• Recipes
  • Chefs
  • Restaurants
  • How to Cook
  • Features
  • Competitions
  • Search by ingredient, dish or cuisine

    Popular

    Search history

    Mince pies

    Christmas

    Salmon

    Venison

    Sea bass

    Christmas pudding

    Michelin

    Vegetarian

    Dessert

    Cod

Recipes
  • Meat and Poultry
  • Fish and Seafood
  • Vegetables
  • Snacks
  • Pasta
  • Sauces
  • Courses
  • Dish Types
  • Special Diet
  • Regional dishes
Meat and Poultry
Fish and Seafood
Vegetables
Snacks
Pasta
Sauces
Courses
Dish Types
Special Diet
Regional dishes
How to Cook
  • Meat and poultry
  • Fish and seafood
  • Vegetables
  • Traditional Italian
  • Pasta
  • Cakes and baking
  • Knife skills
  • Pickling
Meat and poultry
Fish and seafood
Vegetables
Traditional Italian
Pasta
Cakes and baking
Knife skills
Pickling
|

Agnolini in brodo

by Valeria Necchio
  1. Agnolini in Brodo
Item 1 of 1
  • Main
  • medium
  • 6
  • 4 hours 15 minutes
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Not yet rated

This traditional dish of filled pasta parcels in a clear chicken broth hails from the city of Mantova in Lombardy. The agnolini are filled with a mixture of pork, beef, sausage and chicken livers, while the brodo is a simple chicken stock – making this a celebratory dish perfect for meat-lovers.

First published in 2018
discover more:
Related Recipes
Not feeling this? See related recipes.

Agnolini are a type of filled pasta hailing from the Lombard city of Mantova with historic origins. It is said to date back to 1662, when it first appeared in Bartolomeo Stefani’s book L’arte di ben cucinare (he was a cook for Mantova’s royal family, The Gonzaga). From then onwards, the recipe has been passed on to the people of the city, who still consider it one of the founding dishes in their culinary heritage.

Agnolini, like the more widely known cappelletti or tortellini, are served 'in brodo', meaning bobbing about in a clear chicken broth. Unlike tortellini, however, agnolini contain a filling which counts local salumi and chicken livers, while the shape can be round, square or akin to tortellini.

A classic minestra della festa (holiday soup), agnolini are served on special occasions such as Christmas. On Christmas Eve, families often gather to prepare agnolini for the following day, making it a collective effort that involves multiple generations.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Filling

  • 75g of pancetta, minced
  • 150g of pork loin
  • 200g of braising beef
  • 150g of Italian pork sausage, crumbled
  • 100 chicken livers, chopped
  • 2 eggs
  • 100g of fine breadcrumbs
  • 100g of Grana Padano, grated
  • fine sea salt, as needed
  • freshly ground black pepper, as needed

Pasta dough

Broth

  • 2l fresh chicken stock, heated
  • Grana Padano, grated, to serve
SAVE RECIPE

Equipment

  • Pasta machine

Method

1
Start with the filling. Place the pancetta, pork and beef in a high-edged casserole and cover with cold water. Place over a low heat and bring to the boil
2
Next, add the crumbled sausage and chicken livers. Cover and cook over a very low heat for 3–4 hours, until all the meats are very tender. Add more water if needed
3
Mince the meats using a meat mincer or pulse in a food processor. Add the eggs, breadcrumbs and grated cheese and season with salt and pepper. If the mixture appears too dry, add a few spoonfuls of the leftover meat juices. Mix until well combined, then cover in cling film and allow to rest
4
To make the pasta dough, make a well with the flour on a work surface and crack the eggs inside it. Beat the eggs with a fork, incorporating the flour a little at the time, until you see some lumps of dough coming together
5
Carry on with your hands, kneading the dough until you have a smooth, elastic ball. Flatten it into a disc, wrap it in cling film and leave it to rest for half an hour
6
Divide the pasta dough into three pieces and roll them using a pasta machine – I normally stop at to the second-to-last setting. Spread the sheets of pasta over a floured work surface
7
Place as many teaspoons of the filling along the lower half of your sheet as you can fit, with a 1cm gap between them. Gently fold the sheet over to cover and cut out your square agnolini with a pasta wheel – you can also make these round with a small cutter or in the shape of a tortellino. Press the edges together to seal them
8
Bring the chicken stock to a rolling boil. Cook the agnolini in the stock until they float to the top. Serve the agnolini right away with a ladleful of broth and a generous dusting of grated Grana Padano

Discover more about this region's cuisine:

Follow Great Italian Chefs

Discover more about this region's cuisine:

Discover more about this region's cuisine:

Follow Great Italian Chefs
First published in 2018

Discover more about this region's cuisine:

Valeria Necchio

Valeria Necchio is an Italian food, travel and culture writer and photographer with roots in the Venetian countryside.

Get in touch

Please sign in or register to send a comment to Great British Chefs.

You may also like

Load more

NAVIGATE

FOLLOW

SITES

© Great Italian Chefs 2024