SEASONAL ORECCHIETTE PASTA
I have always been infatuated with understanding how regionality played such an important role in Italian cooking. Despite my lifelong love of my Sicilian heritage, I shifted slightly East to Apulia, the heel of Italy’s boot, where my great grandmother, Immaculata Francavilla, came from Palagianello, a town right outside of Bari. She helped raise my father, aunt and uncles. Knowing the connection that the Pugliese have with the earth and their utmost respect for the simplest ingredients made me proud of the chef that I have become.
Feeds Four
FOR THE PASTA:
- 500g semolato rimacinato di grano duro, preferably Molini del Ponte brand
- 250g water, lukewarm
Prepare the dough. Using the traditional method, dump the semola onto a clean work surface. Using two fingers, create a well in the middle and slowly add the warm water. Using a fork, gradually incorporate the flour into the water, moving towards using your hands to get the dough together. You can add more water as needed (sometimes flour is dryer in certain months) but you do not want a tacky wet dough; a smooth playdough like texture is the ideal scenario.
Knead the dough for at least 15 minutes. You're finished kneading when you make an indent in the dough using a finger and it bounces back.
Let the dough rest under a damp cloth for at least 15 minutes.
Cut the dough into six equal parts.
Starting from the center, slowly start to roll the dough out into a long coil, applying pressure evenly throughout the process. If one part gets too skinny, you can always redo it, or cut smaller pieces from the original mass and move at a speed that is more your style.
Once you achieve a long coil, approximately 18” or so, cut ½” squares.
With a very dull serrated dinner knife, place it on top of one of the cut squares at a 30° angle.
I am right handed, so using my left hand, I hold the piece of pasta while using my right index finger to evenly apply pressure to the knife, pulling towards myself evenly, not downwards or upwards, until the dough starts to coil back on itself. Using my right index finger I slightly invert it with little pressure upwards to create more of a dome, or the undeniable “little ear” shape.
Continue this process until you don’t have any dough left.
Lightly dust a sheet tray with semolina flour and let the orecchiette dry for at least an hour in direct sunlight.
FOR THE SAUCE:
- 1lb mixed greens, such as baby spinach, rainbow swiss chard and or dandelion greens
- 6 cloves garlic, germ removed, sliced thin
- 1 tbs red chili flakes
- 1 lemon, zested and freshly squeezed
- ½ cup white wine, preferably a Pugliese varietal such as a Verdeca
- Pugliese extra virgin olive oil, roughly ½ cup
- Pecorino cheese
- Sicilian sea salt, to taste
Cook the garlic in the extra virgin olive oil over low heat, cooking just until the garlic starts to become brown and become very fragrant.
Add the chili flakes, following quickly by the greens. Sautée for 12-15 minutes until the greens start to break down and their natural liquids have evaporated.
Deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine. Reduce until almost dry.
Add a ladle of pasta water, then follow with the pasta itself, and cook for 1-2 minutes until the starch from the pasta cooking water and pasta itself emulsifies the sauce. Toss using cold air as needed.
Off the heat, add the lemon zest, lemon juice, a glug of fresh olive oil and the freshly grated pecorino cheese. Toss again, using the air to emulsify the sauce.
Serve immediately garnished with a touch more grated cheese and another drizzle of olive oil. Mangia!
CHEF’S NOTES:
Using the highest grade semolina matters.
The dull serrated knife is a key component of making this shape. You don’t want a knife too sharp, or you will risk the chance of ripping apart the pasta every time you try to shape it. The dull serrated blade will give the iconic wrinkles on the exterior of the dome.
I am a chef, not a scientist, but using cold or hot water will not give you the same result. For ease of handling the pasta, it must be lukewarm.
Despite the American connotation that this shape is always served with broccoli rabe and sausage, traditionally it is served very simply with braised, foraged wild greens. But by all means, render the sausage prior to cooking the garlic and simply replace the greens with your broccoli rabe.
The lemon juice and zest should always be the final flourish – do not cook it! Cooking fresh lemon defeats the purpose of using it.
Just like the lemon, never cook cheese on the heat while finishing a dish; it will become grainy and greasy.
Trust your intuition; cooking is a natural process. For overly watery sauces, don't compensate by adding more cheese – drain it, reduce it quickly, and remember this moment for the next time you make this dish.