Spaghetti alla Chitarra con Polpettine
Preparazione 1 h · Cottura 1 h · Riposo 30 min · Porzioni 4 · Difficoltà Media
Procedimento
Knead flour and eggs into a firm dough; rest 30 minutes wrapped.
40 min
Mix lamb, beef, beaten egg, breadcrumbs, half the Pecorino, salt, and pepper. Roll into polpettine no bigger than a marble; cold hands help.
25 min
Soften the onion and garlic in the oil with the chile; add the tomatoes, crushing them, and the basil. Simmer 15 minutes.
18 min
Slide the polpettine raw into the simmering sauce and cook gently, uncovered, until tender and the sauce has thickened, about 25 minutes. Do not stir for the first 10; shake the pan instead.
25 min
Roll the pasta to the thickness of the chitarra strings’ gap, lay each sheet on the chitarra, and press through with the rolling pin. (No chitarra: roll and hand-cut square-edged spaghetti.)
20 min
Boil the chitarra in well-salted water, 2 to 3 minutes; it should keep a proud core.
3 min
Toss the pasta with the sauce in the pan, polpettine folded through, loosening with pasta water. Serve with the remaining Pecorino.
2 min
I consigli della nonna
Consigli in cucina
Marble-sized means it. The charm of pallottine is eating five in a forkful. Anything bigger than a marble becomes a meatball dish from somewhere else.
Poach, never fry, the polpettine. Raw into the sauce keeps them tender and lets the sugo drink the meat. Browning first builds a crust this dish does not want.
The same chitarra carries lamb ragù bianco with rosemary in the mountains; keep the pasta, swap the sauce, and you have toured half of Abruzzo.
