Cavatelli al Pastore
So I am sure I've mentioned before that my grandfather was from Calabria. Growing up we never had that many dishes that I knew of that were from his region of Italy. We always had dishes that were mostly from my grandmother's area with exception of some seafood dishes that we were told were his. I came across in one of my many cookbooks a recipe specifically from his region of Calabria. I was intrigued by the pasta as well as the simple, yet delicious sounding sauce. This was one of those times I picked up the phone and called my mother to see if she knew of this dish. In typical mom style as soon as I started describing the pasta dish she blurted out, "yes!, grandpa made that all the time!". Not at all to be surprised by this I questioned why it was never carried on. Of course the response was always the same; "I just didn't feel like it." So I decided to give it a try and bring back this family classic. The pasta for this dish was quite different from the typical egg pasta I was used to. This was simply made with just flour and water. The structure of the shape of this is very similar to gnocchi but with a different twist of the fingers. Grandpa's Cavatelli al Pastore.
Cavatelli dough
- 2 cups flour
- 3/4 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
Sauce:
- 1 lb Italian Sweet Sausage
- 1 can Diced tomatoes drained
- 12 oz Ricotta
- Black pepper
- Pecorino Cheese
1. Make the Cavatelli dough. Simply combine the flour, salt, and water into a ball. Kneed for roughly 5-10 minutes until dough is firm and soft at same time. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for over an hour.
2. To make the pasta, cut off chunks of the dough and roll into long slender snake like shapes. Pinch off about a 1/2 inch chunk and gently with your index finger and middle press down and roll towards you till you have a small shell shape. Continue until your pasta is complete. (see link below for quick video on pasta production).
3. Cook pasta in a large stock pot of boiling salted water.
4. Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, cook your Italian sausage until slightly brown.
5. Toss in diced tomatoes and cook until tender.
6. Stir in ricotta cheese until incorporated.
7. Stir in lots of black pepper and a handful of pecorino cheese.
8. Take about 1/2- 1 cup of pasta water to make the sauce more pliable and thicken up a bit.
9. Toss your drained cavatelli pasta into the sauce and serve.
This pasta dish, and new creation to myself, was fantastic! The heartiness of this dish was perfect for a slightly cool evening. So happy to carry down this traditional dish from my grandfather. It is a must for anyone looking for something new to try.
Prep Time: 20-30 minutes
Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
Serves: 4+
