Best Cheese Agnolotti pasta with Italian sausage, is there anything better than that?
With red meat being a downward trend in a lot of homes including ours we have opted to go more with poultry alternatives to fill in the gap.
In recipes where sausage or meatballs are involved, nine times out of ten you really won’t miss the red meat. The flavors and spice are the same, the texture is still meat, the color might be a bit lighter but other than that it is a perfect substitute.
For the pasta recipe I had the italian chicken sausage that you can either make or buy. My thinking was a cross between bolognese and sausage with peppers, so I combined them into one sauce.
The stuffing for the cheese agnolotti pasta is a combination of basically the refrigerator drawer of cheeses. You can use some of your favorites as well.
To finish the agnolotti recipe added a little bitter flavor with broccolini and charred treviso.
I have to tell you this was fantastic and if you had this dish you might think you were eating off the coast of Italy. Here is the recipe, I hope you enjoy it!
Cheese Agnolotti with Italian Sausage and Treviso
- 1 basic egg pasta (add 2 tbsp chopped tarragon to the dough optional )
Cheese filling
- 1/2 lb fresh ricotta
- 6 oz kefir cheese (or goat or soft fresh cheese)
- 4 oz petite basque cheese
- 4 oz manchego
- 3 oz Parmesan Cheese
- 1 salt and pepper to taste
Vegetables
- 1 whole treviso lettuce grilled
- 8 oz broccolini
- 3 oz cauliflower
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Tarragon oil
- 1 cup fresh tarragon
- 1 cup oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
Chicken Sausage Ragout
- 5 whole chicken italian sausage
- 1 cup onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic sliced
- 16 oz tomato sauce
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Garnish
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes
- 2 tbsp chive flowers
- 1 oz parmesan shaved
How to make the cheese filling
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Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and place into a plastic pastry bag.
How to make agnolotti pasta
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Place 3 cups of flour in a bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour. Add eggs, water, salt, and tarragon (optional). 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 kitchenaid 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 flour to help prevent sticking. Set aside while you aside while you repeat the same process with the other half of the pasta ball. You can also check out the technique at
How to cook treviso
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Take the treviso and cut it in half lengthwise. Drizzle with a little olive oil and salt. Either in medium hot pan or on a grill place the treviso face down and cook until it gets really dark. Cook for about 4 minutes and then flip it over for another 4-5 minutes. The treviso should become quite tender and not as bitter. Set aside to cool. Once cooled, simply chop it into bite size pieces and set aside
How to make tarragon oil
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Place the Tarragon in boiling salted water for 15 seconds and then shock in an ice bath. Squeeze dry the tarragon and place in a vitamix with the oil. Puree for 30 seconds and season with salt.. Then strain through a chinois ( if you want no sediment in the oil at all use a cheesecloth as well) and let it drip through, don’t push the pulp through the chinois or you will get a lot of the pulp, place in a squeeze bottle and set aside.
To finish
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Have a pot of salted water and bring to boil on the stove. In large saute pan add olive oil, onions, garlic, and chicken sausage and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 10 minutes mashing up the meat until it resembles bolognese, then add the red wine. Cook until there is little wine left and then add water and tomato sauce. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. In another large saute pan add 3 tbsp of olive oil, cauliflower, and broccolini on medium high heat. Season with a pinch of salt and cook for two minutes. Place your pasta in salted boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes until they float to the top. Strain off and place the pasta in the saute pan with brassicas and a little (1/2 cup) of the cooking water to the pan. Add the treviso to the pasta along with the 3 tbsp of butter (this is what I did and it is totally optional. You can easily cook the pasta and pour it into the chicken sausage ragout and just add the vegetables to it) and season with salt and pepper. Then add a few ladles full of the chicken tomato ragout down onto the plate. Add pasta and vegetables on top of the ragout. Finish with tarragon oil, chive flowers, and parmesan cheese. Serve and enjoy!
