Maccheroni alla Chitarra w/ Meatballs - Maccheroni alla Chitarra con Polpettine

Maccheroni alla chitarra are a specialty from the Abruzzo region, and are made by rolling a sheet of pasta slightly thicker than normal (dime-and-a-half thick) and forcing it through the chitarra, a set of closely strung strings that looks very much like the strings of a guitar; the end result is spaghetti-like pasta that is square in cross section. This recipe is also quite interesting for its use of meatballs....

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

• ** For the Pasta **
• 5 4/5 cups (700 g) flour
• 6 whole eggs (you can, if you want, use 2 pounds store-bought fresh linguine)
• ** For the Meatballs **
• 8 ounces (200 grams) veal, ground
• An egg
• 8 ounces (200 g) freshly grated Parmigiano
• 8 ounces (weight; 200 g) bread crumbs
• A small pinch of nutmeg
• Olive oil for frying
• ** For the Sauce **
• 2/3 pound (250 g) each beef, pork, mutton, and lamb, diced
• 6 1/2 pounds (3 k) plum tomatoes, blanched, peeled and seeded
• A small onion
• A carrot, minced
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• Salt

Preparation:

Begin by preparing the sauce: Slice the onion and sauté it in the oil, and when it has become translucent add the meat. Cook, stirring, until the meat has browned, then add the tomatoes and carrot, and simmer for about three hours, checking seasoning towards the end of the cooking time.

Meanwhile prepare the pasta, combining the eggs and flour and kneading the resulting dough for a half hour, and letting it sit for a half hour more (see instructions of need be). Roll it out slightly more than 1/16th of an inch (1.5 mm) and press it through the chitarra (you can, if you want, make tagliatelle, or, for that matter, use store-bought pasta).

Combine the ingredients for the meatballs and make them, rolling blebs of the paste between your palms to make balls 1/2 inch (1 cm) in diameter. NOTE: The Slow Food recipe calls for 20 grams each veal, Parmigiano and bread crumbs. Since this is an ounce each of the ingredients, which would result in very few meatballs, I increased it on the assumption that they made a transcription error. In any case, fry the meatballs until golden brown in olive oil and drain them well on absorbent paper.

Bring abundant salted water to a boil and cook the pasta, stirring it with a fork to keep the strands from tangling (if it's fresh pasta figure a cooking time of about 3 minutes). Drain the pasta, season it with most of the sauce, and divvy it out into the plates. Use the remainder of the sauce to season the meatballs, and sprinkle them over the pasta.

A wine? Montepulcianto D'Abruzzo, and i would go with one that's not heavily oaked.

Yield: 6-8 servings maccheroni alla chitarra with meatballs.

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