A traditional dish from the village of Bobbio and the mid-Trebbia Valley, maccheroni alla bobbiese has the peculiarity of being made by rolling strips of dough around a knitting needle (or a large stocking or crochet needle) that will be removed as soon as the macaroni is formed. This traditional dish links women’s home work with their passion for cooking. The sauce for these macaroni can be a mushroom ragout or a stracotto sauce, whose recipe we will look at today. Macaroni alla bobbiese is a delicacy with a very ancient past and is also mentioned in the book De Arte Coquinaria by Maestro Martino da Como (late 1400s) thus:

“Piglia de la farina bellissima, et inpastala con biancho d’ovo et con acqua rosa, overo con acqua communa. Et volendone fare doi piattelli non gli porre più che uno o doi bianchi d’ova, et fa’ questa pasta ben dura; dapoi fanne pastoncelli longhi un palmo et sottili quanto una pagliuca. Et togli un filo di ferro longo un palmo, o più, et sottile quanto un spagho, et ponilo sopra ‘l ditto pastoncello,et dagli una volta con tutte doi le mani sopra una tavola;dapoi caccia fore il ferro, et ristira il maccherone pertusato in mezo. Et questi maccharoni se deveno secchare al sole, et durerando doi o tre anni, specialmente facendoli de la luna de agusto…”

Ingredients

For 4/5 people

For the dough:
500 grams of 00 flour
2 eggs
1 knob of butter
water to taste

For the sauce:
beef cover
carrots
celery
onions
bay leaves
rosemary
salt
pepper
oil
butter
garlic
cloves

Process

We start by kneading the dough: combine flour, eggs, butter and a little warm water. We let the dough rest 30 minutes and then prepare round strips, which we then cut into cubes. We wrap 2 cubes in the ends of a stocking needle and with the palm stretch until we get macaroni about 10 centimeters long.

Preparare i maccheroni alla bobbiese

We slip the macaroni off the needle and let it dry.

We now begin to prepare the sauce, browning the meat over high heat with oil and butter. We bathe with red wine and let it evaporate. We add the chopped vegetables, herbs, salt and pepper. We cover with broth, letting it cook very slowly. We add tomatoes to taste; We chop the meat coarsely and stir.

We boil the macaroni in plenty of salted water and then add it to the sauce, tossing and letting it sit for a minute so that everything binds and serve.