Romagna-style ossobuco with egg maccheroni. A classic of Romagna cuisine; the maccheroni are an addition to make use of the cooking sauce. Anita, Romagnola by birth, raised on egg pasta and garganelli, adds a new format to her kitchen. The maccheroni are kneaded with re-milled durum semolina and eggs. A rustic pasta able to collect and hold the very best of the sauce…
Anita, with flour-dusted hands and her floral apron tied neatly at the waist, smiled. Every gesture was a ritual, a dance passed down through generations, enriched by her own passionate evolution. The sauce, the one inherited from her mother along with the ossobuco of Romagna tradition, simmered slowly.
The rhythmic bubbling in the terracotta pot was the soundtrack of her morning. The aroma of the soffritto of onion, celery and carrot, combined with the sweetness of the tomato and the robust scent of the meat slowly melting, spread throughout the house, passing over old walls and announcing to the neighborhood that in her home the sacred value of Sunday was being fulfilled.
On the board the ball of fresh pasta, after resting wrapped in a damp cloth, was ready.
Anita didn’t use a machine; for her, the true sheet was born only under the rolling pin. With broad, decisive movements, her strength transferred to the elastic dough of flour and very fresh eggs, rolling it out until it was as thin as a veil yet resilient.
The magic of her knowledge: a sheet that tasted of sun and grain, able to welcome and embrace every drop of sauce. When her maccheroni — which she had learned to cut and roll into an imperfect and generous shape — were neatly lined up to dry, Anita allowed herself a moment of contemplation.
It was more than a lunch. It was a bridge between North and South, between past and present. A masterpiece ready to welcome, with its sweet-and-sour flavor nuances and its hug of fresh pasta, anyone who sat at her table.
Now there was only the concentrated silence of preparation and that magical aroma of sauce that promised love and abundance. An ancient dish, worthy of a laden table ready to enjoy the good food of our land.
Thinking of Romagna, it comes naturally to recommend other recipes known in my wanderings
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking time: 3 Hours
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Slow cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for Romagna-style Ossobuco with Egg Maccheroni
Ossobuco is a portion of veal shank. Common 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 long cooking times by a wood stove or fireplace, ready to please everyone. The fresh pasta, a hallmark of Romagna cuisine, is prepared in this recipe with a different flour due to the culinary blending that formed a family.
- 4 veal ossobuco (shanks)
- 2/3 cup sofrito mix (onion, carrot, celery)
- 2 pinches nutmeg
- 2 cups tomato passata / tomato sauce
- 2 glass red wine (For the marinade. Sangiovese recommended. (about 8 fl oz / 240 ml total))
- to taste flour (For dusting)
- 2 cups re-milled durum semolina (For the maccheroni)
- 3 eggs
- to taste salt
- to taste olive oil
Useful Tools for Romagna-style Ossobuco with Egg Maccheroni
I use a terracotta pan for long cooking times; you will also need a bowl for the marinade, a rolling pin or pasta sheeter for the pasta, a gnocchi/rigagnocchi board, wooden spoons and trays for the pasta…
- Bowls
- Pans
- Gnocchi board
- Wooden spoons
Steps for Romagna-style Ossobuco with Egg Maccheroni
The evening 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. At cooking time, flour them well on all sides.
Sauté carrot, onion and celery, then add the ossobuco and brown them on all sides.
Then add part of the marinating wine and let it evaporate…
Add the tomato passata and the nutmeg; add a little water, preferably hot, or vegetable broth, lower the heat and simmer slowly for at least two hours.
Meanwhile, mix the semolina with the eggs and form a dough ball to rest for about half an hour, sealed in an airtight container or a damp cloth so it doesn’t dry out.
Roll the dough with a rolling pin or pasta sheeter to obtain a thin sheet, then cut into small rectangles of about 1 1/4 x 2 3/4 in and roll them around a rod about 3/8 in in diameter, then ridge them.
Cook the maccheroni in salted boiling water and dress with the meat cooking sauce.
Keep the ossobuco warm and serve accompanied by mashed potatoes or roasted potatoes.
A few extra tips
If you want to avoid wheat 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 for two days after cooking. With this sauce you can also dress tagliatelle; you might cut some of the meat into small pieces after cooking to give an even more rustic touch. Excellent with the addition of fresh sheep ricotta melted into the sauce.
