des pates / the paste, patty piece in pasta : part 2 – semolina dough

As promised here is the part two on Italian noodle dough made using semolina flour. Semolina flour is made of milled durum wheat, a hard variety high in gluten. While not exclusive to Italian cuisine, a large amount of durum wheat is grown in the Alta Murgia at the Western edge of Puglia near Basilicata, Sicily and Basilicata are the next largest growers of the crop. It’s grown in some regions to the North too but the relative abundance of the wheat makes it the most commonly used flour in Southern cuisine. It’s familiar to Americans for two reasons, as Cub mentioned last week it is also the flour most often used for dried pasta as the lack of egg makes it easier to preserve. The second is the influence of Southern Italian immigrants on the way Americans think about Italian food.

It’s also my favorite to work with and I wrote a list of reasons why this is the case:

1. The flour is very coarse, but when mixed with only the right proportion of warm water and kneaded for an extended period of time it turns into a smooth, elastic paste. It feels like the dough is more communicative, the language of semolina dough is a bit easier for me to grasp than egg dough or even cookie dough for that matter. It tells you what it’s up to and what it needs.
2. It can take a cathartic pummeling, both in the kneading of the dough and making the shapes. The coarse flour also helps with some beautiful tearing that typifies many of the shapes of the South that sauce just loves.
3. Many of the shapes rely on transforming from a rope of dough which you can just roll with your hands or a little nugget cut from that rope. The gesture of rolling the coil is very similar to my abandoned ceramics practice, rolling from the palms to spread fingers so as not to flatten your chosen piece. I feel invited to tend to each strand or blob individually, and appreciate the differences in their sameness. This contrasts nicely with the more two dimensional transformations of the sheets of egg dough which bring out a pressure for symmetry in the cuts that I both cannot and am not interested to live up to.
4. Making the dough and shaping the pasta often requires zero additional equipment which is nice because I don’t really have room for extra stuff in my apartment kitchen. The elasticity of the dough encourages it to brush up against whatever objects and it will take on their impression. A common one I recently tried is cavatelli rolled on a cheese grater, the artist Meech Boakye recently used a carved glass bowl for theirs which was particularly beautiful. I love that this tacky ball encourages me to think about the surfaces in my kitchen differently. Like how a skateboarder reimagines the architecture of the city as their board meets the side of a building or public sculpture.
5. Semolina is a bit chewier than its eggy counterparts and is well suited to what I like to call “pasta for dinner”. While any pasta you serve at dinner could be considered pasta for dinner, this really refers to my preferred and untraditional ratio of stuff:noodle. This just means that I usually put more sauce or greens with the pasta than I would if it were being served as a first course. I just imagine everything separated out on a plate classic Midwest dinner style and think about how much of everything I want to feed my household. That is how I know it is the right proportion for me. 
6. Olive oil is the fat of choice in our house, perhaps an accidental legacy of the faddish Mediterranean diet of the 90s. As semolina pasta comes from oil-eating regions every plate feels especially suited to being finished with a generous glug. This also compensates for any deliciousness I personally failed to impart of the dish.

The last thing I would like to add is that I am not one of the people who think fresh made noodles are better than store bought, I just enjoy the task. Sometimes you want to start making dinner at 4:30.

Semolina Dough Recipe for two people

200 g semolina flour*

about 1/2 cup warm water

Put your flour in a bowl and make a well, pour the warm water into it. Slowly mix the walls of your well into the pool to incorporate the flour until it has basically absorbed the water. Knead for like 10 minutes (I treat it like wedging clay) until the dough feels pretty taut and even. I like to let it rest for at least 30 minutes though some recipes say that’s not necessary. 

*I hate Bob’s Red Mill for this purpose, if you can make a trip to an Italian specialty shop like Bari to get Caputo’s brand or something I recommend it. If you’re feeling fancy you can try this Sicilian flour imported by Gustiamo

From here you can make many different pastas, but I will suggest cavatelli to start because it will work even if your dough is a little over hydrated. And since it’s pasta for dinner we’re eating our starch with a vegetable and a meat. Pasta, sausage, broccoli (PSB) was a staple in my house growing up. My mom would pan fry the sausage, steam the broccoli, and boil the noodles separately then combine them in a bowl with lots of olive oil, parmesan, and pine nuts (please note we are not Italian). It’s still a comforting dish for me though I make it a little differently and exclude the pine nuts because they’re expensive. However, like my mom’s dish this is also not really an Italian recipe but is definitely “pasta for dinner”. 

I really like to drink some sparkling red wine of Northern Italy on pasta night even if the food is inspired by the South. It serves as a nice apero while you’re cooking and is hearty enough for dinner. Indocilis in the shop is perfectly suited for this. If you aren’t a red wine liker, the texture and energy of Bianchetto nicely mimics the skateboard feeling, every vintage it feels like part of you is firmly grounded and the other part is hurdling forward.

PSB for two

1 ball semolina dough

1 large or 2 small mild italian sausages

1 bunch broccoli rabe

hunk of pecorino or parmesan

olive oil

black pepper

Cut pieces of the dough and roll into ropes. Then cut again into smaller almost fingernail size pieces. Roll with your thumb against your work surface, grooved board, cheese grater, or whatever else you like. Dust lightly with semolina flour as you go so your pasta does not stick together. Put the water on to boil. 

Chop your broccoli rabe and leave it. 

Break up your sausages and fry them in the pan you intend to finishing your pasta in. Hopefully your water is boiling, salt it and add the broccoli rabe to blanch.

Pull the rabe out with a spider or strainer with a handle and add it to the sausage pan, give it a mix, and let the water come back to a boil. If it looks dry here add a little olive oil.

Add the pasta, when it starts floating to the top fish it out with your chosen tool and add it to the pan.

Grate a generous amount of cheese into the pan and add a little pasta water if you don’t think enough traveled on your pieces of pasta.

Toss vigorously and then plate.

Finish with a fancy olive oil (we use the Paterna in our house), more cheese, and some black pepper.

Cub wrote beautiful tasting notes for all of the wines in the shop save the new selections from Kindeli, Le Coste, and Zumo which are coming soon. If you want some personalized thoughts DM us @rainbow_wines or email rainbowwinechi@gmail.com. See you this weekend:)

-Emily