Spaghetti alla chitarra with meatballs

Spaghetti alla chitarra with meatballs is a traditional dish from Abruzzo. Here’s how to prepare it.

Ingredients

• 400 g of spaghetti alla chitarra
• 300 g of ground meat (mixed veal and pork)
• 50 g of stale bread
• Milk q.b.
• 1 egg
• 50 g of grated Parmesan cheese
• Nutmeg q.b.
• Salt and pepper q.b.
• 500 g of peeled tomatoes
• 1 small onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 stalk of celery
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh basil

Preparation

1. Start with the preparation of the meatballs. Soak the stale bread in milk until it becomes soft, then squeeze it out and transfer it to a bowl.
2. Add the ground meat, an egg, the Parmesan, a pinch of nutmeg, salt, and pepper to the bowl. Mix well until you have a homogeneous mixture and then form small balls, meatballs, with a diameter of about 1-2 cm.
3. For the sauce, finely chop the onion, carrot, and celery and sauté them in a pan with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil until they become soft.
4. Add the peeled tomatoes and cook over medium heat for about 15-20 minutes. If necessary, adjust the salt and pepper.
5. In another pan, brown the meatballs in a little oil until they are evenly colored and then transfer them to the sauce. Let them flavor in the sauce for about 10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the spaghetti alla chitarra. Drain them “al dente” and toss them with the sauce and meatballs.
7. Serve hot, garnished with hand-torn fresh basil.

It’s interesting to know that spaghetti alla chitarra get their name from the tool used to produce them, a sort of frame equipped with metal strings similar to those of a guitar. By passing the sheet of pasta over this tool, you get the spaghetti with their typical square shape. The meatballs, small meatballs, are a variant of the classic meatballs, but in a reduced version to better accompany the pasta.