Do you want to learn how to make orecchiette pasta? Made from pantry staples, it’s a delicious egg-free pasta that you can whip up quickly without the need for a pasta machine! All you need is semolina flour, water and a knife to make delicious homemade orecchiette from scratch. Whilst it can be a little tricky to get the scraping & flicking motion right, once you’ve got it down pat, you’ll be rolling out your own orecchiette like a pro.
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Watch my video to work out how to make orecchiette pasta & the scraping movement just right!
Read on to learn how to do it (recipe from Emiko Davies‘ Tortellini at Midnight book).
Ingredients:
200 ml lukewarm water
400 g semola rimacinata
Method:
I like to make my pasta on a board or the kitchen bench. Pour your flour onto the board, and create a well in the middle. Slowly pour the warm water into the well and start to bring together using your fingertips or a knife- slowly incorporating the flour into the water. Depending on the humidity of the day, you might not need all the water or you might need more, you want to end up with a moist dough but not a sticky one!
As the pasta starts to come together use your hands to work the dough and knead it for at least 10-15 minutes until it is very soft. Put aside and cover with a damp teatowel for at least 30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.
Once your dough has rested, divide it into four portions. Take one portion (putting the rest back under the cloth so it doesn’t dry out), and roll it into a long sausage shape (with the board underneath coated lightly with some semola rimacinata flour.
When you have a long sausage like shape, use a butter knife to cut it into small, even cubes.
Then, with the cut side of the knife angled away from you (although ideally don’t use a serated knife), push the knife on top of the dough and drag it towards you. The knife should be at a 30 degree angle, and the dough should wrap up around the knife as you push it through. Take your thumb ontop of the orecchiete and peel it off the knife using your thumb and forefinger, folding it back as you peel it off and inverting it slightly. It’s hard to describe this, so watch the videos for reference!
Once your orecchiette is all rolled out, serve it with cime di rapa cooked in a big pot of salted water. You can then cook the orecchiette in the same water (now slightly green) and add to a pan of cooked cipe di rapa, garlic, anchovies and chilli and top with lashings of ricotta salata.
In a nutshell- DELISH! And the perfect afternoon activity during quarantine (without needing a pasta machine!)
Buon inizio x
Looking for more delicious pasta recipes? Check out my collection here.
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