Homemade Pasta: Cicadelli

Seems I couldn't get enough of making my own pasta (like Easy Ricotta Gnocchi) so it was time to get my hands dirty and make some more!

This time we made a pasta called 'Cicadelli', which I believe is dialect; you probably won't find any pasta in the shops with this name but it's similar to Fusili.

INGREDIENTS
1kg plain flour
Salt (handful of cooking salt)
1 litre of water
Good quality olive oil *From guesstimating, I think it may have been two measured tablespoons or maybe more...

SERVES
A lot! I think this made enough to serve 7 hungry people and  have enough to freeze.If in doubt, divide the ingredients by three and make a small batch. I havn't tried making a small batch yet but when I do, I'll update this section.

METHOD
Make a well with your flour, sprinkle salt, pour a good drizzle* of olive oil and a bit of water. Knead. Keep working the water into the flour until it's come together. It's that simple.

I suck at kneading! I must get more arm muscles...

When the dough has come together, cut a small section and place through your pasta machine. If you don't have one, just use a rolling pin until your dough is very thin but not so thin that it breaks or becomes transparent. You should have a rectangular piece of dough, ready to cut.

Once you've rolled out the dough, cut it lengthwise into pieces that are roughly 2cm in width.

Then cut the short end into one centimetre strips. Repeat with all remaining sections of unrolled dough.

SIDE NOTE: My Dad always tells me about this soup/casserole that his Mum used to make him with pasta that look exactly like these little strips. So next time I make this pasta, I'm going to try and recreate this dish... Key word: try.

Back to it! When you've cut up all your pasta, it's time to roll them into shape.

TIP: An alternative technique to rolling the Cicadelli... ( for those of you who have long nails like me or if you can't get the hang of it...)

Instead of rolling the pasta out thin, roll small sections into a thin log and cut small pieces and make a little indent in the middle with your thumb/finger.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

STORING FRESH PASTA

As with Ricotta Gnocchi, if you won't be eating the pasta the day/night you make it, you will need to flash freeze it and then transfer into freezer bags.

Because this pasta doesn't have egg in it, you generally don't let it 'dry out' like you would spaghetti.

I've been doing my research and will hopefully do a quick post on what kinds of pasta uses egg and which don't. Still hunting as there are many opinions out there.

This pasta is so yummy with a Red Pasta Sauce..

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the final dish, mainly because I was so hungry and pretty much inhaled my pasta dug! But trust me, it looked great and tasted delicious!

Happy times!

**All photos were edited with Picasa and Pic Monkey