Tender bundles of puff pastry filled with meat or vegetables or even fish: they are i ravioli, a type of fresh stuffed pasta that has found its place in all the regional kitchens of Italy, developing variants and new names, sometimes mysterious, sometimes intriguing. Here is how, from North to South, i meat ravioli.
History of ravioli
Quoting Giuseppe Vidossi and his Notes on the denomination of homemade breads and desserts in Italy, Pellegrino Artusi traces the origin of the name raviolo to the Latin word rabiola, little turnip. However the culinary critic specifies in his note that the genesis of this term is very complex. A second theory traces the name back to the word rovigliolo, which stands for tangle.
The third and most accredited road to establish the origin of the ravioli brings us to Gavi Ligure, where a chef said Ravioli (appellative still familiar from those parts) cooked first the fagottini of filled pasta.
According to what we read about Agricultural landscape in Liguria, in a contract of the end of the millennium, a settler from Savona undertook to provide the owner with a meal for three people, at harvest, consisting of bread, wine, meat and ravioli.
In the Milleduecento, thanks to the country fairs, the ravioli arrived in Emilia Romagna, to be precise in Parma. From there, they were delivered to history thanks to Giovanni Boccacio, which in his Decameron he wrote: "… there were people who did nothing else but made macaroni and ravioli and cooked them in capon broth …".
Ravioli: the regional variants
Over time the recipe for ravioli has changed, thanks also to social, cultural and territorial influences.
TO Gavi, a place where the birth of ravioli dates back, the original recipe of ravioli, protected by the "Order Obertengo of the Knights of Raviolo and Cortese"by Gavi.
In an interview, Renato Bino, a member of the Order, has revealed some clues to the original recipe of Gavi ravioli, jealously guarded for centuries. Inside there must be "lean pork and beef meat, sausage, borage and marjoram "while" pasta dough must be prepared with few eggs and must be almost transparent".
But the regional variants are really many. For example in Lombardy you can taste the ravioli of Sesto Calende, which combines a thin sheet made with fresh eggs, flour, semolina and tomato paste, perch of the lake, crayfish and mint of Sesto Calende.
Another Italian specialty has become a pride in the Piedmontese cuisine for centuries ravioli del plin. The filling of this fresh pasta is based on pork, beef and rabbit legs, mixed with escarole and spinach. The name plin is a dialect term that stands for pinch.
In Molise we prepare the Scapolesi ravioli. Even these linked to the tradition of Carnival, over time the recipe has been changed due to the impossibility of finding the products that once were the basis of the local economy. The classic recipe included dry sausage, bacon and bacon, boiled chard, potatoes, dried goat ricotta and local cheese, fresh cheese called "scamoscio", eggs and salt only (pepper is already in dry sausage). They should be seasoned with a sauce obtained by cooking a very larded goat leg.
Now i Scapolesi ravioli they are prepared with dried sausage, mixed pork and veal, boiled chard, potatoes, parmesan, dried scamorza, eggs and salt.
Then there are the ravioli stuffed with mixed meats: the stuffing is composed of chopped chicken, sausage, roast beef and cooked ham.
In Lazio, in Tuscany and in the Marche, the filling of ravioli consists of ricotta and spinach, flavored with nutmeg and black pepper. It is therefore about ravioli of lean meat, therefore suitable for eve or friday meals. Once cooked, they are seasoned with a sauce of fresh tomatoes and basil, or with butter, sage and grated Parmesan.
In Lazio, in May, the ravioli of San Pancrazio. It is a cake made with local sheep's ricotta, eggs, sugar, herbs and flour. It has a recent tradition – just forty years of history – but is much loved and is served fried and hot with the red wine typical of the area, the East-East.
A very similar recipe is also prepared in Sardinia, where they are flanked by potato ravioli, typical of the Ogliastra area, culurgiones.
Stuffed with traditional meat for ravioli
The stuffed with traditional meat for ravioli involves the use of the rump, which is browned with celery, carrot and minced onion. To this, a pic of wine is added and cooked for three hours.
At the end of cooking, the braised meat is minced, two eggs, grana cheese and breadcrumbs are added. The filling is then placed on half of the sheets and covered with the other halves.
Stuffed with traditional meat for cappelletti
THE Cappelletti, especially if served in broth, are one of the essential dishes of the tradition of Emilia Romagna and Marche. Of course, each area has its own variant, but the centenary recipe speaks clearly both on how to close the cappelletti and fill them.
The stuffed with traditional meat for cappelletti involves the use of Bologna mortadella, minced beef, veal and pork, with the addition of nutmeg and parmesan. The cappelletti can also be made with a filling of herbs: in that case they are said to be thin.
Stuffed with traditional meat for anolini
The anolini (or agnolini) are typical of the area of Piacenza. They are round and with a serrated edge. The filling of traditional meat for anolini is created using beef or donkey pulp, cooked in a saucepan with chopped onion, carrot and celery, softened by butter and scented with two cloves and pepper. The mix should then be covered with beef broth and a few drops of red wine.
After six / seven hours of cooking, the meat will be frayed and the sauce will thicken. The meat, well squeezed, will be thrown away while the sauce will be mixed with cheese, breadcrumbs, four eggs and nutmeg: the amalgam must be homogeneous. If necessary, add bread and cheese. After which the dough is filled, using the classic stàmp ädj anolén or, failing that, with a liqueur glass. After having cooked them in beef broth or capon, they should be served in broth with some Parmesan cheese.
Stuffing of traditional meat for agnolotti
The Piedmontese agnolotti they are made of a base of fresh egg pasta stuffed with braised meat, eggs, parmesan and nutmeg, all served with a narrow meat sauce.
The meat for the stuffing should be cooked for about three hours, adding a ladle of broth from time to time. Once cooked, transfer the meat in a blender together with the previously boiled and minced cabbage. Then knead with egg, Parmesan and nutmeg to make the stuffed with agnolotti. The sheet must be very thin.
Stuffed with traditional meat for tortelli and tortellini
On the occasion of a challenge with tortellini, the chef Bruno Barbieri has unveiled at MasterChef the filled with traditional meat for tortelli and tortellini. There must be pork, prosciutto, mortadella, parmigiano reggiano, eggs, salt, pepper and nutmeg. The filling must be inserted into the raw sheet.
Stuffed with traditional meat for casoncelli
To prepare the stuffed with traditional meat for casoncelli, traditional dish of Bergamo cuisine, we must keep in mind the history of this dish. The raw materials to put in the boxes of fresh pasta changed according to the social extraction of those who prepared them.
Poor families so they did not use meat for the stuffing, but only grana cheese, garlic and parsley, bread and vegetable stock. The casoncelli were then seasoned with butter and sage leaves. The pastry was made only with water.
Casoncelli prepared by wealthy families they were enriched with cured meats, cooked and ground roasts, cheese, broth, garlic and parsley. In the pastry there were always eggs.
In the area of Parryville, in Val Seriana, there are still the Scarpinocc. These are ravioli in the shape of bird's wings, which differ from the best known casoncelli for the lean filling, therefore without the addition of meats or salami. For this reason it is believed that this fresh stuffed pasta is older than casoncelli.
Stuffed with original meat
Between more original stuffings for ravioli there is to be indulged, especially with the mix of skinny. It starts with i chestnut ravioli with stelvio and herb sauce, to turn then on the classic stuffing provola and radicchio, of artichokes or al salmon. You can prepare some mezzelune to the scallops, whose filling is based on fish.
