Garganelli

Ingredients

• For the sfoglia
• 300 g tipo 00 flour
• 3 eggs, whole, room temperature
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten, for sealing
• For dusting and equipment
• fine semolina or 00 flour, for flouring tray and stick
• For the ragù d'anatra
• 1 duck, legs or portions, bone-in, skin on
• 400 g tomato, peeled, crushed
• 1 sprig rosemary, whole
• 100 ml dry white wine

Method

1. 1
   Make the sfoglia. Heap the flour on a wooden board, form a well, and break the eggs into the centre. Beat the eggs gently with a fork, drawing the flour inward gradually until a shaggy dough forms. Knead by hand for 8–10 minutes until the dough is smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky. Wrap and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. The dough is ready when it springs back slowly under a pressed thumb.
2. 2
   Roll the rested dough into a sfoglia using a rolling pin or pasta machine. The sheet must be thin but not translucent — it should hold its form when lifted without sagging or tearing. Cut the sfoglia into uniform 4–5 cm squares. Uniformity is essential: irregular squares produce garganelli that cook unevenly.
3. 3
   This is where the dish lives or dies. Lay the pettine flat. Orient a sfoglia square at 45 degrees, one corner pointing toward you. Brush the surface lightly with beaten egg white. Flour the thin wooden stick or dowel and lay it along the near corner. Roll forward with firm, even pressure, pressing the pasta against the pettine's ridges as you go. The tube forms around the stick and the comb's teeth impress clean ribs into the surface. Slide the formed garganello off the stick at once, without deforming the tube. If the ridges are shallow, the pressure was too light; if the pasta tears, it was too heavy. Set each piece on a floured tray.
4. 4
   Dry the formed garganelli on the floured tray for 30 minutes. The surface should feel dry and matte to the touch, firm enough to hold its tubular shape when transferred to the pot.
5. 5
   For the ragù d'anatra: brown the duck portions in a heavy pot. Add the white wine and allow it to reduce until the sharp alcohol smell dissipates. Add the crushed tomato and rosemary. Braise slowly, covered, until the duck meat falls from the bone and the sauce is dense and clingy. Remove the duck, shred the meat, discard the bones and rosemary, and return the meat to the sauce. The ragù is ready when a spoon drawn across the pan leaves a momentary clear channel.
6. 6
   Cook the garganelli in abundantly salted, vigorously boiling water. The tubes trap air and will bob to the surface within 3–4 minutes. Taste one: the pasta should be tender but with a faint resistance at the centre. Drain and toss immediately with the ragù, ensuring the sauce enters the tubes and settles into the ribs.