Casoncelli - the meat filling

The meat filling for the casoncelli was easier than the quantity of ingredients would suggest - and we even shortened the list! So, here we go:

1/2 lb beef chuck roast
1/2 lb boneless chicken thighs - we purchased regular chicken thighs and boned them
2 oz salami - we chose to use a really nice German salami we picked up at a specialty store
2 oz prosciutto

Now the recipe actually called for 1/2 this amount of the chicken and beef using veal and pork. Based on how good it came out I cannot imagine the veal and pork could have made it any better, though.

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/2 celery stock, finally chopped

1 cup dry red wine - almost blasphemous to not drink the wine!!
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
8-10 sage leaves, finely chopped
2 large eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup raisins - we did not chop the raisins - would work better if we had
1/4 cup crushed almond cookies - one of the hardest ingredients for us to find!!!
Ground nutmeg
Salt & pepper

Cut the beef chuck and chicken into like-sized chunks (makes them cook evenly). Cut the salami and prosciutto into thin strips. Heat 2 tbs olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Place the meats (beef, chicken, salami and prosciutto) into the hot pan - cooking until deeply browned (15-20 minutes at a pretty high heat).

In a separate skillet heat the remaining 2 tbs of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the carrots, onion and celery - cooking for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned.

Add the cooked vegetables to the meat, pour in the wine (again what a waste!) and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned on bits. Cook for 2 minutes and then add the garlic and sage. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 30 minutes or until very browned. Remove from heat and cool.

At this point the recipe calls to use a meat grinder to grind the cooled meat mixture. As we do not have a meat grinder we used the food processor - pulsing it to keep from making mush. Once the meat is ground, add the eggs, Parmesan cheese, chopped raisins and almond cookie crumbs. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly with hands - like you are mixing a meatloaf. Cover and refrigerate until ready to make the filled pasta. In our case we made the meat mixture the day before and refrigerated over night.