Ingredients
For the broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed and cut up into small pieces
3 pounds fresh ripe tomatoes, chopped
3 celery stalks, cut into thin slices
1 small onion, finely chopped
For Seasoning
about 1 teaspoon salt
about 1/4 teaspoon pepper
A bunch of fresh basil
about 1 tablespoon, finely chopped basil leaves
OR
about 1 teaspoon dried basil
Or
about 1 teaspoon dried oregano
Or
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon hot chillies (optional)
For the Sagnatelle dough [for recipe see "Everyday pasta dough"]*
4 cups flour
about 1 1/2 cups water
*Spellings for "sagnatelle" and/or "sagnetelle" seem to vary
For Cooking Sagnatelle
A large pot of boiling water
1 tablespoon salt
Directions
To make the tomato broth
1. Chop onion and garlic.
2. Slice celery.
3. Heat up oil. Add garlic and onion, fry for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Added sliced celery stalks and continue frying until the onion is golden and the celery is softened (about 8 minutes).
5. Add chopped up tomatoes and season with salt, pepper and herbs.
6. Cook the tomato broth (or stew) for about 20 minutes.
7. If using fresh basil leaves, remove before using.
To Prepare the Sagnatelle Strips
1. Make "Everyday Pasta Dough" [See recipe]
2. To make "sagnatelle" cut pasta sheets into thin strips -- 6 inches long by 1/8 inch wide ("Sagnatelle" resemble spaghetti strips, except they're much shorter in length). If one has a pasta maker one simply passes the pasta sheets through the spaghetti cutter and then cuts them up. If one is making them by hand, one rolls up a pasta sheet (about 6 inches long by 6 inches wide) and then one cuts thin strips with a knife.
3. Place the cut strips on a floured wooden board, in a semi-circular position, so that after they are air-dried they look like half circles.
4. Lightly flour the cut-up sagnatelle so that they do not stick together. Let it air-dry while you are making the broth.
To prepare the dish
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add a tablespoon of salt to the water.
2. Place the sagnatelle in the water and cook until they are "done" (Takes a few minutes).
3. Drain.
4. Place the cooked sagnatelle in a bowl and add about a cup of tomato broth (NEVER mix pasta with all the broth or sauce that one has made. One has to do it in stages, as this will ensure that each individual bowl one serves gets the right amount of broth or sauce. Besides, pasta absorbs liquids rather quickly, so that if one combines the liquids and solids, a lot of the liquid simply "disappears.")
5. Place the tomato broth in individual bowls, adding a sufficient amount of sagnatelle to each bowl.
6. Garnish with finely chopped fresh basil OR finely chopped parsley (One or the other, Not both).
7. Serve warm.
Notes
Prior to World War II few cooks in Southern Italy made chicken broth (Too expensive!). A vegetarian broth made from tomatoes was popular. In Molise "sagnatelle" would often be added to the broth. Photo: by the contributor. |
