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

1. Mix the flour with the warm water to make a firm dough.
2. Shape into 6 sausages and roll on a board dusted with flour to the diameter of a centimetre.
3. Cut into 1 cm long pieces and then using the rounded point of a knife, push them into the little ear shape.
4. 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.
5. Leave the orecchiette to dry on a floured board before cooking.
6. 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