Whole Wheat and Ricotta Cavatelli

Ingredients

1½ cups plus 2 tablespoons (200 g) tipo *00" flour

1½ cups plus 2 tablespoons (200g) whole wheat flour

1 large egg, whisked

1¼ cups (280 g) whole-milk ricotta (I like Calabria)

Semolina or cornmeal, for dusting

Directions

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, blend together the tipo "00" flour and the whole wheat flour at low speed. With the mixer running on low, add the egg Then add 1 cup (225 g) of the ricotta and let the mixer run for a minute.

Test the consistency by taking a big pinch-does it stick together nicely or does it crumble? If crumbly, add up to ¼ cup (55 g) more ricotta 1 tablespoon at a time, testing after you incorporate each tablespoon.

The final texture should feel like Play-Doh-moist but not sticky, still slightly crumbly but not at all powdery.

Dump the pasta dough onto a clean counter and knead with the heel of your hand until it starts to get smooth and elastic, about 3 minutes. When you poke it with your finger, the dent should spring back; if not, keep kneading a bit more.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest for at least 20 minutes and up to a few hours (in the refrigerator if resting more than 1 hour). During this rest, the flours will absorb even more of the moisture from the egg and cheese and become fully hydrated

After its rest, cut the dough in half. Flatten each half into a disk that's about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. Slice one disk into strips ¾ inch (2 cm) wide to yield 1 x ¾-inch (2.5 × 2 cm) pieces. Now roll each piece into a rope about ½ inch (1.25 cm) in diameter . Flatten the rope slightly by pressing with your fingers. If the pasta isn't getting good traction on the board when you roll it, spritz it with a tiny bit of water; that will help it grab better.

Repeat with the other disk of dough, keeping all your strips and ropes lightly covered to prevent them from drying out too much.

Dust a couple of baking sheets generously with semolina or cornmeal. Working with one rope at a time, shape the dough into cavatelli (by hand or machine; see below) and arrange them on the dusted baking sheets as you make them. With either of the following shaping methods, you're likely to need a few practice tries, but don't worry about the misshapen efforts— they will taste delicious.

TO SHAPE USING A HAND- CRANKED MACHINE: Follow the instructions on the box, which

consist of simply feeding the dough rope into the machine and turning the crank, which cuts each cavatelli

TO SHAPE BY HAND (WITH A GNOCCHI BOARD): Cut the ropes into ¾-inch (2 cm) lengths . Place a piece of dough on a gnocchi or cavatelli board (a finely ridged wooden paddle or board), press into it lightly with your thumb, and roll it away from you O. Hopefully, this will create a curved piece of pasta with ridges on the outside and a little pocket on the inside ... all in service of catching sauces.

TO SHAPE BY HAND (WITHOUT A BOARD): Cut the ropes into ¾-inch (2 cm) lengths. Put a piece of dough on the work surface in front of you, press your forefinger and middle finger into the center of the piece, and draw it toward you, again trying to make a concave curved shape with a little dimpled interior pocket.

When you've shaped all the dough, put the sheets of cavatelli in the freezer, unwrapped, and freeze until firm, about 1 hour. At that point, you can cook the cavatelli right away, or transfer them to a freezer bag, squeezing out as much air as possible, and freeze for up to 1 month.

To cook, bring a big pot of water to a boil and add enough salt that the water tastes very salty, like ocean water. Test a few cavatelli for cooking time; it should be about 6 minutes. Drop in the cavatelli, stirring a few times so they don't stick together. After you've added the last one, boil for exactly 6 minutes (or whatever you determined the best cooking time to be), but start tasting at about 5 minutes. You want the pasta to be thoroughly cooked so there's no white bit in the center, but of course you don't want it to get mushy. Drain, reserving about a cup (240 ml) of the pasta water to use to dial in the consistency of whatever sauce you're using.

Notes

As in the dough for tagliatelle (page 257), we're pairing whole wheat flour with white tipo "00," an Italian finely milled flour with indi pate tre you can tein intent, sually brive gro percent stores or online. If you can't find it, an all-purpose white flour will work just fine, though you'll probably need to add the full amount of ricotta, and possibly a touch more. Shaping the cavatelli can be done by hand, but there's also a dedicated hand-cranked machine for it. My model is Cousin Elisa's Cavatelli Maker from Fante's, and it's worth seeking it out just for the box, which sports vintage photos of the Fante family, including a 1960s passport photo of a very dapper-looking dude. Cavatelli are excellent with any type of pesto, and in that fresh-and-green mode, the Updated Kale Sauce (page 319) would be mighty tasty. The cream sauce in Whole Wheat Pasta with Crab, Cream, Olives, and Habanero (page 265) is of course fantastic. —Makes 1½ pounds (680g)