This is our new toy – a chitarra pasta cutter. This pasta cutting tool comes from Abruzzo, Italy. The device has strings on both sides, one side cuts thicker noodles and the second side cuts has thin noodles. Since this is our first attempt, I decided to use the thicker side. I started with the pasta that I prepared in the previous post for fresh pasta dough.
We cut this sheet of pasta into three wide strips that we put on the chitarra. It’s actually really simple to roll the pasta and gently push it through the wires. One thing to make sure is that the pasta dough has been floured on both sides to keep it from sticking together.
Once you lay it out, as shown above, take your rolling pin and gently roll it so the wires cut it into strips. You have to use a little force and sometime just use your fingers to get it to go all the way through.
As you can see, my sheet of dough was longer than the chitarra. I just gently pulled the sheet towards me and kept rolling. The pasta just sort of folded over itself under the wires. The slot under the wires is slanted so once you’ve cut it, just tilt the chitarra and the pasta will fall out to the side.
Now that the pasta is cut, most people recommended to let it dry for a little while. Some say you can cook it immediately, but most of the things I ready suggested letting it dry and that this helps keep it from sticking to itself while it’s cooking. We don’t have a drying rack so we took a baking sheet and propped it up on the stove. Then we laid the pasta strips on the baking sheet and let them dry from about an hour. We’re putting this into a pasta and lentil dish for New Years Eve.
Update – Since this was originally posted, we’ve purchased a pasta roller with a cutter attachment. Even though the roller has the cutter attachments, we still keep coming back to the chitarra. The pasta cut from the chitarra has a great size and we just think the chitarra is so easy and fun to use.
Our Austintatious Life 
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[…] We came up with this sauce because we wanted to have a salad dressing that is similar to one we had at a friend’s house. They served us a kale salad with a spicy Thai dressing and it was really good. Tonight we decided to use some with a kale salad of our own. Our menu included grilled chicken breasts, pasta and salad. We used this sauce for our salad dressing and to toss our pasta. By the way, the pasta was some homemade pasta made on our chitarra. […]
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[…] used our chitarra to cut the pasta. This fun little pasta cutter comes from the Abruzzo region of Italy. It makes a […]
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I love home made pasta and don’t eat enough of it as here in Abruzzo we have the two large pasta factories De Cecco and Delverde, so our shops always have great offers on their products as they each try to compete on price. When I do make pasta I use polenta flour rather than oo flour to stop it sticking as you cut it. Another great recipe is to clean sage leaves, then sandwich between thinly rolled pasta then roll over and over until the pasta is almost see through and you see the flattened leaf. Cook for a couple of minutes then drain and fry in some garlic butter for a few seconds. serve molto caldo.
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Thanks Barry, I am going to try this sage recipe. It sounds great! I saw the De Cecco today at the store. I didn’t realize it came from Abruzzo. I’ll have to try it next time. We don’t eat a whole lot of pasta because we try to avoid carbs as much as we can. So, when we do eat it, I like it be good and flavorful.
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Buon Lavoro! Bravo to you for trying out the chitarra. My late Abruzzo grandmother had one and a sister of mine now has it and uses it! It is fun and makes having a bit of pasta an occasion.
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Thanks so much Mary! I love my chitarra. We’ve added a pasta cutter to our kitchen inventory of toys but I still prefer the chitarra. I really do like the way the pasta comes out and it’s so much easier to use. It’s a perfect tool for a beginner and even an experienced pasta maker will love it.
My grandmother was also from Abruzzo, but unfortunately, she wasn’t much of a cook so I didn’t get to learn much from her before she passed away. I’ve been learning about the food and culture of Abruzzo to learn more about my ancestors and where they came from. I’ll make it over there one of these days.
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