Cavatelli: The Rustic, Chewy Delight of Southern Italy

There’s a whole other kind of pasta-making that doesn’t involve any machine or even any eggs. Welcome to the world of Southern Italian pasta, and one of my personal favorites: cavatelli.

Unlike egg pasta, which is often delicate and satiny, cavatelli, which translates to “little hollows”, are rustic, chewy, and ridiculously satisfying. Making the hollow nugget-like noodles is remarkably enjoyable. You need little more than your own two hands. Unlike shapes like fettuccine, pappardelle, and farfalle, which are made by rolling dough into thin sheets and cutting out shapes, cavatelli are formed by hand from small chunks of a pliable water-based dough. Once the dough is mixed and kneaded, it’s rolled into ropes by hand, cut into small segments, and finally pressed and rolled across the counter or a grooved hand-held pasta board to make short, thick, chewy noodles. Smooth cavatelli are the easiest to shape and require no specialty equipment. You can simply use a butter knife or even just your thumb to scrape the dough across a flat surface to give it its hollow curled shape.

You will need:

1 cup semolina flour

1 cup 00 flour

3/4 cup warm water

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

Add flours to a bowl, slowly add water and mix, you may need more water you may need less. You want the flour and water to bind, then turn out on board and knead 5-10 min until smooth tighten and lengthen the gluten. Cover, set aside for 30 minutes to rest. This rest will make all the difference!After 30 minutes, cut off ¼ of the dough. Roll the cut off portion of dough into a sausage shape. You shouldn't need any extra semolina/flour but if you do, use it sparingly.Continue rolling until you have a long rope about ½ inch (or approximately 1cm) in diameter. Be sure to roll the rope as thin as this otherwise it will be too thick to cook properly. It may be easier to cut it in half and keep rolling to achieve this thickness.Cut the rope into ¾-1 inch (2-2.5cm) lengths. Thickness of pencil.

Make shape, place in a single layer and not touching on parchment (baking) paper that has been dusted with semolina.

Add the cavatelli to the salted, boiling water and cook for 8-10 minutes. This will depend on the size of the cavatelli. Taste after 5 minutes and cook longer if needed