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 the water)
• A pinch of salt

For the  dressing

• 1/2 cup / 120 ml slow-roasted heirloom tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Instructions

How to make the dough and shape nodi

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 half an hour or so.

Working on the kneading board, roll the dough into a thick salami and cut it into 6-7 pieces. Keep them covered while you shape the nodi. Starting on one side, roll a piece of dough into a string 1/8 inch / 6 mm thick. It helps if you let the side of the dough you are not rolling hang from your working surface. Also, it may help rolling a portion of the piece of dough to the desired thickness, shape a couple of knots, then roll some more. (However, feel free to adjust the process flow to your skill and needs.)

Make a small simple knot with the dough and pull lightly to tighten it, then cut the dough leaving a short tail (about 3/8 inch / 1 cm). You can break the dough with your fingers, but I prefer the clean cut of a blade. Make another knot, if the next section of dough is thin enough, or roll it to thin it as needed. [You can watch my hands at work in this short video]

Lay the nodi out to dry on a lightly floured section of the kneading board (or a baking sheet lined with a cotton kitchen towel).

Repeat until you have used up the prepared dough.

Cook the nodi and dress them as you like. The following dressing is just a suggestion.

How to prepare the tomato dressing

My recent post on slow-roasted heirloom tomatoes, includes the simple recipe which makes a dense tomato sauce perfect for dressing pasta.

How to cook and dress the nodi

Bring a small pot of water to a rolling boil, add some coarse salt, stir and then toss the nodi 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 meantime, warm up the slow-roasted tomatoes in a small skillet.

Taste and stop the cooking when the nodi are ready. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and drain. Depending on how thick the tomato sauce is, you may leave a little bit of the cooking water clinging to the pasta to thin it. Drop the pasta into the skillet with the tomatoes. Stir well quickly. Plate, sprinkle half the cheese on each portion and serve immediately.

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Go to the full post on nodi (pasta fatta a mano) / knots (handmade pasta)