Homemade Cavatelli Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Basil (Cavatelli Fatti a Mano con Sugo de Pomodora Fresco e Basilico)

This recipes as written by Chef Andrea. 
Recipe says serves 4, YMMV

Ingredients for the dough: 

500 gr / 4 cup of semolina flour (hard durum wheat)

250 ml / 1 cup lukewarm water

4 pinch salt

Ingredients for the sauce

5 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1Kg / 2,2 lb fresh and organic San Marzano or Tomatoes on the vine (back home you are able to use Roma tomatoes too)

few leaves of fresh organic Basil

1 clove garlic

100gr / 1 cup Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese (to coat your dish)

Instructions for the fresh pasta:

Cavatelli  pasta (also known as Gnocchetti Sardi or Malloreddus) are made with a hard durum wheat (semolina) flour and water (no eggs) which gives them a distinctive golden yellow color (if you want to increase the yellow color just add a few pinches of saffron to it). It’s not a difficult recipe, but you may want to have some helpers if you have large numbers of gnocchetti to make!

To get ready with the dough, make a ring with the flour on a flat surface, marble or board and pour some of the water into the middle. Add salt and draw the flour towards the middle using your fingertips. Keep doing this until you have incorporated most of the water and flour into a sticky dough. Knead it lightly, adjusting water and flour until the dough is relatively smooth and elastic.

ETA - “Smooth like baby’s butt” as Chef Andrea says.

Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 15/20 mins.

Once chilled, divide the dough into quarters or more for ease of rolling. Roll these out using your fingers into long ropes of dough about 1cm/0,4 inch thick. Cut each rope into thin "pillows" and then press each pasta piece against the wood paddle or tines of a fork with your thumb, pulling down as you press and leaving a small dent inside. This should add the characteristic grooves to the pasta. Patience, practice and helpers will win out here!

Either cook straight away, or dust with semolina flour to prevent them sticking while you prepare the sauce. Once in a pan of salted boiling water, they will float to the surface when nearly done, needing no more than 4-5 mins to be "al dente".

Instructions for the sauce:

In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, sauté garlic with extra virgin olive oil (remember to leave the skin on and do not burn the oil, just wait for garlic to get brown). Then add chopped tomatoes previously blanched and peeled, and allow them to cook and sauté. After the tomatoes have cooked down for about 10 minutes, they'll look softer and release some water, add salt. You are able to add your own personal touch to the sauce with some chili flakes (but not too much) or fresh ricotta chunks in with the tomatoes. In the end add freshly chopped basil leaves.

ETA – One step from class, not included in the instructions: before adding the fresh basil, use an immersion blender to smooth out the sauce.  It will appear almost creamy although there is no cream.

To cook the pasta put a large pot of boiling water over high heat. When the water is boiling, toss in a couple of tablespoon of salt with the pasta. Stir to keep it from sticking and cook for 5/6 minutes until a piece of pasta tastes cooked (if the pasta if freshly made, just cook it for couple of minutes will be enough otherwise it will result too soft and mushy). Anyway once their ready they will float to the surface of your pot.

When the Cavatelli pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to the frying pan with tomatoes. Drizzle with cheese to coat the pasta. Season your dish with pepper if you like and garnish with some fresh basil leaves, and serve hot. It will be delicious!!!

~Source: Chef Andrea Consoli, Cooking Classes in Rome (with permission)

http://www.cookingclassesinrome.com/

I took a cooking class in Rome, Italy with friends Jay and Bruce.  It was an amazing experience and one of the highlights of the trip.  Chef Andrea uses fresh and local ingredients.  We learned a lot of tips, like use a food scale to weigh your ingredients, rather than a measuring cup. This is especially important for flour since one cup of flour could vary in grams.  

Patti’s Notes: First, he’s right.  It *IS* delicious.

I used Roma tomatoes and Parmesan cheese.  I can only get San Marzano tomatoes canned, which would be fine but I prefer to use fresh whenever possible.

I used my pasta machine for making the dough.  I started off using the gnocchi cut but it was going super slow and I was worried the dough would become overworked and tough.  I don’t have a Cavatelli  board so I was trying to think of an alternative.  I remembered that Gramma Jo (very good Italian friends of the family when I was growing up) used to roll them off the back of a fork.  I tried that and it worked great.  Much faster than the machine. 

When I mentioned this, Jay reminded me that the recipe says you can use a fork.  I had to admit that since I was using my pasta machine, I only read the ingredients; I had not read the instructions!  :blush:

I cut a "X" at the top of the tomatoes and added them to boiling water for 10-15 seconds. You'll know they are ready when the skin begins to separate from the flesh.

 They are super easy to peel.  The skin will just slip off.

 Chop tomatoes prior to placing in the hot oil.

 This is how creamy it looks after using the immersion blender.

Cavatelli board used in class.

Drying Rack used in class.

 Mine (at home) rolled off the back of a fork. 

These recipes are very easy and made with simple ingredients.  A little time consuming however, as Alton Brown says “your patience will be rewarded”. 

Same ingredients but made with Tagliatelle instead of Cavatelli.