I recently joined my local Brooklyn CSA. It is a great way to support local farms, but I’ve quickly learned that cooking with what you’re given is different than cooking with what you’ve purchased. Right now, I seem to have an endless supply of greens. Kale, chard, arugula, spinach, and radish greens. However, the lack of purchasing control over my comestibles is approximately eleventy-billion times better than joining the Park Slope CoOp.
Oh, the Park Slope CoOp. Yes, you are cheap. But, damn! You are so pretentious and elitist. With your draconian work rules, ridiculously executed boycotts, and epic and hilarious meetings, you are the epitome of First World Problems. While some may worry about having enough food or water, CoOp members spaz out about the limited supply of chocolate goat cheese. Let’s also not forget the Great Kale Shortage of 2013. Shed a tear people.
Hello, Park Slope CoOp members? On behalf of those who do not understand what an egregious offense it is to come ambling into the CoOp – the one you joined because you just want to eat healthy – to find that they are out of lacto-fermented, non-dairy mayonnaise and kale that comes with a socio-economic philosophy. I’m sorry.
Wait, what was I talking about? Oh, yeah. Greens. Well, I have a lot of them and, so, I made pesto and homemade pasta.
I’m not really big on pasta. Without really trying, my diet sorta/kinda follows a paleo diet. But, approximately 2.23 times a year, I need to stuff my face with pasta until I want to vomit. Clearly, I’m good at the whole “balance and everything in moderation thing”. When I do decide to pasta-binge, I typically aim for fresh pasta. While dried pasta is good, it isn’t as good as fresh.
One of my favorite types of pasta is orecchiette, probably because it is often paired with another favorite of mine, greens. That being said, I’ve never actually made orecchiette before. Turns out, it is pretty easy to make.
Like most fresh pasta recipes, there’s always a mound of flour with a well. To that you add your liquids, form the dough, roll out it and shape it. Nothing ground-breaking.
To form the orecchiette, you cut long ropes of dough into little pillows. From there you drag a butter knife over each piece while pressing down onto your cutting board. This flattens the dough into a flat disc. Turn that disc over and press it over your thumb to form that iconic shape.
Ingredients
- 2 cups semolina flour
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cups tepid water
Steps
Mix both flours in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour. Add the water and stir with your hands until incorporated. Note, you may need to add more water. Gather the dough and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Cover and rest for 10 minutes.
Roll the dough into long ropes. Cut the dough 1/2″ inch pieces.
To form the pasta, hold the knife at a 45-degree angle, press down on one piece of dough, and drag towards you until flattened into a disc. Pick up the disc and press the center with your thumb to form a sauce-shaped pasta. Place the formed pasta on a sheet dusted with semolina flour. The formed pasta can be frozen for several months.
Talk to Me.