le orecchiette con le rape
This is a variation on perhaps the most famous Pugliese recipe of all, and the dish should be in fact seen as something of a culinary GPS. Show us the plate and we can tell you what city you’re in. Yes, it’s pugiliese but it’s profoundly region inside of Puglia. Here is how we do it in the Salento.
The flours needed are very common all over the world and any sourcing problems will likely come only in nomenclature.
‘Semolina’ is an English word and thus tricky, (and not in the Italian dictionary). Simply put, it means whoever is selling it thinks it means. ‘Hard durum wheat finely milled (ground)’ translates as semola rimacinata in Italian. Also, don’t confuse the process with the product. The system of zeros in Italian milling-0,00, 000- tells you how finely the flour is milled, not what plant it’s derived from. And it’s very poorly understood outside of Italy. Ignore it.
The Salentine variation comes from nothing more than adding a percentage of barley (orzo) flour, giving the pasta a pleasing toothy quality. And that the sauce often lacks anchovies. The shape and size of le orecchiette here are closer to bottle caps.
Ingredients
Finely-milled hard durum wheat flour Barley flour Water
A few bunches of broccoli raab or other strongly flavoured greens. If the greens are uncleaned, you’ll need half a kilo per person. Yes, a lot is tossed.
One clove of garlic, minced Some form of chilli pepper flakes, salt Breadcrumbs (zap oven-dried bread in the food processor)
Directions
With an open palm, scoop up as much semola as you can hold without losing any, one per person, plus another, placed off to the side. Make a yellow mound of flour in the centre of a clean wooden work surface, the rougher texture the better.
With an eyeball, add roughly another 30% of barley flour, incorporating them together. Form an atoll (or a really wide-mouthed volcano) and then slowly pour water into your atoll, a little more than you’d think
Slowly, with a finger, begin to move the sides of the atoll in towards the centre, careful to avoid any of the mini-torrents that make for the edge of your work surface. When the water is absorbed, begin to mix and then need the dough until it becomes plyable, or for 3 minutes. Work this into a dough, adding flour from your reserve pile if need be. A good gauge is that an inserted thumb should come away cleanly. Knead this for 3 minutes. It should not stick to the board, if it does, add more flour. Form a ball.
With clean hands begin by squashing your ball on one side until you form a point, applying your body’s weight while rolling it. Continue rolling the point until it becomes a dowel. Roll the dowel until a long strand of dough- pinkie-thin- extends out from the side of the ball, perhaps an arm’s length long. You want the pasta to now be about as big around as your little finger, with all of it rolled out.
Using a non-serrated butter knife cut the tip of the pinkie-dowel into a single, thumbnail-sized piece. Measure each piece of pasta against the first piece, each time. You want them to cook in the same amount of time. With the knife parallel to your torso, squash this little ball towards your body, nearly smearing it into the tabletop. It should form almost half a peanut shell shape. Put the knife down
Invert the little shape by turning it inside out, until the form is exactly that of an un-extended condom (circular, thicker towards the edges, thinnest in the centre)
The degree of your smear, the water to flour content, and to a lesser degree, the surface of the table, should work together to form a textured surface across the top of your orecchiette. This surface holds the sauce. Don’t be discouraged. It’s the trickiest shape to make, and a skill you’ll treasure for as long you eat pasta. And be certain to keep the first few each batch, which will dry perfectly, keeping for years. Track your progress. Make them three times and these first ones will seem made by someone else, such is the learning curve of fresh pasta
Place completed orecchiette on a clean platter or on a board that can be moved. When you’ve completed all of your dough, wash up and wait a few hours for the pasta to dry in an unmolested corner
Meanwhile, after having bought the best broccoli rabe (or other strong flavoured greens that your market offers – collard, mustard, turnip), cut them into pieces as small as you are inclined (the finer the texture, the better the pasta coverage, a point contested in much of the Salento). Wash these very, very well, soaking them if need be
Place a large pot of water to boil, with the same person salting the water to drop in the pasta (a really good habit) and the best way to make sure it’s been one only once.
In a large, heavy skillet, heat a small glass of olive oil, adding the garlic. When these begin to take on colour, add your greens by the handfuls, careful not to burn yourself when the rinsing water spatters. Salt them and cook for ten minutes. Add chili flakes
When the water rolls, have the “salter” drop the pasta. After 3 or 4 begin tasting. With fresh pasta the cooking time in never fixed so the older they are the longer they will need to cook. You’re seeking the flavour of cooked versus raw flour (cake versus cake batter).
Drain the ‘little ears’ and toss them in on top of the greens, coating them as best as possible
Add another slug of oil, the breadcrumbs and then pour everything into a big bowl and toss well.
To drink: Salice Salentino. It’s hard to imagine any other wine.
