Ingredients (serves 2)

Ingredients for the pasta dough with toasted chickpea flour

• 25 g / 1 oz. toasted chickpea flour
• 75 g / 2.5 oz. semolina flour of good quality
• 55 g / 2 oz. warm water
• A pinch of salt

Ingredients for the basic pasta dough (with semolina flour only)

• 100 g / 3.5 oz. semolina flour of good quality
• 50 g / 1.75 oz. warm water (I recommend weighing the water)
• A pinch of salt

Ingredients for the tomato sauce

• Olive oil
• A shallot, minced
• Leaves of a sprig or two of thyme
• A small garlic clove, thinly sliced
• 2 cups strained roasted tomatoes (thawed, if frozen)
• Fine sea salt, to taste
• Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, to taste

Instructions

Note: I recommend weighing flours and water.

How to toast chickpea flour

(Do this ahead) Toasting chickpea flour requires full and undivided attention: it is ground finely so it is more delicate than the semolina flour I have toasted in the past and it burns easily.

Warm up a cup of chickpea flour in a dry frying pan over medium heat. Stir often and when the flour starts to darken, turn down the heat to medium-low.

From then on, the flour will darken quickly, so stir continuously and when it is all a shade darker, remove from the heat. Give another stir and the transfer the flour onto a plate.

Let the toasted chickpea flour cool completely, then store it in a container until you need to use it.

How to make the dough and shape orecchiette

Since it is gluten-free (senza glutine), chickpea flour makes pasta dough a bit fussier to handle than the one made only with semolina flour. Flour your fingers every now and then with semolina flour to prevent sticking. And I let the orecchiette dry at least couple of hours before cooking them. I do not recommend you learn making orecchiette with this dough. Rather, make the basic all-semolina flour dough (see ingredients above) and then, when you are comfortable, try the version with toasted chickpea flour. [You can watch my hands at work in this short video]

Note: from here on, the instructions are the same for either version of orecchiette.

Make a dough with the ingredients and knead until nice and smooth. Let it rest, well covered (e.g., wrapped in plastic film), for half an hour or so. The dough is darker than when made all of semolina flour and it darkens further as the orecchiette dry after they are shaped.

Working on the kneading board, roll the dough into a thick salami and cut it into 5-6 pieces. Keep them covered while you shape the orecchiette. Roll each piece into a pencil-size snake (3/8 inch / 1 cm thick), then cut into 1 cm / 3/8 inch long pieces. Important: you may need to increase the dimensions of the pieces of pasta, depending on the size of your hands, but keep the pieces square.

Shape each small piece into an orecchietta using whatever method suits you. I place my right thumb on the piece of pasta and drag it away from me, then, with my left hand, I turn it inside out over my index finger and lay it out to dry on a lightly floured section of the kneading board (or a baking sheet lined with a cotton kitchen towel). [You can watch my hands at work in this short video.]

Cook the orecchiette and dress them as you like. The following tomato sauce is just a suggestion.

How to prepare the tomato sauce

In a small saucepan, warm up a bit of olive oil, then add shallot and thyme. Cook gently for a few minutes, then add garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook for 8-10 minutes. Adjust salt, to taste.

Note that this will make more sauce than you need to dress the orecchiette, but once you have the sauce ready, I am sure you’ll find ways of using it, like making more handmade pasta.

How to cook and dress the orecchiette

Bring a small pot of water to a rolling boil, add some coarse salt, stir and then toss the orecchiette in it. They will come to the surface as they cook. The time needed is a bit variable, depending on the size of orecchiette, how dry they are, the type of flour used, but it is not long, so don’t wander far away from the pot.

Taste and stop the cooking when the orecchiette are ready. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and drain the orecchiette well. Place them in a bowl, sprinkle a bit of the cheese on them and stir briefly, then distribute some tomato sauce and toss. Finally, sprinkle some cheese and serve immediately.

Alternatively, while the pasta is cooking, place a few tablespoons of the tomato sauce in a small skillet and warm it up. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot and stir. Drain the orecchiette leaving a little bit of the cooking water clinging to the pasta and drop into the skillet with the sauce. Stir well over medium-low heat for about half a minute. Sprinkle some of the cheese and stir one last time. Plate and sprinkle a bit more cheese on the top. Serve immediately.

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