Campofilone Egg Pasta with Meat Ragu | Maccheroncini di Campofilone al Ragù
Updated: Oct 24
Maccheroncini di Campofilone are the thinnest egg pasta in Italy, and everything about the dish follows from that single fact. The dough carries no water at all, only durum semola and a great many eggs, and it is cut to well under a millimetre. In the pot it takes under a minute, so everything else has to be finished before the pasta goes in.
The sauce that goes with it in the Marche is a slow mixed meat ragù, built on beef and pork with the soffritto browned properly, moistened with white wine rather than red, and simmered for three hours until it is dense enough to cling to a strand the width of a hair. It is not a Bolognese and it is not a Neapolitan ragù. It is drier, more savoury and cut finer, because a coarse sauce would simply fall off this pasta.
The dish belongs to feast days. In Campofilone, a village of fewer than two thousand people above the Adriatic in the province of Fermo, maccheroncini were the pasta of Christmas, Easter and weddings, and the village still holds a sagra for them every August. Made properly, with a ragù given the hours it needs, it is one of the great plates of central Italy.
Yield: 4 servings. Prep: 1 hour. Ragù: 3 hours. Pasta cooking: under 2 minutes. Difficulty: intermediate. Course: primo piatto. Region: Marche, Campofilone in the province of Fermo.
The Story
Campofilone sits on a ridge between the Aso and the Menocchia, a few miles inland from the Adriatic, and it has been making this pasta since at least the fifteenth century. The earliest surviving references come from the ledgers of the local monastic community, where it appears as a food for feast days and for guests, and by the eighteenth century it was being made in quantity in village houses. In 2013 it was granted IGP status, which fixed in law what the village had always done.
What the rule protects is an absence. There is no water in maccheroncini di Campofilone. Durum wheat semola is worked with fresh eggs alone, traditionally about ten eggs to every kilogram of flour, sometimes more, until the dough is stiff and deep yellow. It is rolled very thin, rested until leathery, then rolled into a loose cylinder and cut by hand into threads finer than angel hair, dried slowly on cloth and sold in nests. Because no water is added, the strands are almost pure egg and wheat, which is why they cook in seconds and taste so strongly of egg.
The ragù grew up around the pasta rather than the other way round. The Marche kept pigs and cattle and used both in the same pot, along with chicken livers in the older recipes, and made its ragù with white wine, since the local whites were what a farmhouse had. Vincisgrassi, the other great Marchigiana pasta, uses a related sauce baked in layers. Here it stays loose and glossy, and the cheese at the table is Parmigiano in the north of the region and a young pecorino in the south.
Ingredients
For the maccheroncini
Durum wheat semola rimacinata, 2 1/3 cups (350 g)
Fresh eggs, large, 4 whole plus 2 yolks, about 8 oz (230 g) total
Fine sea salt, 1/4 tsp (1.5 g)
Semola for dusting, about 3 tbsp (30 g)
Or dried maccheroncini di Campofilone IGP, 12 oz (340 g)
For the ragù
Beef chuck, minced coarsely, 10 oz (285 g)
Pork shoulder, minced coarsely, 7 oz (200 g)
Chicken livers, trimmed and finely chopped, 2 oz (55 g), optional but traditional
Yellow onion, finely diced, 1 medium, about 5 oz (140 g)
Carrot, finely diced, 1 medium, about 3 oz (85 g)
Celery, finely diced, 1 stalk, about 2 oz (55 g)
Extra virgin olive oil, 3 tbsp (45 ml)
Unsalted butter, 1 tbsp (14 g)
Dry white wine, 3/4 cup (180 ml)
Tomato passata, 1 1/2 cups (360 ml)
Tomato paste, 1 tbsp (16 g)
Beef or chicken stock, hot, about 2 cups (480 ml)
Bay leaf, 1
Whole nutmeg, for grating, a few rasps
Fine sea salt, about 1 1/2 tsp (9 g)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For finishing
Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated, 2 oz (55 g), or young pecorino marchigiano
Unsalted butter, cold, 1 tbsp (14 g)
Reserved pasta water, about 1/2 cup (120 ml)
Coarse sea salt for the pasta water, about 2 tbsp (36 g) for 5 quarts
Preparation
Start the soffritto and take it far enough
Warm the oil and butter in a heavy casserole over medium low heat and add the onion, carrot and celery with a pinch of salt. Cook them gently for 18 to 20 minutes, stirring often, until they are soft, sweet and pale gold at the edges. This is the base of the whole sauce and it cannot be hurried: vegetables pulled off after eight minutes still taste raw three hours later.
Brown the meat in batches, not all at once
Raise the heat to medium high and add the beef and pork in two or three batches, spreading each one out and leaving it undisturbed for two minutes before breaking it up. A crowded pan releases water and the meat stews grey instead of browning. When the last batch has colour, return everything to the pot, add the chicken livers if you are using them and cook 2 minutes more.
Deglaze with white wine and let it go
Pour in the white wine and scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to lift everything stuck to it. Let it bubble hard until the smell of alcohol is gone and the liquid has almost disappeared, 4 to 5 minutes. White wine is the Marchigiana choice and it matters: red darkens the sauce and pushes it towards Bologna, while white keeps it savoury.
Add the tomato and settle the pot into a long simmer
Stir in the tomato paste and cook it for a minute so it loses its tinny edge, then add the passata, the bay leaf, a few rasps of nutmeg and about 1 cup (240 ml) of hot stock. Bring it to a simmer, then drop the heat until the surface barely moves and set the lid slightly ajar. From here it needs 2 1/2 to 3 hours, and the only work is checking it.
Feed it stock and watch the fat
Every 30 minutes or so, stir the pot and add hot stock a ladle at a time whenever the sauce looks like it is catching. Never add cold liquid, which stops the cooking and toughens the meat. Towards the end the fat separates into an orange film on the surface. That is the sign the sauce is ready, and you stir it back in rather than skimming it, because that fat carries the sauce onto the pasta.
Make the egg dough with no water at all
Heap the semola on a board with the salt, open a well and add the whole eggs and yolks. Draw the flour in with a fork, then work it with your hands. It will look impossibly dry for several minutes: resist adding water, because water is exactly what this pasta does not contain. Knead 10 minutes until smooth, very firm and deep yellow, then wrap and rest it 1 hour.
Roll it thin and cut it finer
Divide the dough in four and roll each piece through a machine to the thinnest setting, or by hand until you can see the board through the sheet. Rest the sheets on cloth for 10 to 15 minutes until they feel leathery rather than tacky, then dust them, roll each loosely into a flat cylinder and cut across into threads about 1/32 inch (0.8 mm) wide. Shake the nests out at once and dust them with semola.
Boil the pasta for seconds, not minutes
Bring 5 quarts (5 litres) of water to a rolling boil and salt it with about 2 tablespoons (36 g), a little more heavily than usual because the sauce carries its own salt and the pasta has almost no contact time. Drop them in, stir immediately, and count 60 to 90 seconds for fresh threads or the packet time for dried IGP nests, tasting at 45 seconds. Lift them out with a spider and keep a cup of the water.
Finish the pasta in the pan and mantecare
Have about 2 cups (480 ml) of hot ragù waiting in a wide pan over low heat, loosened with a splash of pasta water. Add the drained maccheroncini and fold them through with a fork and tongs for no more than 30 seconds, adding pasta water a spoonful at a time. Off the heat, add the cold butter and half the cheese and keep folding until the sauce turns glossy and coats every strand. Serve at once.
Plating
Use warm plates, around 140°F (60°C), and shallow rather than deep. This pasta holds very little heat because each strand is so fine, and a cold plate takes the shine off the sauce within twenty seconds. A wide rimmed plate also lets the portion sit low and spread slightly, which is how it is served in the Marche.
Lift the pasta with a carving fork and a spoon and let it fall naturally into the centre, then turn the fork once to gather the strands into a loose nest. Do not twirl it tightly against a ladle: these threads tangle instantly and a tight twirl compacts them into a knot the sauce cannot enter.
Spoon a little extra ragù over the middle rather than across the whole surface, and grate the remaining cheese at the table. Nothing else goes on: no cream, no parsley, no oil. The dish is finished when the strands are glossy.
Professional Technique
The technical problem here is surface area. A strand under a millimetre thick has an enormous surface relative to its mass, which means three things at once: it hydrates almost instantly, it cools almost instantly, and it will absorb as much sauce as you let it. That is why the ragù has to be finished, hot and slightly loose before the pasta water even boils, and why the tossing is measured in seconds.
The second technique is the cut of the ragù itself. Coarsely minced meat gives pieces that a normal pasta shape holds in its folds. Maccheroncini have no folds, so everything must be fine enough to travel with the strands, which is why the soffritto is diced small and the livers are chopped almost to a paste. Get this wrong and the meat sits under a heap of bare pasta.
The third is the emulsion at the end. Starchy pasta water, the rendered fat from the ragù, cold butter and hard cheese combine into a stable glaze only if the pan is off direct heat and the movement is continuous. Add the cheese over a flame and the protein tightens into strings; add the butter at a boil and the fat splits. Take the pan off, add both and keep folding, adding water in small amounts until the sauce falls from the fork in a sheet rather than in drops.
Texture and Moisture Control
Fresh maccheroncini have no al dente stage in the ordinary sense. There is no thick core to stay firm, so the window between underdone and overdone is roughly fifteen seconds wide. Taste early and often, from 45 seconds, and pull the pasta while it still feels a shade too firm, because it goes on cooking in the pan. Timing by the clock alone will not work, since the moisture in the dough varies from batch to batch.
The ragù has its own moisture target and it is looser than most people expect. In the pot it should be thick, but in the finishing pan it wants to be slack enough to move when tilted, because the pasta absorbs a surprising amount in thirty seconds. Keep a cup of pasta water beside the stove and use it rather than stock, since the starch in it thickens the sauce as it loosens it. And warm the plates before the water boils, because if the sauce goes dull on the way to the table the cause is almost always a cold plate.
Professional Mise en Place
The ragù is the long job and entirely a day ahead task. On the day of service the only sequence that matters is the last three minutes.
Equipment and tools
Heavy casserole with a lid, at least 5 quarts (5 litres)
Pasta machine or a long rolling pin, plus a very sharp knife for cutting
Clean cloths for resting and drying the sheets
Wide pan for finishing, large enough to fold without breaking the strands
Spider or slotted skimmer, carving fork, tongs, ladle
Shallow plates warmed to about 140°F (60°C)
Prepared ahead
Ragù cooked in full, up to 3 days ahead, or frozen for 3 months
Soffritto diced very small, up to 1 day ahead
Pasta dough made and rested, up to 4 hours ahead
Maccheroncini cut and left in loose nests on cloth, up to 2 hours ahead
Cheese grated finely, kept covered and cool but not cold
Service setup
Ragù hot and slightly loose in the finishing pan before the water boils
Pasta water at a rolling boil and already salted
Butter cut, cheese within reach, tongs and fork in hand
Plates warming and everyone seated before the pasta goes in
A cup drawn from the pasta water the moment it comes back to the boil
Chef Tips
Make the ragù the day before, without exception. It is better for a night in the refrigerator, the flavours settle and the fat rises so you can judge how much to stir back in. It also turns a long project into a twenty minute one on the day.
If the dough will not come together, wait rather than add water. Semola and egg take several minutes to hydrate, and a mass that looks hopeless at minute three is usually smooth by minute eight. If it is still cracking after ten, add one more yolk, never water.
Buy the dried IGP nests without embarrassment. These are one of the few dried pastas genuinely equal to the fresh version, because the dough is the same and the drying is slow. Check the label for the IGP mark and a high percentage of egg.
Keep the chicken livers if you can face them. Two ounces is barely noticeable as liver, and they add a savoury backbone the beef and pork alone do not give. Rinse them well, chop them very fine and add them late so they do not turn grainy.
Common Mistakes
Overcooking the pasta. Fresh maccheroncini need 60 to 90 seconds, not the three or four minutes most fresh pasta takes. Taste from 45 seconds and lift them while they still feel slightly firm.
Adding water to the dough. Maccheroncini di Campofilone contain no water at all, and adding some gives a paler, slacker dough that loses the egg flavour and the bite. Wait for the semola to hydrate, and correct with an extra yolk if you must.
Rushing the soffritto. Vegetables still crunchy when the meat goes in stay noticeable for the whole three hours. Give them the full twenty minutes over low heat until soft and sweet.
Crowding the pan when browning. Meat added all at once drops the pan temperature, releases its water and stews grey. Brown it in two or three batches and leave each alone for two minutes.
Using red wine. Red darkens the sauce and pushes it towards a Bolognese, burying the egg character of the pasta. The Marche makes this ragù with dry white.
Twirling the pasta tightly when plating. These threads compact into a solid knot that the sauce cannot penetrate. Let the pasta fall into the plate and turn the fork once to gather it loosely.
Wine Pairing
Conero DOCG: The serious red of the Marche and the natural partner for a three hour ragù. Grown on the limestone of Monte Conero above Ancona, it is almost pure Montepulciano, with dark plum fruit, firm but rounded tannin and a savoury edge that meets the browned meat directly. Its acidity cuts the rendered fat and the cheese without flattening a pasta this delicate.
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC: The neighbouring option, from just over the southern border, and the everyday bottle for this dish along the whole Adriatic side. Softer and fruitier than Conero, with low acidity, gentle tannin and a mouthfilling texture that suits the sweetness the long simmer draws out of the soffritto. Serve a young unoaked bottling at 61°F (16°C).
Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Riserva DOCG: A white with enough weight to sit beside meat, which is what the Riserva category was created for. Extended lees ageing gives it body and a nutty depth, while the variety keeps its firm acidity and bitter almond finish. That combination handles the fat of the ragù and echoes the egg richness of the pasta. Serve it at 54°F (12°C), not colder.
Offida Pecorino DOCG: From the hills of Ascoli Piceno, the same southern corner of the Marche as Campofilone itself, and the choice for a warm evening. Pecorino gives a dense, faintly waxy white with high acidity and notes of anise and yellow apple. Its concentration stops it being overwhelmed, and the acidity resets the palate between forkfuls.
Storage & Reheating
The ragù stores beautifully and the pasta does not, so treat them separately. Cooked ragù keeps refrigerated in a sealed container for 3 days and freezes for 3 months in portions of about 2 cups (480 ml), with a thin layer of its own fat left on top to seal it. Thaw it overnight and rewarm it slowly with a splash of stock, stirring the fat back in.
Uncooked fresh maccheroncini keep 2 hours in loose nests on cloth, or dry fully over 24 to 48 hours in a cool airy place and then hold a month in a tin. Do not refrigerate them, since they go damp and stick. To freeze them, set the nests on a tray until solid, bag them, and cook them from frozen with about 15 seconds more. Dressed pasta keeps 1 day refrigerated and no more, reheated in a wide pan over low heat with 2 tablespoons of water per portion, never in a microwave and never frozen.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 4 portions:
Calories: 810 kcal
Total Fat: 36 g
Saturated Fat: 13 g
Trans Fat: 0.4 g
Unsaturated Fat: 20 g
Cholesterol: 310 mg
Sodium: 980 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 72 g
Fiber: 5 g
Total Sugars: 8 g
Added Sugars: 0 g
Protein: 45 g
Lactose: 1.2 g
Principal micronutrients: iron, zinc, selenium, vitamin B12, vitamin A, calcium
These figures are estimates. Cholesterol is high because the pasta is almost entirely egg, and rises further with the chicken livers.
Comments