Maccheroni alla chitarra with fresh tomato sauce, anchovies, ricotta and mint

Name: Maccheroni alla chitarra with fresh tomato sauce, anchovies, ricotta and mint
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 8 large ripe, juicy tomatoes*, cored and quartered; 1½ tsp sugar; 2 tsp salt; 180ml extra virgin olive oil; 1 onion, finely diced; 2 garlic cloves, finely diced; 5 quality anchovies*; 3 tsp dried mint; ½ tsp chilli powder; salt flakes and freshly ground; black pepper; 600g fresh egg and semolina pasta – or semolina pasta without egg; 350g fresh ricotta; 15 mint leaves, roughly torn; 80ml extra virgin olive oil; finely grated grana padano or parmigiano-reggiano, to serve

Instructions

Cook:1h

Maccheroni alla chitarra (or spaghetti alla chitarra) is a specialty of Abruzzo in central Italy. The pasta sheets are cut into by pushing them against what resemble guitar strings – hence the name (chitarra is Italian for "guitar") – resulting in a spaghetti-like shape with squared edges. You can, of course, use any pasta for this, but I do like the point of difference with what is a very simple sauce.

Updated at: Mon, 14 Apr 2025 22:09:22 GMT