Spaghetti alla Chitarra con Polpette di Agnello Abruzzese
Abruzzo
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The working recipe — the Market List, the Method, and where it lives or dies
I
Origin
Abruzzo
II
Description
A celebratory Abruzzese Sunday preparation — chitarra-cut spaghetti served with small lamb meatballs (polpette di agnello) in a slow-cooked tomato sauce with onion, bay and peperoncino. The lamb meatballs are mixed with egg, stale bread soaked in milk, Pecorino, parsley and nutmeg, rolled very small and fried in olive oil before being added to the sauce. A rich, comforting dish tied to Easter and Sunday family lunches.
III
The Thread
—Pasta with meatballs in slow-cooked tomato sauce — the Naples version uses beef/pork mixed; the Abruzzese version uses lamb for a more pastoral character Neapolitan
—Short pasta with lamb meatballs in tomato sauce — the Catalan version with different pasta and spice Spanish
—Lamb meatballs braised in tomato sauce with spices — the Moroccan version uses cumin and paprika but the same lamb-meatball-in-tomato structure Moroccan
IV
Flavour Context
Rich tomato sauce with lamb fat enrichment; small meatballs that melt in the mouth; nutmeg and Pecorino give warmth and salt; the chitarra pasta grips the sauce in its rough grooves — Sunday lunch that lasts a week in memory
Pillars V — VII
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