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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.<\/p>\n
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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<\/em> (comb) and bastoncino<\/em> (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<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n A ragù is almost more meat than sauce, and is certainly never soupy. Emilia-Romagna’s<\/a> ragù bolognese, perhaps the most famous of all of these sauces, is closely associated with tagliatelle<\/em>, an egg pasta rolled thinly and cut into 1\/4-inch ribbons. It was not always this way, however. Oretta Zanini De Vita<\/a> tells us that in the nineteenth century ragù bolognese was a main dish served with a fork and eaten with bread.<\/p>\n 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<\/em>. 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.<\/p>\n Beef Ragù<\/em><\/p>\n 3 carrots, peeled, cut in brunoise 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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 1\u00bd hours. Check for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper as necessary. Use immediately, or refrigerate 2 days or freeze two months.<\/p>\n Pasta<\/em><\/p>\n 8 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained 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.<\/p>\n Add the flour and semolina to the workbowl, and pulse to combine.<\/p>\n Combine the eggs, egg yolks and olive oil in small measuring cup or bowl, and beat briefly. Remove pusher from processor.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Place 1 square of dough on floured pettine<\/em> with one of the corners of the dough pointing toward you. Place floured bastoncino<\/em> 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<\/em>. Dab a bit of water on the opposite corner. Seal the end with gentle pressure. Slip garganello<\/em> off and place on semolina lined towel.<\/p>\n Repeat the process until all the dough has been used. Cover with clean kitchen towel until ready to cook.<\/p>\n To cook and serve pasta:<\/em><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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 1\u00bd 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.<\/p>\n Food Nerd Notes:<\/em><\/p>\n Large traditional pettine, like the one you see me using are available from Terry Mirri, owner of Artisanal Pasta Tools<\/a> in Napa, California. Kitchenware stores such as Sur La Table sell the smaller wooden model.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nSpinach Garganelli with Beef Ragù<\/em><\/h4>\n
<\/p>\nserves 6 as a primo<\/h6>\n
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\n4 stalks celery, cut in brunoise
\n1 large yellow onion, cut in brunoise
\n3\/4 cup olive oil
\n1 1\/2 ounces pancetta, cut in 1\/4 inch dice
\n4 cloves garlic, finely minced
\n2 tablespoons olive oil
\n1 1\/2 pounds ground chuck (see Food Nerd Notes below)
\n3 tablespoons tomato paste
\n1 cup Barolo
\n2 cups rich beef stock
\n14 ounce can of tomatoes, broken or cut into pieces
\n1\/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
\nsalt
\nblack pepper<\/p>\n
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\n1 3\/4 cups all-purpose flour
\n1\/4 cup semolina
\n2 large eggs
\n2 egg yolks
\n1 tablespoon olive oil<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
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