serves
6
prep
30 minutes
cook
2 hours
difficulty
Mid
serves
6
people
preparation
30
minutes
cooking
2
hours
difficulty
Mid
level
They don’t really eat a whole lot of pasta in Valle D’Aosta, but when they do, it is spectacularly unique, like this fettucine di castagne con verze e costine.
Ingredients
Pasta
- 1½ cups flour
- 1½ cups chestnut flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 3 tsp (15 ml) olive oil
For the pork
- ¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil
- 900 g (2 lb) pork spare ribs, cut into individual pieces
- 1 cup diced onion
- ½ cup diced carrot
- ½ cup diced celery
- 1 cup (240 ml) dry white wine
- 1 cup (240 ml) vegetable broth
- 4 cups finely sliced Savoy cabbage
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
To garnish
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Grana Padano cheese, grated
You will need a pasta machine to make the pasta.
Dough resting time: 20 minutes
Instructions
1. For the pasta (you can do this in advance, or while the pork is cooking), whisk the flours and salt until combined thoroughly and pour into a mound on working surface. Create a well in the middle and add eggs, egg yolk and olive oil. Whisk the eggs and oil together, then slowly start whisking in the flour, using your hands when it becomes necessary, until it combines to form a ball of dough. Knead the ball for 10 minutes or until supple and elastic. Set dough aside to rest for 20 minutes.
2. Make thin sheets of pasta by feeding pieces of dough through a pasta roller on progressively thinner settings until you reach the 5th setting. Run sheets through pasta machine to create fettuccine noodles. Cook fettuccine in a large pot of salted boil water until al dente.
3. For the pork, heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium. Add pork ribs and brown. Transfer pork ribs to a plate and add onion, carrot, and celery to pan. Add the white wine and scrape the pork bits up from the bottom of the pan. Add the vegetable broth and browned pork ribs and stir to combine. Cover. Simmer over medium-low heat for 1½ hours or until meat is tender and falling off the bone.
4. Transfer pork ribs to cutting board. Remove meat from bones and cut into bite-sized pieces. Transfer meat back into pan along with the sliced Savoy cabbage, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking until cabbage is tender and liquid has evaporated by about half. Toss with cooked chestnut pasta. Top with drizzle of high-quality extra virgin olive oil, grated Grana Padano cheese and ground black pepper. Buon appetito!
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
They don’t really eat a whole lot of pasta in Valle D’Aosta, but when they do, it is spectacularly unique, like this fettucine di castagne con verze e costine.