Italy has an almost endless supply of authentic regional recipes. I love making ravioli and there are already many recipes on this blog, both traditional and of my own invention. After the recent joy of making Tordelli alla Lucchese (from Lucca in Tuscany), I searched and discovered another typical regional ravioli recipe that I had not prepared before: Casoncelli from Bergamo in the North of Italy. In the local dialect they are called Casonsèi. The official recipe (disciplinare) for Casoncelli della Bergamasco has been deposited with the local chamber of commerce, and that is the recipe I used to prepare these. The filling requires a long list of ingredients, including pork and beef, pear, raisins, amaretti cookies, cheese, and spices. They came out with a very complex and balanced yet elegant flavor. I personally thought the amount of breadcrumbs prescribed by the disciplinare (but also other recipes that I found) is quite high. It is a way to make the same amount of filling last longer, but next time I’ll make these I’ll use less as I felt it diluted the flavor by too much.

The recipe calls for “ground pork to make salami”, which is ground pork (25% fat) with salt, black pepper, garlic, and red wine. Apart from the color of the wine, it is basically the same as Italian sausage meat (click here for how to make that yourself).

Ingredients

Makes about 80 casoncelli, enough for 6-8 servings

• fresh pasta dough made using 200 grams (1 1/3 cup) Italian 00 flour, 50 grams (1/3 cup) semolina di grano duro rimacinata, 1 egg, and as much water as needed

• 150 grams ground pork to make salami (see note above)
• 125 grams breadcrumbs (see note above)
• 105 grams finely diced pear (about 1 pear)
• 100 grams roasted beef, finely chopped
• 75 grams freshly grated grana padano (or parmigiano reggiano)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 30 grams minced raisins
• 5 grams crushed amaretti cookies
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 1 Tbsp minced fresh flat leaf parsley
• salt

To serve

• 250 grams butter
• 100 grams diced pancetta
• 16 leaves fresh sage

Instructions

Prepare fresh pasta dough using my instructions, wrap it in cling film, and allow to rest for at least half an hour in the refrigerator.

I used beef that it only been cooked sous vide yet (48 hours at 68C/155F) and had not been browned, so I decided to brown it in some butter to add some additional flavor.

Then I took the beef out of the pan and allowed it to cool, and added the diced pear to the same pan without cleaning it.

Stir the pear over medium heat until it is golden brown, then add a minced clove of garlic…

…and stir for another minute. Turn off the heat and allow to cool.

When the beef has cooled, chop it finely. Put the beef and crushed amaretti in a large bowl.

Chop the raisins.

Add the raisins to the bowl, together with the pear with garlic, breadcrumbs, ground pork, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, salt…

…grated cheese, beaten egg, grated lemon zest, and parsley.

Stir and then knead the mixture with your hands until it is homogeneous. Fry a bit of the filling to test the correct seasoning, remembering that ravioli filling should always taste slightly too salty when you taste it by itself. You should be able to roll the filling into balls that hold together. If the filling is too soft, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate until it has firmed up.

Roll out the dough until it is very thin, use a cookie cutter or glass to cut circles with a diameter of 6-8 centimeters (about 3 inches), and use my instructions for making ravioli to turn the dough and filling into half moon shaped ravioli. Use about 7 grams (1/2 tablespoon) of filling for each casoncello.

Give the casoncelli their characteristic shape by setting them upright with the open side up and pressing down with your thumb.

Continue until you have used up all of the filling.

Bring a large pot of water with salt to a boil. In the meantime, melt butter in a large frying pan and add chopped sage and diced pancetta.

Stir over medium heat until the butter is golden, the pancetta is somewhat crispy but not completely crispy, and the sage is crispy is well.

Boil the casoncelli for 2 minutes and then lift them out of the pot with a strainer and add them to the prepared butter with pancetta and sage.

When you have added all of the casoncelli, gently toss them to cover them with the butter, pancetta, and sage.

Serve at once on preheated plates, sprinkled with some more freshly grated grana padano.

Wine pairing

In Bergamo they would pair this with a local Merlot and Cabernet blend, but I think such a wine is too powerful for the elegant taste of the casoncelli. A Valpolicella would be a much better choice, or an oaked white Lugana or Verdicchio.