A tasty handmade pasta made with ricotta, flour, and eggs. Perfect with chunky sauces like ragù.
Ingredients
- 3½ cups (455g) 00 flour
- 16 oz. (450g) ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Combine ricotta and egg in a large bowl.
- Add flour and stir to combine, drizzling in the water until the dough comes together.
- Knead to form a soft dough. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, line two large baking sheets with non-stick baking paper and dust with fine semolina or flour.
- After 30 minutes, take a small portion of dough and rewrap the remaining dough.
- Roll the dough into a long rope about ½ inch (1cm) in diameter — it may help to cut it in half and keep rolling to achieve this thickness. Cut the rope into ¾–1 inch (2–2.5cm) lengths. Try not to flour the work surface or the dough will be too hard to roll.
- Use a gnocchi board or the tines of a fork to shape the cavatelli: press two fingers firmly onto each piece of dough and drag toward you, creating a curl and an indentation. Dust with a little flour or fine semolina if the dough sticks. Place finished cavatelli on the prepared baking sheets in a single layer, not touching.
- Continue forming cavatelli until all the dough is used.
- Cook in batches in a large pot of salted boiling water. When the pasta rises to the top, scoop out with a slotted spoon and transfer to a large serving bowl, mixing in spoonfuls of your favorite pasta sauce.
Notes
- Don’t flour your surface when rolling — friction is needed to roll the ropes thin. Use flour only when shaping if the dough sticks.
- Pairs especially well with a chunky tomato ragù or the vodka sauce in this collection.