Play a chitarra for perfect maccheroni

Plucking these strings produces a most wonderful product — Maccheroni alla Chitarra.

This beautiful pasta-making machine is like a stringed instrument — you roll and pluck and produce lovely strands of fettucine-like pasta. It was a gift from a family member one year for Christmas and had been tucked away in the closet, until recently, that is.



The origin of this implement is ancient and hails from the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is made with natural wood and has two sets of strings that are spaced thin and wide on the top and bottom. And just like playing a guitar, the chitarra has knobs for "tuning" the strings, which should be plucked before you start to make the pasta. You want them nice and taut to cut the noodles. The chitarra comes with a solid wooden pin for rolling over the strings. The pasta cuts perfectly that way, and gently falls into the tray below.



This was a perfect project for a recent rainy day, when the urge for fresh pasta had me yearning for a plate of comfort food. I had recently purchased some locally grown and produced organic flour from Wild Hive Farm, so Chitarra Tagliapasta was in order.



The chitarra is quite different from my hand-crank pasta-making machine. What's nice is the maccheroni are plump and have four sides, which allows for the sauce to coat them well. They also have a nice, chewy toothsome feel, and taste like Apollo had made them himself as he plucked at his magical lute.




Of course, you can make these by hand without a chitarra, but where's the fun in that? I did use my hand-crank pasta maker to roll out the sheets of dough so they would be uniform in size when I laid them on the strings. A firm, but gentle, roll of the pin is all you need to cut the noodles.



If you make the sheets of dough too long, a little coaxing is needed to cut the ends. But that's OK; it made me feel like I was really playing this pasta-making instrument.

The recipe is simple — just flour, eggs and salt. The dough should be a bit firmer than you might make for regular pasta, as you don't want the dough to stick to the strings. Brush the sheets with a little flour each time you roll out the dough (I stopped at No. 3 on my crank machine) and brush them again before placing on the chitarra.

Choose your favorite sauce and you'll be singing a song that goes something like, "Mmm, Mmm, Mmm."



I had one butternut squash left from last season's garden, which I thought would be a fitting touch for this dish. The sage plant had sprung back to life and there were plenty of leaves to flavor the sauce. Paired with heavy cream and gorgonzola, the result was a thick, rich sauce that clung famously to these four-sided noodles.

If you don't have a chitarra already, add one to your next wish list for Christmas or any other special occasion. It's a nice addition to have and is perfect fun for a rainy day.

Maccheroni alla Chitarra with Butternut-Gorgonzola Sauce

For the pasta:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• Place the flour in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a bit to aerate.
• Beat the eggs with the salt in a spouted bowl or cup and add through the feed tube of the processor with it running.
• Process quickly until the dough forms a ball.
• Remove from the processor and pat it into a disk; cover it with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
• Cut the rested dough into about 8 pieces and roll through a crank pasta maker several times at the largest setting. See how thick you like the dough to be, and stop at 2 0r 3.
• Cut the sheets to fit evenly over the chitarra.
• One by one, lay them on the strings, roll with the pin and coax them until they fall into the tray below.
• Gather up the noodles with floured hands into little "nests" and set aside while you make the sauce.

For the sauce:

1. 1 medium butternut squash, roasted
   
2. 3 shallots, minced
3. 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4. 1 pint heavy cream
5. 1 loosely packed cup crumbled gorgonzola (I like the domestic Stella brand)
6. 1 cup baby lima beans or edamame (frozen is fine; let them defrost a bit before using)
7. Fresh sage and parsley
8. Salt and pepper, to taste
   

• Heat the oil in a skillet and add the shallots. Saute until golden.
• Add about 4-5 fresh sage leaves.
• Add the baby lima beans.
• Mix in the cooked squash.
• Add the heavy cream and bring the mixture up to a nice simmer. If it looks a little thick at this point, you can add a little water or vegetable stock.
• Mix in the gorgonzola until it melts and the sauce is thick and creamy.
• Season with a little salt and freshly ground pepper.
  

Boil the homemade noodles in a big pot of well salted water. Make sure to shake off the excess flour. Cook until al dente and then toss them in the sauce. Finish with a sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley.

Serve with a smile and some nice guitar music playing in the background.