I started writing this recipe for Ravioli Madalena a few years ago. I kept coming back to it and prepared it several times in this length of time, but each time, until this last time, I wanted to perfect the homemade pasta. Not the taste, but the consistency. I think I finally got it right and have finally decided to publish the results. It is delicious, and if you routinely make fresh pasta, this will not be a challenge for you, but I guarantee, it will be rewarding.
Ingredients
- 3 lb white veal shoulder blade roast
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large Spanish onion chopped
- 3 stalks celery chopped
- 3 medium carrots peeled and diced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 10 sprigs parsley chopped
- 2 whole bay leaves
- ½ medium lemon
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 4 cups chicken stock or enough to more or to come up ⅔ of the sides of the veal
- 1 recipe Fresh Pasta Dough
- 6 whole fresh sage leaves
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
Braising
- Pre heat oven to 325℉
- 1 Heat 3 tbsp olive oil over high heat in a braising pan with a tight fitting lid.
- Generously season veal with 3 tbsp kosher salt and 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper.
- When oil is hot, sear the veal on all sides, 3-4 minutes per side or until the veal has a golden color
- Remove veal from braising pan and add 1 large Spanish onion, chopped, 3 stalks celery chopped, 3 medium carrots peeled and diced, 10 sprigs parsley chopped, and 2 whole bay leaves and cook on high heat until the vegetables begin to brown.
- Add 3 cloves garlic, crushed, after the vegetables have browned and stir to combine. Squeeze in the juice of ½ medium lemon, then add the lemon to the pan.
- Add 1 cup dry white wine and deglaze the pan, keep mixture on high heat and reduce the wine by half.
- Return the veal to the pan and pour in 4 cups chicken stock or to come up ⅔ of the side of the veal and bring liquid to a simmer.
- Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid (or aluminum foil) and place on cookie sheet on the middle rack of a preheated 325°F oven and roast/braise veal for 2-3 hours or until the meat falls of the bones. Check periodically to make sure that the juices have not evaporated. You can expect the liquid to reduce by about ⅓ when the veal is done.
Filling Preparation
- Remove the veal from the pan and remove the meat from the bones.
- Strain the liquid from the pan and reserve the vegetables.
- Strain the remaining liquid though a fine sieve and reserve.
- Move the meat and the vegetables to a food processor and pulse until you have a course mixture. If the mixture seems a little dry, add a bit of the braising stock, a tablespoonful at a time, to get a good consistency.
Ravioli (see Fresh Pasta Dough)
- Drop teaspoonful's of filling onto prepared ravioli dough sheets.
- Form ravioli parcels by pressing a top layer of dough onto fillings and then cutting ravioli using a ravioli cutter.
- If serving with sage butter, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a sauté pan over low heat and add 6 sage leaves. If the butter has melted before the first batch of ravioli is cooked, add a tablespoon of pasta cooking liquid to the butter to keep it from turning brown; if serving with the reserved pan juices, add a tablespoon of olive oil to a sauté pan and heat over low heat. Add cooked ravioli to the pan and gently toss to coat the pasta so it does not stick together.
- Cook fresh filled pasta until the dough rises to the top of the water, then using a slotted spoon, move to a prepared pan heating over medium heat.
Plating
- Place 4-5 ravioli in a heated rim soup bowl and drizzle with sage butter and one sage leaf or strained cooking liquid from the roast.
Author Notes
This dish is a labor of love, it's an afternoon/evening and is unbelievably rewarding! The recipe is all about making a meat stuffing for ravioli made with homemade pasta. The process is a little long for just a ravioli stuffing, but boy is it good!
The idea came from a lunch at an Italian Restaurant in Markham (Ontario). The dish there is called Ravioli Madalena which is this slow roasted 3-4 hour veal roast, made into ravioli and served with sage butter and shaved parmigiana. This dish was very near and dear to the hearts of the restaurant owners as it was taught to them a by wonderful woman by the name of Madalena in Piedmonte, Italy. She housed many of the chefs going to the local chef school in her home town of Asti; one of them was Mario Folco, the owner of the restaurant in Markham.
Of course the dish became a challenge to me as I knew right away the composition of the veal roast, although I admit that the pasta took me 3 tries to get it right, and I was stumped by the golden color of the butter surrounding the cooked ravioli, (the secret is to add a little pasta water to the butter once the butter has melted to prevent it from turning into brown butter).
