Carnival meat sauce from Catania and pasta “che cinc puttusa” or pasta with five holes, one of the cornerstones of Grandma’s Sicilian cooking recipes, like Sicilian arancini, Sicilian rotisserie specialties, Sicilian cannoli and Sicilian cassata.
February begins its days with the festivities for the Patron Saint Agatha and is a month particularly cherished by the people of Catania, which often sees those celebrations coincide with Carnival. Depending on whether Carnival falls in early February or later, it’s not unusual to see masked children during the Agatha festivities.
Thus Catania and the “Bellini” park, after the candles, are showered with confetti and streamers and, just like the streets, the tables of food lovers are decorated — but only in red!
One dish, in particular, belongs to the Catania table tradition during Carnival: “i maccarruna che’ cincu puttusa“, which translated from dialect means “macaroni with five holes“, large macaroni with a large central hole and four smaller lateral holes. The five holes, which were once even seven, relate to Carnival as a celebration of excess and the prelude to the austerity of Lent. As exaggerated as the pasta is, just as exaggerated must be the “sauce” that dresses it, passed down from mothers and grandmothers through generations, each with her own kitchen secrets. The sauce, however, is not only a condiment but also a sumptuous second course enriched with ribs, pork spare ribs, sausage, stew meat, meatballs and represents the second course of at least one of the Carnival period lunches.
But after this explanation of the tradition and history of the dish, it’s time to roll up your sleeves, put on something dark to hide sauce splatters and get cooking… Follow me: we’ll prepare the Sicilian Carnival sauce and the pasta with five holes. Before we start, remember that if you want to stay updated on my recipes, you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Cooking time: 3 Hours
- Portions: 6 Servings
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients to make the Sicilian Carnival sauce
- 3 cups Tomato passata
- 3/4 cup Tomato paste (tomato)
- 2 Onions (medium)
- 14 oz Sausage
- 14 oz Beef (stew meat)
- 14 oz Pork (stew meat)
- 11 oz Pork rind (cotenna)
- 14 oz Pork ribs (costina di maiale)
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- to taste Salt
- 14 oz Ground pork (mixed with beef)
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 cup Parmigiano (or pecorino or a mix of both)
- 1/4 cup Breadcrumbs
- to taste Extra virgin olive oil
How to make the Sicilian Carnival sauce
Peel, rinse and chop the onions.
Sauté them in a generous drizzle of oil. Add the meat and let it blanch — this will take about ten minutes.
Add the tomato passata and the double-concentrated tomato paste. Pour in a little water — just enough to rinse the bottle (for us it’s mandatory, almost ritual! :-)) — add 1 teaspoon of sugar and salt. Cover and cook over very low heat for about 2 hours.
Meanwhile, prepare the meatballs.
In a large bowl combine the ground meat, cheese, eggs and breadcrumbs, add a pinch of salt and work until you obtain a homogeneous, firm mixture. Let it rest for ten minutes.
Heat a pan with olive oil, shape the meatballs and brown them well on both sides, frying them.
Add the meatballs to the sauce and cook for another hour, remembering to stir always very gently.
When cooking is complete the meat should almost melt in your mouth, and you can also use the sauce to dress tasty pasta dishes. With this amount you can dress about 21 oz of pasta.
Notes
Store leftover sauce and meat in the refrigerator in an airtight container for no more than three days and reheat before consuming.
