Homemade Cavatelli Pasta (Three Ingredients Only)

Wonder where I got the urge deciding to make cavatelli pasta from scratch? It's not hard, but can be quite strenuous, especially I was making pasta for like four servings. There's no cavatelli board too to roll up the pasta against the ridges, but so what? I got forks at home, even though they're not as handy as the designated board, but a simple fork can still get the tricks done.

Homemade cavatelli pasta -

Ingredients (about 4 servings)?

• 2 cups semolina flour plus extra for dusting
• 3/4 to 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

How?

Make sure you have enough working space to knead the dough, also just in case the flour might spread out occasionally. From there, arrange the semolina flour like a little mountain and make a well in the center. Add the salt to the center too.

Gradually pouring some warm water to the center. The liquid shouldn't flow out because we made a well to begin with. Use finger tips to stir together the water and the flour. Continue to do so and stop with 3/4 cup of water.

Try to knead the flour into a ball. If the dough can't stick together nicely after a few minutes, add a little more water. Usually 3/4 cup of water will do, but this time I used 1 full cup instead.

Knead the flour into a smooth ball, it took me about 10 minutes by hand. Transfer the dough to a bowl and cover with cling foil. Let it rest under room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

Dust the working surface with some extra semolina flour to prevent sticking. Once ready, pinch some dough out and roll into a long log, just a bit thinner than the pinky finger. While doing so, keep the remaining dough covered.

Cut the thin log to about half inch sections to begin with. As you start rolling them into cavatelli pasta, you'll get a feeling of which length works best for you. Adjust accordingly.

Use index finger and middle finger to press down the dough against the ridges of the fork, or simply use a cavatelli board. While pressing it down, don't do it too hard and break the dough, just enough force to get the pattern.

So press and either roll out or moving towards yourself to make the dough curl up. It can take many tries before the shape starts to really look like a cavatelli pasta. Don't worry and don't get too disappointed, we've got a big ball of dough to practice with. And once you cook them with pasta sauce, it's harder to notice if the shape wasn't perfect.

After reshaping all the dough, you can simply cook it like fresh pasta, or lay them out in single layer and transfer to the freezer to firm up. Once making sure the pasta won't stick to one another, gather them into a container or Ziploc and store in the freezer.

So was it worth the time making pasta from scratch? Yeah, why not? I guess once in a blue moon is fine. After all, kneading can be quite therapeutic with soft music playing in the background and  the smell of coffee luring aside.