Ossobuco alla Romagnola with egg macaroni. A classic of Romagna cuisine; while the macaroni are an addition to use the cooking sauce. Anita, born in Romagna, raised on egg pasta and garganelli adds a new shape to her kitchen. The macaroni kneaded with semolina and eggs. A rustic pasta capable of gathering the best of the sauce…
Anita, with floury hands and an apron of little flowers tied tightly at the waist, smiled. Every gesture was a ritual, a dance passed down through generations, but enriched by her personal, passionate evolution. The sauce, inherited from her mother with the ossobuco of Romagna history, simmered slowly.
The rhythmic bubbling in the terracotta pot was the soundtrack of her morning. The aroma of the sautéed onion, celery, and carrot, combined with the sweetness of tomato and the robust scent of meat melting slowly, spread throughout the house, surpassing the old walls and announcing to the neighborhood that in her home, the sacred value of Sunday was being performed.
On the cutting board, the ball of fresh pasta, after resting wrapped in a damp cloth, was ready.
Anita did not use a machine; for her, the true pasta sheet was born only under the rolling pin. With broad, determined movements, her strength transferred into the elastic dough of flour and fresh eggs, rolling it until it was thin as a veil and resilient.
The magic of her knowledge: a pasta sheet that smelled of sun and grain capable of welcoming and embracing every drop of sauce. When her macaroni – which she had learned to cut and roll into an imperfect and generous shape – were lined up neatly to dry, Anita allowed herself a moment of contemplation.
It was more than a meal. It was a bridge between North and South, between past and present, a masterpiece ready to welcome, with its bittersweet notes and its embrace of fresh pasta, anyone who sat at her table.
Now, there was only the concentrated silence of preparation and that magical aroma of sauce promising love and abundance. An ancient dish as worthy as a set table ready to enjoy the good food of our land.
Thinking of Romagna, it’s natural to suggest other well-known recipes in my wanderings
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Slow Cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients
Ossobuco is a portion of veal shank or shin. Used in popular cuisine especially in Lombardy; in other regions, it is consumed less regularly, in Romagna, we find it as a traditional dish. A rustic sauce that recalls slow cooking between a wood stove and a fireplace, ready to satisfy everyone. The fresh pasta, flag-bearer of Romagna cuisine, is prepared in this recipe with different flour for contaminations that formed family.
- 4 veal ossobuco
- 1 cup sauté mix
- 2 pinches nutmeg
- 500 g tomato sauce
- 2 glasses red wine (For marinating. Sangiovese recommended.)
- to taste flour (For flouring)
- 300 g remilled durum wheat semolina (For the macaroni)
- 3 eggs
- to taste salt
- to taste olive oil
Useful Tools
I use a terracotta pot for long cooking, a bowl for marinating, a rolling pin or pasta machine, a gnocchi board, wooden spoons, and trays for the pasta…
- Bowls
- Pots
- Gnocchi Boards
- Wooden Spoons
Steps
The night before, after trimming the edges of the ossobuco, place them in a bowl with the wine and let them macerate in the refrigerator until the next day. When ready to cook, flour them well on all sides.
Sauté carrot, onion, and celery and add the ossobuco, browning them on all sides.
Then add some of the marinating wine and let it evaporate…
And add the tomato sauce and nutmeg; add a little water, preferably hot, or vegetable broth, lower the heat and let simmer for at least two hours.
In the meantime, knead the semolina with the eggs to form a dough ball to rest for about half an hour, closed in an airtight container or a damp cloth to prevent it from drying out.
Roll out the dough with a rolling pin or a pasta machine to get a thin sheet that you will cut into small rectangles of about 1.2 x 2.8 inches, wrap on a stick with a diameter of about 0.4 inches and stripe.
Cook the macaroni in salted boiling water and season with the meat cooking sauce.
Keep the ossobuco warm and serve accompanied by mashed potatoes or roasted potatoes.
Some More Tips
If you want to avoid flour, although not traditional, you can use chickpea flour as a substitute, the rest of the procedure remains the same. They keep in the refrigerator after cooking for two days. With this sauce, you can also dress tagliatelle, perhaps cutting a little meat into small pieces after cooking, to give an even more rustic touch. Excellent with the addition of fresh sheep ricotta to melt in the sauce.
