MACARONADE A LA SETOISE

As the Setois would passionately say, there are as many Macaronade's recipes as there are inhabitants in Sète. Everyone has their own way of making it claiming this is the way it should be done ... Thus, it is one of its variant that we propose here and according to the expert opinion… one of the best!

Ingredients for 6 people:

600 grams of macaroni or other pasta
6 scallops of beef chuck (200 grams each)
300 grams of fresh sausage meat
500 grams of pork chops (chopped into peices)
1 small can of tomato paste
1/2 liter of red wine
2 diced onions
10 garlic cloves, chopped very fine
1 bunch of parsley
1 whole onion
6 tooth picks
10 cloves
150 grams of Roma cheese
150 grams of Parmesan
Pinch of grey pepper

A good "Macaronade" is cooked for a very long time.
For making the "brageoles", one usely uses beef chucks, a piece of meet able to support long cooking. Put the chuck scallops on a work surface and stuff each of them with a bit of chopped bacon, a bit of chopped garlic, and some parsley in the middle of each scallop. Season with salt and pepper.

Roll the scallop up and close with a toothpick.

For the sauce, brown the brageoles on high heat, with the pork chops and the sausage. When the meat has browned, remove it carefully. Put the onions and the rest of the garlic in the pan. Stir and add the tomato paste. Let the paste cook for one minute and add the red wine. Stir again.

Add the water and the whole onion studded with the cloves.
Add the meat, except for the sausage and cook for 10 more minutes. When the meat is almost done, add the sausage and cook for ten more minutes.

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water until they are al dente.
Mix the cheeses together with a pinch of grey pepper. This mixture is the key to a good marcaronade.

Mix together the pasta with the sauce, and put the meat on top.
Sprinkle with the mixture of gratted cheeses.

The best wine to accompany the Macaronade is probably a "Rouge des Corbieres"