Orecchiette, pasta sin máquina

Ingredientes

• 300 g "00" Italian flour can be replaced with all purpose flour
• 100 g eggs (around 2 eggs)
• 50 g egg yolks (around 3 egg yolks)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp water
• 1/4 cup pasta water
• 50 g Pecorino cheese (or Parmesan, finely grated)
• Salt to taste
• Plenty pepper

Preparación

1. 1

   --- For the dough ---

2. 2

   Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl.

3. 3

   Make a hole in the center and add the rest of the ingredients there.

4. 4

   Start mixing with a spatula or your hands from the center, slowly incorporating the dry ingredients. When the spatula doesn’t help anymore, use your hands to bring the dough together. Alternatively, place all the ingredients inside the bowl of a food processor and process until homogeneous. While kneading, if you feel the dough is a bit dry, dampen your hands and keep mixing. If you feel it's too wet, dust a bit of salt on your surface and incorporate it.

5. 5

   Wrap the dough in beeswax wrap or cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes or up to 24h.

6. 6

   Divide the dough in 6, work with one section first while keeping the rest covered to prevent them from drying.

7. 7

   Make the dough into a long snake and cut it up in tiny sections. Roll each section into a ball.

8. 8

   Use a non-serated nor sharp knife to drag the ball along an un-floured surface, making it curl up. The knife should only have a tiny angle to the table, making it almost flat. You can lightly dust the surface if your dough is being too sticky. Turn the curl of dough inside out so that it looks like a tiny hat. Check out the video I uploaded lines above to see how it's done!

9. 9

   Let the pasta dry before cooking, this will make it nice and al dente. It's ideal to dry it on a cooling rack so that both the top and bottom dry faster. It will take 1-2 hours for this process to happen.

10. 10

    At this point, you can freeze the pasta. You do this by spreading it out on a tray that you can fit in your freezer that's lined with baking paper. Make sure they're not touching each other. You can make several layers of them separated by baking paper. After 8 hours like this, you can transfer them to a container for the rest of the time as they will no longer stick together.

11. 11

    --- For the sauce ---

12. 12

    Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling water with salt. It will take 2-5 minutes to be al dente, depending on the thickness and size of your pasta.

13. 13

    Transfer the cooked pasta to a preheated pan over medium heat along with ¼ cup of the pasta's cooking water. Mix the cheese and pepper in.

14. 14

    Cook until the sauce comes together. Taste it and correct the salt level. Serve immediately.