Homemade Maltagliati Sausage Pasta Recipe

5 from 48 votes

Homemade Maltagliati Sausage Pasta Recipe

This corn and wheat flour maltagliati pasta from Marche in Central Italy is very easy to make, and the rustic sauce has sausages, pork ribs, beans, and tomatoes. Together they make a filling and hearty dish that's a perfect one plate family meal.

Prep Time45

Cook Time1

Resting time for pasta dough30

Course: Homemade Pasta, Main Course

Cuisine: Central Italy, Italian, Le Marche, Marche, Mediterranean

Keyword: corn flour pasta, homemade pasta, maltagliati, sausage pasta

Servings:

Calories: 692kcal

Author: Jacqui

Ingredients

For maltagliati (cresc'tajat)

200 g Italian '00' soft wheat flour (7oz) or all purpose flour
100 g fine corn flour (3.5oz)
warm water as required
1 pinch salt

For sausage and bean ragu

4 Italian pork sausages remove casing from 2 Chop other 2 into chunks.
3-5 pork short ribs cut into small pieces
250 g cooked or canned borlotti beans or pinto beans
1 onion
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
½ glass white wine
400 g tomato passata (purée) or pulp (14oz)
120 ml meat broth (0.5 cup) chicken or beef
salt for pasta and to taste
freshly ground black pepper. to taste
fresh parsley optional
grated pecorino or Parmigiano optional
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil. plus to serve

Instructions

Make the maltagliati pasta

In a bowl, mix the two types of flour and then create a well in the middle and add warm water a little at a time whilst mixing the flour and water together with your hands until you have the start of a dough which comes away from the sides of the bowl.
Turn the dough out onto a dusted pastry board and knead until it’s quite soft and pliable, but not sticky. If it’s too wet, add more flour. Roll the dough into a ball and wrap it in cling film (plastic wrap) and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
Cut ¼ of the dough off (reseal the rest in cling film), press the dough piece down on the pastry board and then roll it out until it’s about as thick as a euro coin (2-3mm). You don’t need to be exact. It’s just important that your maltagliati pasta pieces are more or less the same thickness.
Cut the dough sheet diagonally into strips of about ⅔ cm wide and then into rhombuses (diamonds). Place the ready maltagliati on a well floured tea towel or piece of baking paper until ready to cook. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Make the sausage and bean sauce. Prepare the ingredients

If you are using dried beans, these need to be soaked in salted water overnight and then boiled in fresh water for about 45 minutes.
Wash the celery and carrots and chop them finely. Peel the onion and chop finely too. Remove the casing from 2 sausages and cut or break the sausage meat into small pieces. Cut the short ribs into smaller pieces.

Cook the meat sauce

Sautée the onion, carrot and celery in olive oil over a medium heat until they start to soften. Add the sausage meat and brown it slightly. Then add the short ribs and sausage chunks and brown those as well.
Add the white wine and allow the alcohol to evaporate. Pour in the passata and broth. Mix everything together well and simmer over a low heat partially covered for about 30 minutes.
Add the cooked or canned beans to the meat sauce. Stir them in and continue to simmer the sauce for another 15 minutes. Season with salt and black better according to taste.

Cook the pasta and serve

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and then add a dash of olive oil to prevent the pasta sticking together. Cook the maltagliati in the boiling water until they rise to the surface (3-4 mins). Wait for about half a minute and then remove them with a slotted spoon and add to the sauce. You may need to cook the pasta in batches. Test taste before straining all the pasta.
Mix the pasta and sauce gently together and serve with a sprinkling of olive oil and some chopped parsley and grated pecorino or parmigiano if required.

Notes

I used short baby back ribs but cut the longer ones in half. You can also make this sauce without pork ribs and use pancetta instead.

If you can’t find borlotti beans, substitute with pinto beans or red kidney beans.

You can keep leftovers sealed in the fridge for a day or two and reheat in the microwave. The pasta will be softer as it absorbs the sauce, but still really delicious.

This sausage and bean ragu is delicious with other types of pasta too and the maltagliati (cresc'tajat) can be served with other sauces.

Nutritional info is for 6 medium size servings of the pasta and sauce together.

Nutrition