Here we are again, continuing on our pasta-making journey! As we shared previously, we’re on a quest this year to make a bunch of different types of pasta entirely by hand, and so far we’ve explored tagliatelle and malloreddus. Now we’re on to orecchiette – a cap-shaped pasta from the Italian region of Apulia, which gets its name from the fact that it looks a little like an ear. And to pair with the orecchiette, we also made our own tomato sauce flavored with a little red wine. We’ll walk you through how we made this pasta and sauce, from start to finish, so you too might be inspired to craft your own interesting homemade pasta.
You’ll need:
- 00 flour
- Semolina flour
- Olive oil
- A 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
- Garlic
- A small onion
- Red pepper flakes
- Red wine
- Sugar
- Bay leaves
- Oregano
- Basil
- Ricotta salata
Let’s start with making the orecchiette: use a food scale to measure out 325 grams of 00 flour and 175 grams of semolina flour. Stir these two flours together and then turn them out onto a large wooden work surface, making them into a mound and then creating a 6-inch divot in the middle that goes almost all the way to the bottom. Use the food scale again to measure out 250 grams of slightly warm water and pour that water into the divot a little bit at a time, using a fork to stir in the water in a circular motion. Make sure that you’re never pouring in so much water that it overflows, and stir gently so that the water doesn’t escape the flours.
Once you’ve added all the water, use the fork to continue stirring until all the flours and water are incorporated together. Then use your hands to shape the dough into one mass and knead for 10 minutes, folding the dough in half and pressing it down firmly with the heels of your hands before rotating the dough and repeating this process. Once you’re done, cover your dough and set it aside for 30 minutes – and if you’re not using it right away, refrigerate it and bring it out to come to room temperature 20 minutes before you’re ready to work with it.
Once it’s time to create the orecchiette, cut the dough into four equal pieces. Take one piece (leave the others covered in plastic wrap) and roll it out into a rope by pressing your fingertips at the center of this piece and moving them outwards as you roll. You’ll want to end up with a roll that’s 1/2-inch thick, and you can cut the rope in half if need be to make it more manageable. Once it’s the right thickness, cut the dough into pieces that are 1/2-inch long.
Now take a butter knife, with the cutting edge facing in, and center it into the middle of one pasta piece. Press downward until it curls over both the top and bottom of the knife, but make sure you’re not cutting through the pasta.
Turn each piece inside out and place over your thumb to shape into a cap.
You’ll want to place each finished piece of orecchiette onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper that you’ve dusted with semolina flour. Let the orecchiette dry for an hour and a half, and when you’re ready to cook them boil for just 5 minutes.
You can start on the sauce about half an hour before you’re ready to cook the pasta: mince your onion and 4 cloves of garlic and place them in a large Dutch oven with 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes, then sprinkle with red pepper flakes and season with salt and pepper.
Pour in 1/2 cup of red wine and let cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add in your crushed tomatoes and 3 bay leaves, stir in a teaspoon of sugar, and bring it all to a simmer. Turn the heat to low, cover the pot, and cook for 20 minutes, then take the lid off, remove the bay leaves, and mix in a large handful of oregano leaves.
As the pasta is boiling, scoop out 1/4 cup of the cooking water. When it’s ready, drain the pasta and then stir into the sauce along with the cooking water. Add a handful of basil leaves and mix those in as well.
Then dish up the pasta and top with grated ricotta salata and some extra basil.
We had fun making this orecchiette from scratch, standing in our kitchen and pressing pieces of dough around our thumbs. And after all that work it was nice to pair the pasta with a simple tomato sauce that put to use some of a bottle of red wine we had sitting around. This sauce clung nicely to the inside and outside of the orecchiette, and it went well with the chewy and slightly thick pasta. The ricotta salata was a nice cool and creamy topping, and we’re super proud of our effort to make an interesting and entirely homemade pasta.