Ingredients (2 small portions)

• 50 g / 1.75 oz. chestnut flour
• 50 g / 1.75 oz. all-purpose flour
• A pinch of fine sea salt
• 55 g / 2 oz. lukewarm water (see Note below)
• 1/2 tablespoon (7 g) salted butter
• 1/2 tablespoon poppy seeds
• Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Instructions

Note: I recommend weighing flours and water.

Make a dough with the pasta ingredients and knead until nice and smooth. Let the dough rest, covered, for half an hour or so.

Roll the dough into a thick roll, then cut it into 5-6 pieces and shape each one into a roll about 1 cm in diameter. Cut each roll into approximately 1 1/4-inch (3 cm) long pieces, then use the three middle fingers, or the index and middle finger, to drag each small piece of pasta dough towards you. This movement thins the pasta and gives it a shell-like shape that will also carry the imprint of your fingers. [You can watch my hands at work in this short video.]

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add some coarse salt, stir and then add the pasta. Bring water back to boiling. Since the pasta takes only a short time to cook, prepare the sauce. Put poppy seed in a mortar and crush them a bit with a pestle. A minute after the pasta started cooking, put butter in a small frying pan and melt over gentle heat.

Cooking time is in the order of a few minutes. Taste a strascinato to make sure it’s cooked (if needed, keep the pasta where it is until cooked). When the pasta is ready, turn off the heat, pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and then drain the pasta. Add pasta to the pan with the butter and sprinkle poppy seed on it. Toss to coat, then add some Parmigiano-Reggiano. Toss again, then serve immediately.

Go to the full post on strascinati alla farina di castagne / chestnut flour strascinati