Homemade pasta from scratch accompanied by a deliciously seasonal sauce. A memorable evening and new favourite pastime for your guests, or a sly way of employing extra pairs of hands under the guise of a ‘novel dinner activity’.
The dough is semolina, suitable for vegetarians and vegans alike, and there’s no need for a stand mixer or a pasta machine. The following are shapes you can make at home with utensils you should have in your drawers – namely: a rolling pin, a knife, a butter paddle or pasta board, and a BBQ skewer. For more modest kitchens, however, a fork can replace a pasta board and a straw can replace a BBQ skewer.
Making a semolina pasta dough
The simple dough uses a 2:1 ratio of semolina flour to hot water, measuring 100 g of flour per portion. Dinner for two: 200 g semolina and 100 ml hot water. Dinner for 3: 300 g semolina and 150 ml hot water, and so on.
Pour your semolina flour into a mixing bowl and add a third of your just boiled water at a time, mixing it with a fork to protect your hands. As the dough comes together and cools slightly, kneed it until it’s smooth and slightly bouncy. While still warm, roll it into a ball, cover it with the mixing bowl, and leave it for 15 minutes before returning to start shaping it.
Pasta shapes
Cavatelli
A seashell shape made using a fork, pasta board, or butter paddle.
Roll your dough into long, even ropes around half an inch thick. With a knife, segment the ropes into inch-long pieces. To shape the cavatelli, place one on the butter paddle with its longest side facing down. Using your thumb in one smooth motion, press the pasta firmly down the paddle’s ridges. The dough should curl slightly and produce a ribbed, shell-ish shape. You’ll find ribs on the inside of the cavatelli which will help them better absorb your sauce.
Orecchiette
Requiring the fewest resources of all (just your hands and a flat surface), these marvellously uncomplicated shapes, translating as ‘little ears’, are miniature sauce vessels with every bite.
Roll out some more long, even ropes with your hands and cut them into segments just under an inch in length. Using the edge of a butter knife or your thumb, press them into the table, dragging them towards you so they curl similarly to cavatelli. Pop them open to expose the tears on the inside and watch them live up to their namesake.
Busiate
Long Sicilian spirals that are formed with a rolling pin and a BBQ skewer or a straw. Roll out your dough to make a thin slab at around a quarter of an inch. Cut it into half inch strips and roll them into thin, even ropes, dividing them roughly into four inch segments. Place a skewer at a 45º angle to one of the pieces, with its tip covering the top of the shape. Initially holding the top of the pasta, roll the skewer along the rope, causing the dough to spiral around it. When you reach the end, gently twist the skewer to release. To retain their shape, leave the busiate on a dry towel for a couple of hours before boiling.
Wild Garlic Cavatelli
The following ingredients are for one person, multiply accordingly:
- A knob of butter
- 100ml vegetable stock
- A cube of wild garlic purée*
- 3 spears of asparagus
- Parmesan or pecorino
- A lemon
- 100g of cavatelli
*Next time you’re on a spring weekend’s jaunt out of the city, or just on a walk and happen to come by this wonderful member of the Allium family, grab yourself a big bunch. Pick no more than three leaves from each plant to make sure it comes back next year. Once home, rinse with cold water to clean then drop it into a blender with salt and enough of a neutral oil to form a thick, smooth paste. Keep it in the fridge and use it in over the coming few days. Or pour it into ice cube trays then, once frozen, store it in sandwich bags in the freezer to enjoy all year round.
Cut your asparagus into chunks and set them in a steamer. Melt the butter on a medium heat and emulsify it with the stock. When they’ve come together, stir in the wild garlic. Salt to taste. Add your asparagus and drop the heat.
Add your cavatelli to a pot of salted boiling water and gently agitate them so they don’t stick together. When they start to float, wait 30 seconds before dropping them into the wild garlic sauce.
Turn the heat right up and toss the pasta in the sauce, adding any pasta water for desired sauce consistency. A good squeeze of lemon before plating, then a generous amount of pecorino or parmesan. Enjoy.