Here’s our latest homemade pasta creation: farfalle, also known in some parts of Italy as strichetti, and most commonly called bowties. These were fun because farfalle is a pretty cool shape, but that also means it’s kind of tricky to get right when you’re making them by hand. It took some trial and error for us to shape these correctly, and we definitely had a dud pile going on, but once you get the hang of it you’re golden. We paired them with a pink peppercorn sauce, based on a dish we really enjoyed at a local restaurant called Lilia. The sauce was refreshingly easy, which was nice after putting in all the effort to make the farfalle. So this is our guide to how to make this cool pasta shape and the sauce that goes along with it!
You’ll need:
- 00 flour
- 5 eggs
- Olive oil
- Semolina flour
- 3/4 of a stick of butter
- Parmesan cheese
- Pink peppercorns – we got ours from Amazon
** And you’ll also need a fluted pasta cutter
For your farfalle’s dough, follow the first three steps in this recipe. Once all your dough is rolled out into sheets, take a pasta cutter and trim the top and ends of each sheet so they’re crinkly. Then work your way down each sheet to cut them into rectangles that are about 1 1/2 inches tall and 2 inches wide (so we cut the piece below in half to get the right dimensions).
At this point, your pasta might be a little dried out, so take a moist paper towel and press both sides of each piece into it so it’s more pliable and doesn’t crack. Then take one rectangle, hold it in your fingers, and in the very middle press upward to create a bump in the dough. Squeeze the bottom and top into this bump and press to push them down …
… so that you have a bowtie shape with the middle sealed together. You can give the shape another press to make sure that it holds tightly.
Lay the finished farfalle on sheets of parchment paper that have been dusted with semolina flour, and let them dry for 4 hours.
When you’re ready to cook your pasta, measure out a tablespoon of pink peppercorns into a mortar and pestle and roughly grind them up.
Cook your farfalle in heavily salted water for 4 minutes. While the water and the pasta are boiling, melt all your butter (it should be 6 tablespoons) over medium heat in a very large pan or pot. Scoop out a cup of the pasta cooking water and stir it into the melted butter until you have an even sauce. Use a spider strainer to take the pasta out of the boiling water, add it to the pan with the butter, and gently mix the pasta and sauce.
Grate 1/2 cup of Parmesan and add that to the pan, along with your crushed peppercorns. Combine everything together, again being careful to not tear the farfalle as you stir.
Now you can scoop up servings of pasta and top with extra Parmesan and crushed peppercorns.
Like several of the other pastas we’ve attempted, this wasn’t an easy shape: you have to practice a lot to get the bump-and-squeeze method down for creating these, and then you need to make sure you press very tightly so that the bowtie shape holds in place. You also absolutely have to let them dry for 4 hours to make sure the shape stays intact, so this isn’t something you want to start making late in the afternoon or else you won’t be eating until deep into the night – so it’s best to shape these in the morning or early afternoon. And when you go to cook the pasta and mix it with the sauce, you have to be very careful that the farfalle don’t unravel themselves in the water or tear while you’re stirring them. But don’t let all these cautious tips deter you, because this was a pretty cool experience – we’ve had farfalle plenty of times before at restaurants or from a box at home, but making them for ourselves was a fun challenge. Paired with a simple yet delicious sauce, these cute little bowties were worth the time and effort, and we enjoyed our entirely homemade meal.