Love is...

Despite my Irish/Italian heritage, due to family geography, I basically grew up in an Italian environment. My mom's side of the family are far more local than my father's, and grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles were a daily part of my life. That being said, I must embarrassingly admit that I don't think I knew what gnocchi was until college. Really, college. The reason is quite simple though...in my family, the dumpling of choice was cavatelli. My earliest memories of Italian cooking are not my grandmother standing over a massive pot of bubbling tomato sauce which she'd been stirring for hours on end with a wooden spoon, but going to her house on Sundays and watching her roll out hand made snakes of cavatelli and cutting them into little pillows of dumpling delight (and then putting them into a large pot of bubbling tomato sauce which she had been stirring with a wooden spoon for hours on end). And now, nothing can bring me back home, no matter where my travels take me, like a plate of handmade fresh cavatelli in tomato sauce.

Much like lamb is the bastard child of the red meat family, I feel cavatelli is often overlooked or not even known in the dumpling family. In today's Italian/American culture it's hardly even offered on restaurant menus and I'd bet a large number of people don't even know what I'm talking about. Well listen up. For all of you who think the gnocchi is pinnacle of fresh Italian pasta...I want you to imagine removing the potato from your recipe and replacing it with...cheese. Yes that's right...cheese. Now really, doesn't that sound damn good. These little delights are rich, creamy, melt in your mouth morsels of Italian goodness and need little more than a simple tomato sauce to highlight they're simple and supple flavors. Of course, NOTHING compares to grandma's, but if you've got to make them yourself, here's a close second.

Cavatelli

3 C of all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

16 oz. ricotta cheese

2 eggs

Directions

Put 2 1/2 cups of the flour in a large mixing bowl reserving the rest to dust your work area and dough as you knead it. Add a healthy pinch of salt and stir to combine. Make a well in the middle of the mixture and add the ricotta cheese and eggs. Working around the outside of the bowl in a circle, combine the ingredients until a dough is formed. It's going to be a rather wet dough at first, so don't worry, and don't overwork it. Remove the dough to a floured board and knead until a smooth ball is formed. The more you work a dough the more gluten is formed, and though the elasticity of gluten is key to creating a great pasta dough, too much of it will make your melt in your mouth cavatelli sink in your stomach dough bombs.

Once the dough comes together, place in a lightly oiled bowl (I said LIGHTLY oiled) and cover with plastic wrap. Allow this to sit for AT LEAST 30 min, preferably an hour, during which time the dough will tighten slightly. This is a good time to make your marinara sauce...hint, hint.

After the hour has passed (and your sauce is done), remove the dough to a floured board again. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts and knead into smaller balls of dough. Place one dough on the board and cover the others with a damp kitchen towel. Cut your dough into 4 equal parts again (you're now working with 1/16th the original dough size) and roll into a long snake. Now you can make them as fat or as thin as you like, but I'm going to suggest about a 1/4" in diameter (they will plump when you cook them). Once the snake is formed, lie across your board and cut into 1" pieces. Now for the final phase of forming the pasta I point you to the pictures below as it's far easier to see than explain.

So basically you're taking the back of a dough divider, butter knife, or spackle knife and lightly dragging it over the cavatelli. Why ? Well this creates the cavatelli shape,and also creates a textured surface and a long crevice down one side, which is important in capturing and holding onto sauce. You see, Italians are not only particular about their pasta, but also which pasta gets tossed with which sauce. You're never going to get spaghetti bolognese in Bologna cause spaghetti won't hold the meat. Instead you'll find rigatoni or penne, something tubular which is going to give the meat in the sauce a place to get stuck and picked up so you get all the flavors in every bite. But alas, I digress...so you've formed all of your cavatelli and now it's time to cook.

Place the cavatelli in a well salted pot of water which has reached a rapid boil. Fresh cavatelli will cook in 2-3 minutes, you'll know cause they'll float, or if you've frozen your cavatelli after forming them (which you can do for up to 6 months) it'll take 5-7 minutes (again...the floating thing). Finally toss with your sauce over a low heat to allow the flavors to meld and add a tablespoon of butter and healthy mass of grated parmesan or pecorino cheese and serve.

Well, I've done it. I've managed to peak your interest in cavatelli, and completely turn you off to the process of making them yourself. My shortest ingredient list to date accompanied by a small novella of how to instructions (with added pictures no less) has surely turned you off to ever making these unsung heroes in your own kitchen. I sincerely hope not, as if you noted in the paragraph above, should you grab an afternoon where the husband is watching the game and the kids are finally down for a nap, you can make a batch and freeze them for up to 6 months. Then whenever you'd like, you can pull them out as needed, boil them up, server with that homemade sauce you've frozen as well for a homemade pasta sensation like no other. Hey...wait...what are you doing with that jarred pasta sauce...put that down...

oh well...another time...

Mangia et statti zitto...

cheers...

dunkin