Orecchiette

Today we tried to make Orecchiete for dinner. The idea was simple. Make large orecchiette, fill them with pesto, bake and serve with shaved parmesan.

The recipe is simple - but calls for semolina as well as the usual 00 flour:

Ingredients:
200g 00 flour
100g semolina
Salt
Method:
Mix together flour, semolina and a pinch of salt and heap into a mound on the work surface. Make a well in the centre, add a little warm water and mix to a firm, elastic dough. Knead well, then shape into long rolls 2.5cm in diameter. Cut into sections and drag tham, one at a time, slowly over the work surface using the tip of aknife to form small shells. Put each shell upside down on the tip of your thumb and press it down on the work surface to accentuate it's curvature.

The only thing was that we just couldn't get the hang of making the shapes. In the end we gave up and mum whipped up a batch of fresh pasta that we used to make ravioli instead.


After dinner I continued to mess around with the original orecchiette dough - I couldn't make the large shapes but I do think that I became a dab hand at the little ones!  They are currently drying so I haven't tasted them yet.