After my lofty ambitions following the last #cookbookchallenge, this week I dialled it back and just made a bowl of pasta. Orecchiette with n'duja, red onion, tomato and rocket, to be precise. Well, I say just a bowl of pasta, but (of course) I made both the sauce and the pasta from scratch, so I didn't make life too easy for myself....
Just as with Polpo last week, this week was the turn of another much-loved Italian-inspired classic, this time being Jacob Kennedy's Bocca Cookbook, a spin-off from his restaurant in Soho, Bocca di Lupo - again, as with Polpo, I haven't visited yet, but I have visited Gelupo, his ice cream parlour situated opposite the restaurant, more time than I care to mention. Probably my favourite place for a frozen dessert parlour in the Big Smoke.
Of course, when you cook something so simple, everything has to be top-notch. From the n'duja (spicy Calabrian salami), to the cheese (more of the pecorino bought home in my suitcase from Sicily), to the pasta - which should be, despite the strong flavours vying for attention, the star of the show. This recipe calls for orecchiette (or, more descriptively when translated from the Italian, 'little ears'). Dried orecchiette can be difficult to cook well - when the thinner middle is perfectly al dente, the thicker outer edge remains hard and chewy.
The way around this, or so Mr Kennedy informs us, is to make your own. Normally I would scoff inwardly and open a packet, but clearly I have far too much time in lockdown and luckily, despite ordering a pasta maker, that is currently being employed as a foot rest under my 'work desk' (dining room table), the dough used here is made from simply flour and water. No special equipment, multiple egg yolks or rolling into gossamer-thin sheets required.
Ideally use semolina flour (which, as with my previous post, I picked up from the Italian Store) which is made from hard durum wheat. It has a coarse texture and is high in gluten protein which helps make a more elastic dough, perfect for rugged short pasta, where you want the sauce to cling to all the nooks and crannies. It also gives the finished pasta its lovely yellow hue. At a pinch, I believe you can also use bread flour or plain flour with pretty good results. Although the amount of liquid needed to make a dough may vary.
The dough it's self is a cinch to mix and knead. You can use straight away, but I let mine sit in the fridge for an hour or two. To get the ear shapes I followed several videos on You Tube. While by no means absolutely perfect, I was pretty impressed for a first attempt. The dough is also pretty forgiving, and I re-rolled a few misshapen ones without much ill effect. Another advantage of a dough with no egg is you can spread the shapes on a board and leave out (in the sun if it's a nice day) until they are dry, before storing as you would dried pasta. Obviously ours went straight into the pot for dinner.
Orecchiette with n'duja, red onion, tomato and rocket
adapted from Bocca - serves 2
for the orechiette
200g semola grano duro flour
100 ml water
for the sauce
1 red onion, halved and sliced with the grain
120g cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
100g n'duja
50ml white wine
50g rocket, roughly chopped
Pecorino or Parmesan, grated, to serve
Method
Knead the semola with half its weight of water. The texture of the dough should be soft enough to work but dry enough not to stick to itself too easily. Let it rest for at least 20 minutes, then make the orecchiette. Roll the dough into a sausage 1cm in diameter. Cut across to make 1cm dumplings.
Using a table knife, push the dough down and towards yourself. The dough should stretch and curl over the knife.
Take your thumb, and invert the pasta curl back over it, creating that inside-out shape.
Repeat until all the dough is used up. Allow to dry for about half an hour, or until the pasta shapes become slightly tacky (alternatively dry completely and store until required)
Fry the onion and tomatoes in the olive oil in a large wide pan over a high heat until softened and slightly browned.
Crumble in the n'duja and fry for a few more minutes, then add the wine and a small ladle of water. Let it bubble away for a few minutes while you cook the pasta.
Put the pasta on to boil in plenty of salted water and cook until it floats if it's fresh (four minutes-ish) or according to the packet if dried.
Add the drained pasta and the rocket, to the sauce and cook for a further minute
Serve with plenty of grated cheese and a glass of wine.
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