Ricotta Cavatelli Recipe

A tasty handmade pasta made with ricotta, flour and eggs. Perfect with chunky sauces like ragu.

📝 Ingredients

• 15 ounces (425 grams) ricotta cheese (See Note 1)
• 3 1/2 cups (420 grams) 00 flour
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup (60ml) water
• 1 teaspoon salt

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1--- Drain the ricotta cheese ---
2. 2Before you begin, drain excess liquid off the ricotta cheese. You may need to drain the ricotta cheese for anything from one to four hours.
3. 3To do this, line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth or paper towels.
4. 4Set the strainer over a bowl, making sure that the bottom of the straining as at least 1 inch (2.5cm) above the bottom of the bowl.
5. 5Spoon the ricotta cheese into the lined strainer.
6. 6Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the cheese is crumbly and has released most of the liquid.
7. 7--- Prepare the dough ---
8. 8Combine ricotta and egg in a large bowl.
9. 9Add flour and salt then stir with a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula to combine, drizzling in the water until the dough comes together.
10. 10If the pasta dough is too wet, knead in a little more flour. If the pasta dough is too dry, drizzle in a little more water.
11. 11Knead it to form a soft dough. Don't over knead the dough. Just knead until the dough comes together and is well combined. It doesn't need to be smooth like bread dough. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes
12. 12In the meantime, line two large baking sheets with non stick baking paper and dust with fine semolina or flour.
13. 13After 30 minutes, take a small portion of dough and rewrap the remaining dough.
14. 14Roll the dough into long rope about ½ inch (or approx 1cm) in diameter. It may be easier to cut it in half and keep rolling to achieve this thickness. Cut the rope into ¾-1 inch (2-2.5cm) lengths. Try not to flour the work surface or it will be too hard to roll the dough.
15. 15Use a gnocchi board or the tines of a fork to shape the ricotta cavatelli. Use two fingers to press firmly onto each piece of dough and drag towards you creating a curl and an indentation. Use a little dusting of flour or fine semolina if the dough is sticking. Place ricotta cavatelli on the prepared baking sheets in a single layer and not touching.
16. 16Continue forming the cavatelli until all the dough is used.
17. 17--- Cooking the ricotta cavatelli ---
18. 18Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add a couple of tablespoons of salt to the boiling water.
19. 19Cook in batches in large pot of salted boiling water until pasta rises to the top.
20. 20As the pasta rises, scoop out with a slotted spoon and transfer to a large serving bowl, mixing in spoonfuls of your favorite pasta sauce.