serves four
Ingredients:
1 cup flour to begin; more to achieve correct consistency and to flour board
1 egg
1/2 cup ricotta
1/4 teaspoon salt
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Instructions:
Mix 1 cup flour, egg, ricotta and salt in a large bowl. Gradually add more flour until you have fairly stiff dough. Knead the dough on a floured board until it is smooth and no longer sticky. Let it rest for 5 minutes, covered with a bowl.
Divide the dough into 4 or 5 small balls and roll each ball into a thin rope (about 1/4 inch in diameter). Cut the rope into 1/4-inch pellets and dust them lightly with flour. Roll each pellet against the inside of a cheese grater with the tip of your finger. This creates pasta shaped like a hollow football with a bumpy exterior from the grater's indentations. (It takes a little practice and a little patience, but my Aunt Mary taught all of us to do this by the time we were 5 years old.)
Lightly flour a large tray and put the cavatelli into a single layer to dry slightly. After about 2 hours, bring 4 quarts of water (with 1 tablespoon of oil and 2 tablespoons of salt) to a boil and drop in the pasta a few at a time. Boil for approximately 6 minutes. Drain and serve.
Note: You can also put the uncooked cavatelli onto a tray in the freezer for a few hours. Once they are frozen, you can put them into a zip-top bag and return them to the freezer. Do not thaw before cooking.
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Ingredients:
2 cups (tightly packed) basil leaves
1/2 cup fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup pignoli nuts
1/2 cup Romano cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
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Instructions:
Carefully wash and dry the basil and parsley (I use my salad spinner). In a food processor with the metal blade attached, process the basil and parsley, add the garlic, nuts and cheese. With the machine running, drizzle in the olive oil to form a paste. Then add salt and pepper to taste. Put into a jar and cover with a thin layer of olive oil. It should keep in the refrigerator for at least a week. I know people who pour this into ice-cube trays and then put the cubes into a plastic bag in the freezer. They take out cubes all winter long for pasta, sauces, etc. It never lasts that long in my house.
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