Bringoli al sugo finto are the signature dish of the village of Anghiari, Tuscany, also known as “pici” in other parts of Italy. These consist of a hand-rolled pasta, similar to spaghetti, thick but much thicker and more rustic to be enjoyed with a classic meat or mushroom sauce. Anghiari celebrates Bringoli every year during the festival of San Martino, taking advantage of the time of autumn when the weather usually tends to be mild. It is a traditional peasant dish made with simple and easily available ingredients, in fact the dough contains only water and flour. Often this type of artisanal pasta is also made with eggs to make the dough bind better but, the original recipe for this typical pasta from the Tuscan Valtiberina, wants it to be made only with flour, salt and water, not too hot.
This version is characterized by the “fake” sauce, that is, a type of sauce composed only of vegetables but with the identical procedure as the meat sauce but of it. The definition of “fake” sauce comes from the fact that in the old days, to simulate the flavor of meat, the only way was to use the few ingredients one had.
Ingredients
for 4 persons
For the pasta
Flour 350 gr
Water
Salt to taste
For the sauce
Fresh tomatoes or peeled 500 gr
Onion 170 gr
Carrot 130 gr
Celery 130 gr
Extra virgin olive oil 5 tbsp.
A glass of red wine
Salt
Pepper
Method
Let’s start by making the pasta.
Mix the water, the flour and the salt until you will have the most homogeneous dough so you will be able to roll it out easily; then cut the dough in little pieces and roll them out by hand on the pastry board until you will have some very thick spaghetti. Once you’ve done rolling the pasta, the bringoli have to dry on a tray covered with flour and you will have to wait until they are “rested” or completely dry. At this point the bringoli will cook like any other type of pasta in water and salt.
Now let’s prepare the sauce.
With a chopping knife make a carrot, onion and celery mince. Let it brown in extra virgin olive oil and when the onion starts to sweat add the red wine; when it will evaporate, you should add the tomatoes cut in pieces. Add salt and pepper to taste and let it cook for about 30/35 minutes. Boil the bringoli, dress them with the sugo finto and the dish is ready to be served.
…Enjoy!
