Sagnarelli
san-yah-REL-lee
Also known as sagnarello.
Measured to scale. The illustrated portrait is in production.
Specifications
small flat rectangle of rolled pasta with fluted, crimped edges
What it is
Sagnarelli are rectangular ribbons of rolled pasta finished with fluted, crimped edges, a small lasagnette cut associated with Abruzzo. Reference sources put each piece at roughly 44 to 51 mm long, cut from a thin sheet so the wavy borders run along the sides. The traditional version is a fresh egg sheet, while the best known dried form, made by the Abruzzese house Giuseppe Cocco, is durum semolina and spring water drawn through bronze dies. The crimped border places it alongside maltagliati and lasagnette as a sheet-cut ribbon, though sagnarelli are cut as regular rectangles rather than the irregular offcuts that define maltagliati.
A diminutive in the sagne family of pasta names. Sagne traces back to lasagna, which Treccani derives from Latin lasania, from lasanum, the name of a cooking vessel, from the Greek lasanon. The article in lasagna was reanalyzed as la sagna, leaving sagne as the bare noun, and sagnarelli reads as its little-rectangle diminutive.
What sauce it wants, and why
The fluted, crimped border and broad flat face give a meaty or creamy sauce many edges to cling to. Reference cooks dress sagnarelli with mushroom ragout and with butter-and-cheese style sauces, so a porcini or a slow meat ragu both suit the cut. The wide surface carries the sauce the way a short lasagnette does.
Classic plates: sagnarelli with mushroom ragout, sagnarelli al burro e pecorino.
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Closest swaps by sauce behavior, not by looks. The ones most easily confused with sagnarelli, and how they read.
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