Make Your Own Spinach Garganelli
Handmade Garganelli with Beef Ragù
The calendar says Spring is here, but the mercury remains low. I wanted some hearty food, and that means ragù around here. I felt like some handmade pasta too, so I opted for garganelli, tube shaped pasta with ridges, a perfect match for any sauce. Whether delicate or hearty, the sauce bathes these handmade beauties inside and out, coating them and clinging to the ridges, delivering maximum flavor with every mouthful.
Classic garganelli are made from sheets of delicate egg pasta. The pasta is cut into squares and rolled using a comb and a stick, known in Italian as a pettine (comb) and bastoncino (rolling stick.) To up the taste and bite I added spinach and semolina to the dough. To read more on the history of this pasta, click to read my article Garganelli – Maccheroni al Pettine.
A ragù is almost more meat than sauce, and is certainly never soupy. Emilia-Romagna’s ragù bolognese, perhaps the most famous of all of these sauces, is closely associated with tagliatelle, an egg pasta rolled thinly and cut into 1/4-inch ribbons. It was not always this way, however. Oretta Zanini De Vita tells us that in the nineteenth century ragù bolognese was a main dish served with a fork and eaten with bread.
The Barolo and high concentration of beef stock combine to make a rich ragù with great body, but the real secret of its richness comes from the soffrito, a combination of slowly cooked aromatic vegetables. The first step for the soffrito is to cut the vegetables into a very fine dice, 1/8th inch to be precise, or what is known in culinary terms as a brunoise. By cutting the vegetables in such small pieces can you achieve the meltingly sweet texture that is the hallmark of a well made soffrito. After ninety minutes over a low flame the onion, carrot and celery reduce and caramelize, transforming into a sweet base with multiple layers of flavor.
Spinach Garganelli with Beef Ragù
serves 6 as a primo
Beef Ragù
3 carrots, peeled, cut in brunoise
4 stalks celery, cut in brunoise
1 large yellow onion, cut in brunoise
3/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 ounces pancetta, cut in 1/4 inch dice
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds ground chuck (see Food Nerd Notes below)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup Barolo
2 cups rich beef stock
14 ounce can of tomatoes, broken or cut into pieces
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
salt
black pepper
Place the carrots, celery, onion and 3/4 cup olive oil in a heavy bottom low 4-quart pan. Toss to coat, and cook over low heat until well caramelized and extremely soft, about 1 1/2 hours.
Place pancetta, garlic and 2 tablespoons olive oil in workbowl of a mini-food processor. Process until the ingredients are reduced to a paste, stopping to scrape down sides as necessary. Add the mixture to the pan with the vegetables and cook over medium heat, about 8 minutes, being careful not to burn garlic. Add tomato paste and continue cooking about 1 minute.
Add ground beef, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and nutmeg. Cook, stirring to break up meat and combine ingredients until beef is browned and no longer exudes juices, about 8 to 12 minutes. Add wine, increase heat to medium high and cook until wine has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Add beef stock and canned tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce to gentle simmer. Continue cooking until thickened, about 1 to 1½ hours. Check for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper as necessary. Use immediately, or refrigerate 2 days or freeze two months.
Pasta
8 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup semolina
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon olive oil
Squeeze the spinach until it is very dry, discarding liquid. This is best accomplished with your hands, although you can place it in a lint free kitchen towel and squeeze or use a ricer. You will wind up with just under 4 ounces of spinach. Fit a food processor with the metal knife. Drop spinach into the workbowl and pulse 10 or 12 times until it is well chopped.
Add the flour and semolina to the workbowl, and pulse to combine.
Combine the eggs, egg yolks and olive oil in small measuring cup or bowl, and beat briefly. Remove pusher from processor.
Turn the processor on, and pour all of the egg mixture through feed tube. The mixture should gather into a ball, cleaning sides of work bowl. If it does not come together, add more flour, 1 teaspoon at a time. Once mixture comes together, process 40 seconds.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board, and knead it until smooth, about 5 minutes. Press it into a disk and wrap in plastic. Set it aside to rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Line 2 trays with clean lint free towels and sprinkle lightly with semolina. Cut off one quarter of the dough, keeping the remaining dough wrapped.
Roll dough to 1/16th inch thickness using either a pasta machine or a rolling pin. Use a pastry cutter or a knife to cut the dough into 2 X 2 inch squares.
Place 1 square of dough on floured pettine with one of the corners of the dough pointing toward you. Place floured bastoncino on corner of dough closest to you, and roll bottom corner of dough over it. Continue rolling away from you exerting gentle pressure to roll dough around bastoncino. Dab a bit of water on the opposite corner. Seal the end with gentle pressure. Slip garganello off and place on semolina lined towel.
Repeat the process until all the dough has been used. Cover with clean kitchen towel until ready to cook.
To cook and serve pasta:
Bring 6 quarts of water to boil in large pot. Add 3 tablespoons coarse salt to boiling water. Carefully drop garganelli into the boiling water, and cook, stirring now and again until done. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.
For the very tastiest garganelli, finish cooking them right in the pan along with the ragù. As they cook, the ragù will flavor the pasta itself. Remove the garganelli from the boiling water after about 1½ minutes boiling time, and drop them into the pan with the ragù. Toss them gently in the hot ragù to finish cooking, adding a bit of the reserved pasta water, if necessary, to loosen the ragù. Transfer to serving plates or bowl. If you wish to showcase the pretty green of the spinach garganelli, place the drained pasta in a large bowl or on individual plates, and top with ragù. The choice is yours. Pass the Parmigiano at the table.
Food Nerd Notes:
Large traditional pettine, like the one you see me using are available from Terry Mirri, owner of Artisanal Pasta Tools in Napa, California. Kitchenware stores such as Sur La Table sell the smaller wooden model.
I always grind my own meat. This allows me to know what cut of meat I have and I can be confident it is fresh. Sadly, recalls of ground meat due to bacterial contamination, mislabeling or the presence of allergens or adulterants are common these days. The problem is compounded by the fact that a great deal of the product subject to recall is never recovered, having already been purchased, or perhaps consumed, by an unsuspecting public. If you do not wish to grind your own meat, go to the butcher, select the cuts of meat you want, and ask him to grind it for you.
Click here for a step by step photo essay on how to grind your own meat.
Note: You can click on any picture to see a slide show!
I have no affiliation with any product, manufacturer, or site mentioned in this article.
Tuesday, April 2nd 2013 at 10:23 pm |
Adri i tuoi garganelli sono meravigliosi, che bello vedere il passo passo, che fame!!!! Bravissima, un abbraccio
Tuesday, April 2nd 2013 at 10:36 pm |
Ciao Mariangela!
Grazie!
Tuesday, April 2nd 2013 at 11:13 pm |
Fantastici! Sono venuti perfetti e sei un mito!! Complimenti di vero cuore, ti ammiro molto 🙂 Un bacio con affetto e una felice giornata!!
Tuesday, April 2nd 2013 at 11:40 pm |
Ciao Ely,
Che gentilissime parole! Grazie!
Tuesday, April 2nd 2013 at 11:56 pm |
What a beautifully thorough tutorial Adri. Love the photos that turn to show you the technique. Very cool feature and of course, beautifully written.
Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 at 6:15 am |
Hi Marla,
Thanks for the compliments – let’s see you and your guests making their own!
Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 at 10:04 am |
I must tell you that as a result of reading your blog I have begun once again to make my own pasta. I have purchased corzetti stampata for myself and for friends and relatives as house gifts. I have purchased a garganelli board and also a cavarola board all from Terri Mirri. I have made corzetti several times (once with my nieces who are 4 and 6 and they loved the process!), garganelli which I made with a teenage friend of another niece who stayed with me one weekend, and I am waiting to use the cavarola board. I love your blog. Thank you so very much for taking the time to instruct.
Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 at 11:33 am |
Hi Angela,
I can’t thank you enough for your comment. Putting these posts together is my pleasure entirely. I am so pleased that you have found them to be inspirational and that you are once again making your own pasta. It is wonderful that you are keeping these traditions alive by sharing these skills with your family’s younger generation.
I have a favor to ask. I would love to have a photo to display in my Readers’ Gallery. Next time you have a pasta making fest, could you snap one for me and send it along? Again, thanks for your comment. You made my day!
Thursday, April 4th 2013 at 9:34 am |
I will absolultely send you a snapshot! I actually am hoping to make some this weekend!
Thursday, April 4th 2013 at 10:51 am |
Hi Angela,
Thanks! I look forward to it!
Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 at 10:24 am |
Adri – What a wonderful pictorial step-by-step on making spinach garganelli. I’ve made regular garganelli only once but never with a traditional pettine like yours – something I’d love to buy. Your wooden counter top is just perfect for rolling out pasta dough and Bart’s photos are just fantastic – especially that little “flip-screen” scenario. You, my dear, are a beauty with those tumbling blond curls and I’m envious of your slim figure.
Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 at 11:40 am |
Ciao Linda,
I am glad you like this. Get yourself a pettine, girlfriend! I want to see you making some of these.
Bart says thank you. I too was surprised to see the flip screen scenario. It was very much a last minute addition. He just said that had he planned for it, he would have put the camera on a tripod for a constant vantage point. It’s fun having a film editor in the house. About my trim figure – it’s all smoke and mirrors and a wide angle lens!
Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 at 11:13 am |
Mi piace un sacco la tua idea di fare i garganelli verdi: fanno davvero primavera. Se una volta capito a Napa vado a vedere il negozio che citi. Il pettine tradizionale e’ proprio carino.
Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 at 11:50 am |
Ciao Simona,
Si, i garganelli di spinaci sono perfetti per la primavera. Terry Mirri, il proprietorio di Artisanal Pasta Tools vende meravigliosi strumenti tradizionali.
Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 at 2:03 pm |
Gorgeous, Adri! Can’t wait to try them out! And your photos are gorgeous as always. Need to learn a thing or two from you on styling! A presto!
Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 at 2:17 pm |
Hi Michelle,
They are fun to do, and as with all the hand made items, once you get going it is surprising how many you really can make. Thanks for the compliments! Alla prossima!
Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 at 7:12 pm |
Adri, I have Terri’s board and have made garganelli with my girlfriends but never spinach. So beautiful and vibrant in contrast with your wonderful ragu! All this beautiful food you make and you’re such a tiny little thing, what is your secret?
Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 at 8:13 pm |
Hi Marie,
I love meeting others who have Terri’s things. Aren’t they wonderful? It’s keeping tradition alive, and there are a lot of us at it now. I enjoy making garganelli, and the spinach ones really are good. Grab that board, girlfriend and thaw some spinach! They are perfect for a Spring supper.
And as for the size thing. What can I say – it’s portion control, but also my mom was tiny. I do work at it, though. I won’t lie!
Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 at 8:43 pm |
I really enjoyed this beautiful step by step tutorial, Adri! The photos and your instructions make everything so clear. I have to buy a pettine and try this as I know my husband would love home made garganelli.
Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 at 8:52 pm |
Hi Pat,
I love hearing that you enjoyed this! Yes, get a board and surprise your husband! Let’s see those hands at work!
Thursday, April 4th 2013 at 1:29 pm |
sono rimasta incantata dalle splendide foto Adri ma anche la ricetta è splendida ! Un abbraccio!
Thursday, April 4th 2013 at 1:59 pm |
Grazie, Chiara!
Friday, April 5th 2013 at 8:08 am |
complimenti , che magnifica ricetta, bravissima!!!!!
Friday, April 5th 2013 at 12:07 pm |
Grazie, Ely! Un abbraccio!
Friday, April 5th 2013 at 8:45 am |
A wonderful primer on this loveliest of pasta shapes. I’ve never attempted to make them at home—but with this post as my guide, I may try…
Friday, April 5th 2013 at 12:09 pm |
Ciao Frank,
Oh, go ahead try! I await your post – they are so good, and once you get going it is amazing how many you can make. Grazie!
Friday, April 5th 2013 at 1:57 pm |
Bravissima ti sono venuti benissimo!!
Friday, April 5th 2013 at 5:01 pm |
Grazie, Stefania!
Saturday, April 6th 2013 at 2:20 pm |
What an unbelievably wonderful blog you have, I am so impressed with this post and many of your other posts, I do not really know where to begin with my compliments. I have never seen anyone I know make Garganelli using the pettine before – I certainly have a lot to learn, that´s for sure. Your pasta looks exquisite and the ragù sounds utterly delicious – I will certainly make sure to follow your blog and I am thankful that you “found” me and left such very kind comments!
Tanti saluti!
Saturday, April 6th 2013 at 5:16 pm |
Benvenuta Andrea!
We both owe a debt to Trevor of Sis.Boom.[Blog!] and Dorie Greenspan. Thank your for your kind words. I am so pleased that you came to visit, and I hope you return often. I certainly enjoyed your site, and I will be a regular visitor. That’s for certain. Tanti saluti a te!
Sunday, April 7th 2013 at 7:03 pm |
I feel like a lazybones. I haven’t made fresh pasta once this winter and this was the winter to do it! I was thinking one more ragu before the real spring arrives. So far – only the date arrived. I love how hearty and rich this is.
Monday, April 8th 2013 at 4:58 pm |
Hi Claudia,
The good news is that it is never too late! Even if you do not get to the ragù, it will soon be time for those delightful fresh condimenti such as pesto and checca! Thanks for stopping by!
Monday, April 8th 2013 at 12:25 pm |
You should have a pasta class. I would totally come to that. GREG
Monday, April 8th 2013 at 12:47 pm |
Thanks, Greg! What a lovely compliment!
Tuesday, April 9th 2013 at 7:02 am |
Such a labor of love! You have perfectly executed the process and your tutorial will make it possible for the rest of us to give the process a try. I hope your week is off to a great start. Blessings…Mary
Tuesday, April 9th 2013 at 7:33 am |
Welcome, Mary!
I hope you give this a try. They are so pretty, and once you get going, it is surprising how quickly the process goes. It is the perfect project to do with others – assembly line style. Pasta making always seems to bring a group together. Have a wonderful day, and thank you for stopping by.
Sunday, April 21st 2013 at 1:53 am |
Dear Adri this is great! I love pasta and I always like to learn traditional way to prepare it. Garganelli are not popular pasta shape in Rome and I know very little about it. THANK YOU so much for sharing this very interesting post. I will be go back home in August and I will look for all these amazing traditional tools. PS what a great idea to mince your own meat!!!
Sunday, April 21st 2013 at 7:18 am |
Ciao Rita,
I am so glad you enjoyed this, and I hope to see a post from you on the subject soon!
Monday, July 1st 2013 at 4:20 am |
Hi Adri, Thank you for visiting my site. I am thrilled to find yours–this post is stunning and informative. Those garganelli look delectable. Impressive work!
Monday, July 1st 2013 at 5:37 am |
Hi Nancy,
And thank you for returning the favor. I am glad you enjoyed the garganelli article. I hope you return often!