Ingredients (Serves 2)

For the pasta dough

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

Instructions

How to make the dough and shape fusilli rigati

Make a dough with the ingredients and knead until nice and smooth. [You can watch my hands at work in this short video] Let it rest, well covered (e.g., wrapped in plastic film), for at least half an hour.

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 fusilli. Roll each piece into a thin snake (1/4 inch / 6 mm thick), then cut into 2 1/2 inch / 6.5 cm long pieces.

Working on the bamboo sushi rolling mat, shape each piece into a fusillo rigato with the skewer. Place a piece of dough on the mat on a diagonal with respect to the slats and not on the string that keeps the slats together. Place the skewer perpendicular to the slats at the bottom end of the piece of dough, then roll the skewer away from you until the dough is all wrapped around it. When you end up on the string, lift the skewer and place it again on the mat where there is no string, then continue.

Rock the skewer back and forth a few times while pressing it gently with your hands to the right and left of the rolled dough. Do not press hard or the dough will stick to the skewer. Gently slide the fusillo off the skewer 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]

Have at least two skewers ready to work with and exchange them every few pieces of pasta. Insert the skewers into some flour in between uses, so they dry.

Repeat until you have used up the prepared dough. Be very gentle in handling the hollow pasta, as it tends to flatten a bit.

Cook the fusilli rigati and dress as you like. 

How to cook and dress the fusilli rigati

Bring a small pot of water to a rolling boil, add some coarse salt, stir and then toss the fusilli in it. The time needed to cook them is a bit variable, depending on their size, how dry they are, but it is not long.

In the case of the photo of the post, I warmed up some slow-roasted tomatoes, so by the time the pasta was cooked, the sauce was ready to go with it.

Taste and stop the cooking when the fusilli are ready. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and drain the fusilli. Dress and serve immediately.

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Go to the full post on fusilli rigati fatti a mano / handmade ridged fusilli