Revisiting a southern dish, Residue-Free Levante potato cavatelli pasta with sausage and rapini!
Ingredients for 4 people
Re-milled durum wheat semolina, 150g
Residue-Free Levante potatoes, 100g
Ultra-fine “00” flour, 150g
Water, 70ml
Sausage, 400g
Rapini, 400g
Buffalo ricotta, 100g
Garlic, to taste
Extra virgin olive oil, as required
Fresh chilli pepper, to taste
Parmigiano Reggiano, to taste
Table salt, to taste
Preparation
Thoroughly wash the potatoes, peel them and boil them in plenty of boiling water for about 25-30 minutes, or until they are soft enough. Once they are cooked to the desired level, drain the potatoes and mash them with a potato masher in a bowl. Mix the semolina with the flour and add them to the potatoes, then add the water as well and knead the dough until it is smooth and compact. Divide the mixture into small portions and stretch them out using your fingertip to make little strings about 1 cm thick. Cut the little strings into pieces up to a maximum of 3 cm long and gradually roll them up from the bottom using your thumb to create the classic concave shape of cavatelli pasta. As they are gradually ready, place them on a flour-coated cloth and leave them to one side.
To make the sauce, crumble the sausage and brown it in a pre-heated pan for about ten minutes. Once ready, leave it to rest. Clean the rapini, removing the tougher part of the stalk and the thicker leaves, wash them thoroughly and cook them with garlic, oil and chilli pepper in the same pan as the sausage for about ten minutes. Once cooked, remove the garlic and add the sausage, then season with salt. In the meantime, boil the fresh cavatelli for 5 minutes in the boiling water you used to cook the potatoes. When they are cooked, drain them into the sauce and stir well. You can now plate up: pour your potato cavatelli with sausage and rapini into a deep plate, sprinkle with Parmigiano Reggiano and place a quenelle of buffalo ricotta on top.
Image: Canva