The Many-Shaped Charms of Semolina Pasta
Mental health day? Make a meal of malloreddus.
by Jon Bennion for Montana Free Press
I have met very few people who don’t like pasta. As you read this column, you probably have boxes of at least three or four different pastas in your pantry to throw together a dinner in a pinch. And there are plenty of tasty boxed pasta recipes on notecards in your little recipe box, in the cookbooks on your shelf, and certainly online.
Fewer people have gone the extra step of making pasta from scratch. That kind of fancy stuff should be saved for the pros in a legitimate Italian restaurant, right? As I explained in my pici pasta column, nothing could be more wrong.
Pasta from scratch is not only tasty, it’s therapeutic. It is not a process to rush through. The mixing, kneading, rolling, cutting and shaping (depending on the kind of pasta you make) are meditative activities that both use your hands and feed your belly. I’m convinced pasta-making will become the next practice prescribed by mental health professionals.
If you tried the hand-rolled Tuscan noodles of my pici recipe, you’re definitely ready to graduate to a new level featuring the semolina pasta methods commonly used in southern Italy. This eggless pasta requires only warm water, fine semolina flour and salt.
Before you think I’m crazy to share all these eggless pasta recipes, go grab a box of your dried pasta and look at the ingredients. No eggs, and nearly all of it is made from semolina flour.
This dough is popular in southern Italy because eggs were not always available, and wheat grown in the south is high in protein without the addition of eggs. Durum wheat flour (something we grow plenty of in Montana) is the basis for the semolina flour. The key is finding a finer grind of semolina, which is usually called “semola.” Regular semolina is alright as well, just make sure it’s not super coarse.
Once the ingredients are combined, the first step toward good pasta is a 10-minute knead. This upper-arm workout is necessary to develop the best texture for delicious handmade pasta. Stretch it, fold it against itself, press down on it, give it a quarter turn on your counter, and repeat.
You will have doubts about how it feels in those first few minutes. It will look shaggy at the start, and you may be tempted to add more water. But as you continue to knead, the dough should start getting smoother and springy from the gluten.
The second step to making good pasta is to give it a 30-minute rest covered in plastic wrap or in a plastic bag to relax the dough. You can let it rest even more if you put it in the fridge, just make sure it has time to come back to room temperature before you work with it again.
At this point, there are so many different kinds of pasta you can make with just simple utensils: orecchiette (little ears), cavatelli, pici, capunti, busiate, lorighittas and many more. For this recipe we are going to explore malloreddus, also known as gnocchetti sardi (not to be confused with potato gnocchi). They have fun little ridges, and no special tools required.
Uses for cooked malloreddus include tossing them into a soup, adding them to shredded Sunday roast and gravy leftovers, mixing them with marinara and topping with parmesan, tossing with browned butter and lemon juice, pouring homemade chili over the top — the possibilities are virtually endless. Just follow the first part of the recipe to make the pasta and then follow your stomach’s desires.
For this meal, I’m suggesting a springtime recipe you can use to wake your palate from its wintertime slumber, ward off scurvy, and get some freshness into your diet. This concoction of broccoli, Fresno chile, shallot, garlic, lemon and parmesan is a bright and tasty way to enjoy your southern Italian pasta. And if you’re not a broccoli fan, you could substitute roasted asparagus, zucchini or artichokes.
MALLOREDDUS RECIPE (SERVES 4)
2 cups semola (fine semolina) flour
3/4 cup of warm water
pinch of salt
Shape the flour into a large well and add the warm water and salt in the center. Let it sit for one minute as the inside edge of the flour starts to absorb some of the water. With a fork, make small circular motions in the water and pull little bits of flour into the center. As you do this, the center will become thicker. Pull in larger amounts of flour and smash it into the wetter center.
At a certain point, your hands will become the best instrument going forward. Smash and roll the shaggy dough into a ball and start the kneading process, as explained above, for 10 minutes. Your ball of dough should be smooth by the end. Allow it to rest for 30 minutes in plastic wrap or a sealed bag.
After it’s rested, cut the dough into four equal portions. Keep the dough you are not using in the plastic wrap or bag so it doesn’t dry out before you’re ready to work with it. Take a quarter of the dough and roll it out into a long, half-inch-wide log. Then cut the log into 1/2 inch pieces. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Place a piece of the dough on the back of a fork, the back of a cheese grater, or a gnocchi board. With medium pressure, use your thumb to roll the malloreddus, creating small ridges on one side and an indentation where your thumb was. Repeat for all other pieces.
These should be cooked in boiling salted water for 2-3 minutes. After 2 minutes, bite into one to check the texture.
“I NEED MORE VEGGIES IN MY LIFE” PASTA RECIPE
12 oz. fresh broccoli crown
1 large shallot (4 oz.)
1 large or two small cloves of garlic
1 Fresno chile
6 oz. freshly grated parmesan
1 lemon (zest and juice)
olive oil
optional: 1/3 cup pine nuts
optional 1/3 cup dry white wine
Prep your veggies first. Separate the broccoli stems from the florets. The stems should be cut into about 1/2-inch-square pieces. You can leave the florets slightly larger, but keep them separate as they will be cooked differently. Finely chop your shallot and Fresno chile (these are red chiles about the size of jalapeno peppers), and mince your garlic.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking tray with foil and spread the broccoli florets over it. Drizzle a little olive oil on top and dust with a bit of salt and pepper. Toss to coat and then bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside until later.
Not grate some good quality parmesan (don’t use the stuff in the green canister) until you have 6 oz. of very finely grated cheese. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Give the water a decent amount of salt to season.
Bring a very large sauté pan to medium heat. If you are using pine nuts, this would be a good time to toast them. Add them to the preheated pan and toss the nuts every 30 seconds until you start to smell them and see a hint of browning. (Don’t walk away unless you want them to burn!) Remove from the pan and set aside.
In the empty pan on medium heat, add two tablespoons of olive oil. Throw in the broccoli stems, the shallot, the Fresno chile and garlic. While that’s cooking, add your handmade malloreddus to the boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes. Once they are done, add the pasta to the sauté pan where the vegetables have been cooking. Leave the pasta water in the pot. Raise the heat to high.
If you’re using wine, add it to the sauté pan now and allow most of it to cook off. Add 1/3 of the parmesan cheese (2 oz.) and the zest of your lemon to the sauté pan. Add 1/2 cup of the pasta water and allow the cheese to melt a bit before stirring with a spoon. Once incorporated, add another 1/3 of the cheese (2 oz.) and 1/2 cup pasta water. Allow it to melt again and then stir. The heat of the pan along with the cheese should help you develop a light saucy coating on the pasta.
Add the juice of half the lemon, stir, and then turn off the heat. Add the pine nuts and the broccoli florets now to warm them for serving. You can use the last 1/3 of the parmesan to top the plated dish, and allow your fellow diners to add lemon juice according to their taste with the other lemon half.
Jon Bennion
Jon Bennion was born and raised in Billings and has lived in various parts of Montana nearly his whole life. Outside of his day job as an attorney, you can find Jon experimenting in the kitchen and developing recipes that often feature a Montana ingredient or story. Jon posts on Instagram as Intermediate Chef (@intermediatechef) and lives in Clancy, MT. More by Jon Bennion