Method
To start, make the pasta dough. Pour the flour onto a clean work surface and make a well in the centre of the flour, slowly start to pour in the water gradually bringing the water into the flour with the tips of your fingers or a fork.
Make sure not to add all the water in one as you might find you don’t need it all. Once the dough starts to come together knead for 10 -15 minutes until smooth and silky. The dough should be firm, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rest for 20 minutes outside of the fridge.
Once rested, shape the pasta by cutting into 8 equal pieces keeping each piece of dough well covered. Roll each piece of dough into a thin cylinder around ½ cm in diameter and then cut into small pieces around ½ cm.
Place your thumb onto the cut dough pieces and push away from you to create a little cave “Cavatelli” and repeat the process for each piece of dough (refer to our video).
Leave the pasta to dry out for 1-3 hours or leave overnight outside and cook the next day. Make sure to keep the pieces of shaped pasta separated so they do not stick to each other.
To assemble the dish, take a saucepan, fill with water and bring to the boil. Once boiling add a good pinch of salt and cook the pasta for 3-5 minutes or a few minutes longer if you have left it to dry overnight.
In a separate saucepan pour in the jar of Sugo alla Norma and turn the heat on low and gently simmer for a few minutes. Drizzle in 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and mix well.
Drain the pasta and add it into the sauce mixing well and cook together over a low heat for 30 seconds and grate over the Ricotta salata cheese.
Turn off the heat and serve with an extra drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and extra Ricotta Salata cheese grated on top!
Tip*
If your sauce is looking a little dry add in a few tbsp’s of the pasta water.
Buon Appetito!
