2023 Giro d’Italia - Stage 2: Teramo to San Salvo
Another day in Abruzzo on a beautiful Sunday. I bought a new cooking tool called a chitarra. A wooden pasta machine with guitar strings. While I’ve been in bands for about 30 years now, I’ve never learned the guitar and would always laugh when the guitarists strings would break. But, now that I’ve experienced it first hand - it brings nothing but panic and terror! I tightened up the strings so the pasta would get sliced and…bing…boing: two strings snapped. I managed to get through the rest of the pasta rolling just fine. So, unless you like to go crazy, go ahead and purchase Spaghetti alla Chitarra - they have it at Balducci’s and you can find it online, I’m sure. Otherwise just get a thin spaghetti and you’ll be fine.
I made a big Sunday sauce to go along with the hand-cut spaghetti. Since the dish is Abruzzese, I included one of the typical meats: lamb. But, before that, I also made chicken stock from scratch. However, with the reduction of the stock into the ragu, it turned out a little salty. I have adjusted this recipe to account for that. This was an extremely satisfying meal. Of course, you don’t have to go crazy like me - buy some low-sodium stock or broth and spaghetti and simply make the sauce - it still will take about 3 hours to make the meal though!
Spaghetti alla Chitarra with Abruzzese Ragu
If making everything from scratch, including the stock, this meal will take 4-5 hours to make.
Ragu
Olive oil
Yellow onion
3 carrots
3 celery stalks
1 tsp red chili flakes
1 lb ground lamb
1 lb ground mild Italian sausage
1 cup dry white wine
28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
4 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
~15 basil leaves, torn into small pieces
Pasta
2 cups 00 flour (or AP flour)
¼ tsp kosher salt
4 eggs, whisked
Semolina flour
Pecorino Romano Cheese
If making everything from scratch, start by making the stock. Otherwise, rough chop the onion, carrot, and celery and place in a food processor. Pulse until finely ground.
Heat ¼ cup of olive oil in a large dutch oven, over medium heat. Add in the ground veggies with a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir and cook for about 10 minutes.
Add in the pepper flakes and toast for about a minute. Then, stir in the lamb and sausage, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon. Lightly season with kosher salt and black pepper and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once the meat is beginning to brown, add in the wine and scrap any brown bits from the bottom of the pot.
Once the wine has nearly evaporated, add in the tomatoes and juices, crushing them with your hand before placing them in the pot.
Pour in 2 cups of chicken stock and add in the bay leaves and basil. Bring to a boil, then cover with the lid cracked. Lower the heat to maintain a slow simmer. Cook for an hour, stirring every 20 minutes.
After an hour, add in another cup of stock. Cook for an hour, stirring every 20 minutes. Then, repeat with the last cup of stock and cook one final hour (total of 3 hours). Once you near the end of the cook, reduce the heat to low. Taste for any seasoning needs. Reserve.
During the last hour of making the ragu, Place your flour and salt in a clean food processor bowl and turn the motor on, pouring the eggs through the feed tube. Mix until combined and the dough balls up.
Lightly dust a work surface with a bit of flour and knead the dough until smooth, about 5 minutes. Form into a ~1” thick disc and wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil, seasoning with some salt.
After the dough has rested, cut into fourths. Roll one dough portion out, either using a roller or a machine, then set aside all the dough.
Dust the chitarra strings and board underneath with semolina flour, along with a baking sheet.
Since the dough is most likely longer than the string length, cut the sheets in half. Place one dough sheet onto the chitarra. Roll the pasta until you start seeing the guitar strings in the dough. Then, holding the rolling pin still, shuffle the roller back and forth until the pasta strings drop. Alternatively, run your hand along the pasta and strings and it’ll fall.
Once the board is full of pasta, separate the dough into little nests dusting with semolina to separate. You may need to pull the spaghetti apart at times. Repeat the rolling/nesting process until all the dough has been made into spaghetti.
Place the spaghetti into the pot of boiling water, use tongs to wiggle the spaghetti apart for the first minute. Cover and return to a boil. Remove the cover and continue to cook until al dente, about 5 minutes.
While the pasta is cooking, pour 1 cup of the sauce into a large skillet and heat over medium flame. Once the pasta is done, transfer the spaghetti to the skillet of sauce (either using tongs or a large spider). Heat through, adding more sauce and pasta water (if necessary), cooking for 1-2 minutes. You will use up most of the sauce while finishing the pasta in the skillet.
Remove from the heat and add in ½ cup of freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese. Stir until combined, then place in a large warm serving platter and bring to the table.
Serve and finish with some extra virgin olive oil and more cheese as desired.
______________________________ Copyright 2023, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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