Homemade Cavatelli Pasta Recipe (from Scratch)
Cavatelli pasta is perfectly shaped to get the most sauce in every bite. Use our recipe for melt-in-your-mouth shell pasta, from scratch!
Ingredients
- 2 cups semolina flour
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 3/4 cup warm water
- Semolina and/or rice flour for dusting
Instructions
- Mound semolina flour and salt on a marble countertop or a cutting board/baking sheet. Form a well in the center of the mound.
- Pour a tablespoon of olive oil into the water and swirl together briefly.
- While working the mixture with one hand, gradually drizzle the water mixture into the center of the flour. Continue drizzling and mixing the flour into the water until it is all combined.
- Press the mixture (it will be crumbly) into a ball and knead with the palms of your hands for 6-8 minutes until a smooth elastic dough has formed.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or place in a plastic baggy and let set for 30 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 4-8 pieces and roll each section into a long rope, about 1/2” in diameter. Keep remaining dough covered while you are working with each section.
- Feed the rope of dough through a pasta machine fitted with a cavatelli attachment (shown here). To form the cavatelli by hand, cut the rope into small sections. Press your finger down into the piece of dough and drag your finger forward - the dough will stretch and the edges will curl over to make a cupped cavatelli shape.
- Leave cavatelli to dry and store in an airtight container.
- Alternately, cook freshly formed cavatelli in a large pot of salted water. Toss with your favorite sauce or butter and freshly chopped herbs.
Notes
There are lots of different types of flour that can be used for pasta dough. All-purpose flour works perfectly well. 00 flour is great if available for a more silky pasta. Semolina flour, as used here, makes a chewier pasta with a bit more body.
If forming the cavatelli by hand, you will need to roll the dough rope thinner. After practicing with a few pieces of dough, you can adjust the thickness of the rope and the size of the pieces.
Dust your work surface and the formed pasta with semolina flour to prevent sticking.
This pasta does not use eggs; it’s formed simply from flour and water - add salt for some seasoning. We added just a touch of olive oil to help bind the dough.
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 333cal | Carbohydrates: 61g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 584mg | Fiber: 3g | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 4mg