Tagliatelle with tiny meatballs from Teramo is a traditional Abruzzese dish, specifically from the Teramo area. I made the recipe with tagliatelle, but the original recipe calls for pasta cut on the Abruzzese guitar, a wooden tool with steel strings to cut this type of pasta.
The important thing is that the pasta is handmade and not store-bought to be dressed with the tiny meatballs. That would be absolutely wrong.
The guitar pasta, like fettuccine or tagliatelle, are handmade pastas that absorb the sauce well, making the final dish exceptional.
If you want to get ahead, you can make the tiny meatballs a few days before and freeze them… they can be frozen either fresh or after frying, so when you want to prepare the dish, the most tedious work is already done!!!
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Kcal about 1300 per person
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 3 people
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients to make Tagliatelle with Tiny Meatballs from Teramo
Ingredients for the tiny meatballs
- 9 oz ground beef
- 3.5 oz ground lamb
- 1 small egg
- 5.3 oz grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- to taste salt
- a little chopped parsley
- to taste pepper
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- corn or sunflower oil for frying (the original recipe calls for frying with extra virgin olive oil)
- 3.3 lbs and a half of peeled tomatoes
- 1 carrot
- 1 medium onion
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 oz extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt
- 3 medium eggs
- 7 oz all-purpose flour
- 14 oz semolina flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 3.5 oz grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Tools
- 1 Mold Poldino Polpettino
Preparation of Tagliatelle with Tiny Meatballs from Teramo
Preparation of the tiny meatballs
Take a large bowl, put in the ground meat, salt, pepper, egg, chopped parsley, a pinch of nutmeg, Parmigiano, and mix everything well.
The tiny meatballs should have a soft consistency, but still be manageable meatballs. If they don’t feel well combined, add more Parmigiano if necessary.
Now pinch off small amounts of meat and create the tiny meatballs. They should be very small; in fact, it’s said that the smaller they are, the more you care about the people you’re cooking for, given the time it takes to make them.
Now take a high-sided frying pan, add the oil, heat it, and fry the tiny meatballs until golden. Then drain them on absorbent paper and set them aside.
Preparation of the sauce
In a high-sided pot, put the extra virgin olive oil and add the chopped onion, garlic, celery, and carrot, and let them sauté. Then add the peeled tomatoes passed through a food mill and adjust with salt and pepper.
Let it cook, and when the sauce is almost ready, pour a part of the sauce into another pot and add the tiny meatballs to it, allowing them to finish cooking so they also absorb the sauce.
Preparation of the pasta
While everything else needed for the recipe is cooking, you can prepare the pasta by combining the beaten eggs, flour, and salt, mixing well until you form a soft but well-worked dough. If necessary, add more flour.
Once the dough is ready, roll out sheets using a pasta machine, keeping in mind that in Abruzzo we like the pasta a bit thick, but of course, make it to your liking.
Once you have the sheets, you can cut them into tagliatelle or fettuccine, or if you have the guitar tool, cut them there for the best result.
Once the pasta is cut as desired, flour it well so it doesn’t stick together.
At this point, boil salted water for the pasta, and if the sauces are ready, cook the pasta al dente. Once drained, first dress it with the plain sauce, then add the sauce with the tiny meatballs, mix well, and serve.
Enjoy your meal!
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