Orecchiette Pasta
Orecchiette is the most traditional of the hand-made Southern Italian pastas. It gets its name for being shaped like a "small ear." Made with just flour and water, it's perfect for vegans! If you're interested in vegan or traditional Italian cookery, do take a look at our upcoming classes.
Orecchiette
Ingredients
- 300g pasta flour
- 100ml warm water to mix
Method
- Mix the flour with the warm water to make a firm dough.
- Shape into 6 sausages and roll on a board dusted with flour to the diameter of a centimetre.
- Cut into 1 cm long pieces and then using the rounded point of a knife, push them into the little ear shape.
- Turn the inside out with the help of your forefinger tip, so that the concave part of the pasta is smooth, while the convex part is rough.
- Leave the orecchiette to dry on a floured board before cooking.
- Cook the orecchiette in plenty of salted water, drain and mix with tomato sauce. Or try it with homemade sauce in Orecchiette with Purple Sprouting Broccoli.
Tips
- To make macaroni, roll as for orecchiette and then cut into 2 ½ cm lengths and then with a thin square edged rod, hold with your left hand and roll the pasta length on to the rod. Slip the pasta roll off the rod and leave to dry.
- To make Sagna Incannulata, roll out a piece of dough thinly with a rolling pin, slice into 2 cm wide and 10 cm long pieces and curl them like a twisted ribbon and leave to dry.
Photos by Rob Wicks of Eat Pictures