 2-3 minutes. Strain off the lemon ricotta pasta and place in a saute pan with cream, lemon juice, 1/2 cup of pasta water Let it simmer for 1-2 minutes and then add the rest of the butter to make a pan sauce.  Season the whole pan with salt and pepper.  Place 3 of each pasta in a bowl and garnish with basil and parmesan. Serve and enjoy!