Spago in Beverly Hills is where my love of pasta began taking shape. There, garganelli were handmade every day by Esse, one of the most methodical cooks I have ever worked with. He was ornery but efficient and he would churn out thousands of pieces of pasta in a service. Among them was garganelli, a ridged tube-shaped pasta and one of the few in this book that requires special equipment. The textured surface of the pasta helps sauce cling to it.
To create the characteristic ridges, purchase a pettina (pasta comb) in Bologna or online. Alternatively, use a sushi mat or inexpensive gnocchi board—both will leave the signature ridged impressions in the dough as you roll it around a thin dowel. In Italy, pettine come with dowels, but you can improvise. Esse used a Sharpie™ with the pocket clip snapped off and his method worked like a charm.
