The dough for maccheroni alla chitarra has to be slightly firmer than usual for fresh pasta; it requires a bit more flour, so it will cut neatly when pressed against the chitarra. If you have a kitchen scale, weighing the flour is best: start with 10 ounces of flour, equivalent to 2 cups of unsifted flour, slightly packed, and add more as needed. Though I always tell you that you can make fresh pasta dough by hand (because it is so easy!), here I recommend the food-processor method, to incorporate the greater amount of flour quickly.

　　

Ingredients

makes about 1 pound, serving 6 as a primo or 4 as main dish

　　2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour, plus more as needed

　　4 large eggs

　　1/3 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for the pasta pot

　　

RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT

A food processor fitted with a steel blade; a pasta-rolling machine or wooden rolling pin; a wooden chitarra (see Sources, page 387)

　　

Step 1

Measure 2 full cups of unsifted flour (or weigh out 10 ounces), and dump it all in the food-processor bowl; process for a few seconds to aerate.

　　

Step 2

Beat the eggs with the salt in a spouted measuring cup. With the food processor running, quickly pour in all the eggs through the feed tube. Process continuously, as a dough forms and gathers on the blade and cleans the side of the bowl. If the dough does not come together or clean the bowl after 30 seconds or so, stop the machine, scrape down the sides, and sprinkle in a couple of tablespoons more flour. Process for a few more seconds—and add more flour if necessary—until a fairly firm ball of dough forms.

　　

Step 3

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface, and knead by hand for a minute or more, until it is smooth and firm. If it’s at all sticky, incorporate more flour as you knead. Press the dough into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature for at least 1/2 hour. (You can refrigerate the dough for up to a day, or freeze for a month or more. Defrost in the refrigerator, and return to room temperature before rolling.) Cut the dough in four equal pieces.

　　

Step 4

If using a pasta machine: Roll each piece through the machine at progressively thinner settings, to form long wide strips, about 1/8 inch thick (no thinner) and as wide as your machine allows. If the strip grows longer than the strings of your chitarra, cut it crosswise into two shorter strips.

　　

Step 5

To roll by hand: Lightly flour the work surface and your rolling pin. Flatten each piece of dough into a rectangle with your palm, and roll it from the center, gradually lengthening it into a broad strip about 1/8 inch thick. Don’t roll the dough too thin or longer or wider than the strings of your chitarra.

　　

Step 6

To cut maccheroni: Lay a strip of dough over the strings of the chitarra (on a two-sided chitarra, use the more widely spaced strings). Using gentle but constant pressure, roll your pin lengthwise up and down the pasta, so the strings cut it cleanly into strands of maccheroni that fall onto the tray of the chitarra. Dust the freshly cut strands with flour, and gather them into a loose nest on a floured tray. Cut all the strips into maccheroni, and collect them in floured nests. Leave the tray uncovered at room temperature until you are ready to cook the pasta.

　　

Step 7

To cook a whole batch of maccheroni: Bring to boiling a large pot of well-salted water (at least 6 quarts with a tablespoon or more of salt). Using your hand or a colander, shake excess flour off the nests of maccheroni, and drop them into the pot. Stir and separate the strands as the water returns to a rolling boil, then cook the pasta for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until al dente. (See the many sauce recipes that follow for instructions on dressing maccheroni alla chitarra.)

　　

Step 8

To freeze the cut maccheroni: Set the whole tray in the freezer. When the nests are solid, seal them in airtight plastic bags and pack in a container, so they don’t get crushed. (Frozen maccheroni can be dropped right into the pasta cooking pot; stir gently to separate the strands as they soften.)

　　

Get Yourself a Chitarra!

Step 9

Some of you are probably wondering, “Do I really need an imported chitarra to make this maccheroni?” I say yes. You and your family will find it great fun to cut pasta dough through a chitarra and then enjoy the pleasures that only fresh homemade maccheroni’s distinctive textural character can give.

　　

Step 10

Fortunately, it is now easy to find and purchase a sturdy chitarra (some made in Abruzzo) for under $50 in the United States. I recommend a traditional chitarra, with two sets of strings on the frame, which allows you to cut very thin pasta strands (especially nice for cooking in soups) as well as perfect thick, four-sided maccheroni. Make them once, and I am certain you will use your chitarra often! (And remember that, just as a guitar needs to be tuned before playing, so does the maccheroni chitarra. Before each use, pluck on the strings and make sure they are taut and properly set in their notches on the chitarra frame. Most chitarre have instructions for tightening the strings, usually a simple matter of turning the knobs that hold them.)

　　

Step 11

If you don’t yet have a chitarra, though, you can make the pasta dough, roll it, and cut strands with the cutting attachment of your pasta machine or by hand. And if you only have dry pasta, you can certainly use what you have in place of fresh maccheroni with any of my sauce recipes. Spaghetti or linguine will always work well, and recently I’ve noticed that many top pasta manufacturers now make long dry “spaghetti alla chitarra,” with thick, square-cut strands that resemble maccheroni cut on a chitarra. Although they will never replace homemade maccheroni in my kitchen, they are a fine pasta to use in any of the recipes here.

　　

UNCOOKED OLIVE OIL SAUCE

Step 12

The resourceful cooks of Abruzzo are never at a loss for quick and delicious ways to dress maccheroni alla chitarra or the excellent dry pastas made in the region. As these recipes for uncooked dressings show, they can take whatever’s on hand—locally pressed olive oil, a few cloves of garlic, their beloved hot pepper, a cluster of fresh herbs, a pinch of saffron, a handful of nuts, or other native ingredients—and produce a wonderful sauce in minutes.

　　

Step 13

The foundation for these simple sauces—and the endless variations you might enjoy in Abruzzo—is the distinctive fruity olive oils of the region. Extra-virgin oils from the provinces of Teramo, Pescara, and Chieti have achieved DOP (name-protected) status and are available here (see Sources, page 387). Certainly these superb oils will give your maccheroni (or other pasta) a truly authentic Abruzzese flavor, but any top-quality Italian extra-virgin olive oil will make a delicious sauce, too.

　　

Step 14

Please don’t limit your enjoyment of these sauces to pasta, because they are marvelously versatile condiments for meats, fish, poultry, and vegetables, too. They need only a whirl in the food processor and they will keep for weeks. I hope you try them all!

　　Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali. Copyright © 2009 Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali. Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.Lidia Mattichio Bastianich is the author of four previous books, three of them accompanied by nationally syndicated public television series. She is the owner of the New York City restaurant Felidia (among others), and she lectures on and demonstrates Italian cooking throughout the country. She lives on Long Island, New York.Tanya Bastianich Manuali, Lidia’s daughter, received her Ph.D. in Renaissance history from Oxford University. Since 1996 she has led food/wine/art tours. She lives with her husband and children on Long Island.