P
Italian · Abruzzo
Spaghetti alla Chitarra con Polpette di Agnello Abruzzese
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.
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the tomato sauce
4 tbsp
extra-virgin olive oil
Your own market
1 medium
onion
finely sliced
Your own market
2
bay leaves
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1–2
peperoncino
dried, crumbled
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
800 g
For the polpette
500 g
lamb mince
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
60 g
stale bread
crusts removed, soaked in milk and squeezed dry
Your own market
80 ml
whole milk
for soaking the bread
Your own market
1
egg
lightly beaten
Your own market
40 g
Pecorino
finely grated
Your own market
10 g
flat-leaf parsley
finely chopped
Your own market
¼ tsp
nutmeg
freshly grated
Your own market
4 tbsp
extra-virgin olive oil
for frying
Your own market
For the pasta
400 g
spaghetti alla chitarra
fresh or dried; rough-cut surface
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
10 g
salt
for the pasta water
Your own market
To finish
30 g
Pecorino
finely grated, to serve
Your own market
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Warm 4 tbsp olive oil in a wide, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the sliced onion, bay leaves and crumbled peperoncino. Cook gently, stirring occasionally, until the onion is completely soft and translucent — it must not colour.
2
Add the crushed tomatoes. Season with salt. Raise the heat briefly until the sauce begins to bubble, then reduce to a low simmer. Cook uncovered for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is dense, dark in colour and the raw tomato smell has given way to a sweet, concentrated aroma. The sauce must be fully developed before any meatball enters it.
3
While the sauce cooks, make the polpette mixture. In a bowl, combine the lamb mince, squeezed bread, beaten egg, 40 g grated Pecorino, chopped parsley and nutmeg. Mix with your hands until fully homogeneous. The mixture should hold its shape when pressed but remain slightly tacky.
4
With cold-wet hands, roll the mixture into balls of approximately 2 cm diameter — small enough that they will cook through reliably. Set them on a tray in a single layer. This is where the dish lives or dies: each polpetta must be rolled very small and with a smooth, uncracked surface so that it forms an intact crust when fried and does not break apart in the sauce.
5
Heat 4 tbsp olive oil in a wide frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry the polpette in batches, turning them to colour on all sides. When each meatball is uniformly golden-brown and firm to a light press, remove it to a plate. Do not crowd the pan — a full pan will steam rather than fry.
6
Transfer the fried polpette to the finished tomato sauce. Stir once, gently, to submerge them. Simmer uncovered on a low heat for 20 minutes. At the end, the polpette should feel yielding when pressed with a spoon — they will have absorbed some sauce and become part of it.
From the canon — Three tomato sauce approaches, each producing a categorically different result: Tomato Sauce: The Three Methods →
7
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Cook the spaghetti alla chitarra until al dente — the pasta should offer slight resistance at the centre when bitten. Drain, reserving a ladleful of pasta water.
From the canon — Pasta cooking water contains dissolved starch (released from the pasta surface during boiling) at a concentration that increases with pasta-to-water ratio an… Pasta Water: Starch Concentration and Sauce Binding →
8
Transfer the drained pasta directly to the pan of sauce, away from the polpette. Toss to coat, loosening with a little pasta water if needed, until each strand is evenly dressed and the sauce clings in the chitarra's rough grooves. Serve in warmed bowls with several polpette per portion and a generous grating of Pecorino over the top.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Lamb mince ground to order from the shoulder of a milk-fed Abruzzese lamb; spaghetti alla chitarra cut on a traditional wire chitarra from a semolina and egg dough; Pecorino di Fossa or aged Pecorino Abruzzese; San Marzano tomatoes, whole and peeled.
02
Estate — Lamb mince from a good butcher, shoulder cut specified; dried chitarra pasta from a producer using stone-ground semolina; Pecorino Romano D.O.P.; good-quality whole peeled plum tomatoes.
03
Market — Supermarket lamb mince, ideally not too lean; dried spaghetti alla chitarra from a reputable pasta brand; Pecorino Romano from any reliable source; tinned whole peeled tomatoes.
04
House — Any lamb mince; standard dried spaghetti if chitarra is unavailable — the rough groove of a chitarra is approximated by a thicker spaghetti such as spaghettoni; Pecorino or, as a last resort, Parmigiano; passata in place of whole tomatoes.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Smell. After 45 minutes the tomato sauce smells sweet and cooked-down, with no sharp raw-tomato note remaining — the base is ready for the polpette.
◇Touch. Each rolled polpetta holds its shape without cracking and leaves no mixture on the palm — the mixture is correctly bound.
◇Sight. The fried polpette are uniformly golden-brown on all sides with no pale, unset patches — the crust is formed and will hold in the sauce.
◇Touch. After 20 minutes in the sauce, the polpette yield gently to the back of a spoon without resistance — they have cooked through and absorbed the sauce.
◇Where it lives or dies. Roll each polpetta to exactly 2 cm with cold-wet hands, giving it a smooth, uncracked surface — a ball any larger will remain raw at the centre, and one without an intact surface will break apart the moment it enters the sauce.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Wine
From British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic
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The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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