85yr old Concetta Makes Sicilian Lasagna Roll-Ups | Pasta Grannies

Today we are in Ragusa, in the city center. 85yr old Maria Concetta shows us how she makes her rotolo— a stuffed pasta roll filled with local sausage, ricotta, and spinach, all wrapped and boiled in a cloth, just like her mother used to do over fifty years ago. Her husband Giovanni keeps her company, along with their two dogs, Nemo and Baby. She shares her recipe:

For the dough:
Durum wheat semola – 300 g
Eggs – 2
Salt – A pinch
Water – As needed

For the filling:
Fresh pork sausage – approx. 200–250 g (seasoned with wild fennel and a bit of chili)
Fresh ricotta – approx. 250 g
Spinach – approx. 200 g

For the dressing:
Onion – 1 small, finely chopped
Celery – 1 stalk, finely chopped
Bay leaf – 1 dried leaf
Cloves – 3 whole
Pork belly – approx. 400–500 g
Red wine – about 100 ml
Tomato paste – 250 ml jar
Water – ½ glass
Canned cherry tomatoes – 1 can
Sugar – 2 tablespoons
Salt & pepper – to taste
Olive oil – (approx. 2–3 tablespoons)

Buon appetito!

If you’d like to watch the behind the scenes of this filming day, join the PG family via this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCedsqpl7jaIb8BiaUFuC9KQ/join

[Music] 85year-old Maria Conetta lives in Ragusa in Sicily on the top floor of her apartment block. Her terrace has wonderful views of the city and her kitchen opens onto it. Today, Maria Conchetta is making her mother’s recipe for rotolo She starts with the sugo. Maria Conchetta slices a large onion and adds this to a saucepan with a bay leaf and some celery and a generous slug of olive oil. She puts the pan on the stove and drops in three cloves. She then adds pork steak cut into large chunks. [Music] She seasons everything with salt and stirs it so the mixture fries evenly. [Music] After a couple of minutes, Maria Conetta pours in a little red wine. [Music] Once the alcohol has evaporated, Maria Conetta slackens 250 mil of tomato paste with a little water. She adds this to the meat along with a bottle of pata that’s been made with cherry tomatoes. She gives everything a good stir and pours in a little water so the sauce will reduce without sticking. [Music] To make the pasta dough, Maria Conchetta uses 300 g of simula or Durham wheat flour. She makes a well and cracks in two eggs. She adds a pinch of salt before she scramles them with a fork and then adds about 50 mil of water. She mixes the flour into the liquid and forms a dough. There’s no She kneads this for a few minutes until it is smooth and rolls it into a ball. She covers it and leaves it to rest for around 5 minutes. She pats her dough flat with her pin and rolls it out, turning it regularly. she could do. Maria Conetta worked as a secretary for 34 years and maintained her love of cooking alongside her career outside the home. Making pasta, she says, is like drinking chamomile tea for her. It’s relaxing. Similar flour and egg doughs are less stretchy and take longer to roll. Maria says it shouldn’t be too thin or it will tear. [Music] She leaves the pasta to rest while she makes the filling. The sausage is seasoned with fennel seed and chili, which is typical of Sicily. Maria Conchetta strips the sausage of its skin. [Music] She pulls olivesized pieces of meat and dots them over the pasta, leaving a good space between them all so there is room for the other ingredients. Ria conetta spinach has been briefly blanched and squeezed of water. She dots it about the pasta. And this is drained cow’s milk ricotta. Maria conetta crumbles and distributes it between the sausage and spinach bits. And now for the fun part. Maria Conchetta rolls the pasta up like a carpet to form a roll. She lifts it onto a kitchen towel. It’s important it’s laundered in unperfumed detergent not to taint the pasta. Maria Conchetta rolls the towel around the pasta and trims the dough. The salted water is now simmering. Maria Conchetta carefully places the roll in the water. For it to fit in the pasta pan, the roll has to be shaped into a U. She’s done this before because it fits exactly. It has to cook for around 30 minutes. Maria Conetta checks the sugo. Nothing. The sauce is a little sharp for her taste, so she adds two teaspoon of sugar. Good job. The roll is now cooked. Maria removes it and leaves it to cool for a couple of minutes before unrolling the kitchen towel. [Music] Got him. [Music] She cuts thick slices of the roll and puts them on a platter. [Music] [Music] She then ladles the sauce over them. She finishes the dish with a light sprinkling of grated pecorino. [Music] And I’m the taste tester. Graci Maria Concetta. The team joined me afterwards. If you would like to see a behind thescenes reel, become a Pastor Granny’s Club member to watch it. And come back next week when Impulia makes panzer rotti.