Popcorn cavatelli tossed in a little butter and garlic with, radish greens, shallots and thyme flour.
Well I was planning on moving away from cavatelli with this idea, but as I got making the dough it was just too fragile to be shaped in the way I wanted, so I adapted and bought out the trusty gnocchi board and got rolling cavatelli. I’ve pretty much posted about how to make cavatelli dough before and how to make cavatelli dough from polenta, and perhaps after this post I should take a break from posting every damn pasta idea I have, but it's been a quiet week in the kitchen. You’re going to have to forgive the lack of exact measurements, it will all depend on the amount of popcorn grits you produce and how much water is in the purée, so below is a guide but feel free to add a little extra semolina or flour to help bring the dough together.
Popcorn Grits
Follow this recipe, and then transfer to the fridge overnight.
Popcorn Cavatelli
2 parts popcorn grits purée
1 part flour
1 part fine semolina
1% salt
- Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl.
- Knead to form a ball of dough.
- Wrap tightly in cling-film and rest in the fridge for an hour.
- Divide the dough into four.
- Take one portion and cover the remainder.
- Using your hands, roll out into a thin log, about a pencil width thick.
- Cut into 1cm segments.
- Hold the gnocchi board at an angle and place a segment on the top edge. Use the heel of your thumb push down on the dough and towards the bottom edge of the board, the dough should curl up and fall of the board.
- Arrange competed cavatelli on a sheet pan dusted with semolina.
- Repeat with remaining dough.
Cooking
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil.
- Place the pasta in the water, don’t overcrowd the pot.
- Cook for 4–5 minutes, they’ll float to the top when cooked.
- Scoop the cooked cavatelli out with a sieve or similar scooping device.
