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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

"Orecchiettoni" with Cherry tomatoes and Arugula


A popular type of pasta is called "orecchiette" in italy which means little ears, however you can definitely find it everywhere in the United States as well. my attempt at making them at home ended up with a larger version of the original. However this all started with me searching for a recipe that inspired me to do something simple, classic, italian and delicious and this recipe hit the spot!

I was going to just buy the dried pasta (which you can certainly do because its MUCH less time consuming) but something about eating a home-made pasta really makes the recipe go from being a simple pasta dish to something really really special. That and eating it with all of your minions ( i mean helpers- and this time it really was so). I really didn't have to force (i mean ask for) anyones help, everyone just volunteered and I had people helping by, chopping onion, pressing the pasta into disks, and seperating the pasta out into seperate pieces on the counters, making the end result really special and a team effort and thus a true pleasure to eat!

I would recommend this dish even without the homemade pasta but it's definitely better with! And always eat it with people you love!

Orecchiette with cherry tomatoes and arugula:
Serves 8 people
4 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots small dice
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp salt
500 grams (~1 lb) cherry tomatoes (quartered)
1/2 cup white wine
arugula
1 lb orecchiette (or recipe for 8 of the homemade orecchiette)
grated parmiggiano reggiano cheese

Boil water for the pasta, add a generous amount of salt and put the pasta in. Heat olive oil in a large skillet, add shallots and garlic sauteeing until soft but not brown. Add the salt and the chopped cherry tomatoes and cook until soft. Add the white wine and a spoonful of the starchy pasta water. When the pasta is finished boiling, put the arugula on top of the tomatoe mixture and then put the pasta into the skillet with the tomato/arugula mixture. Toss to combine and serve with grated Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese!

Buon appetito! (inspired by Smitten Kitchen)

And THANK YOU Rachel (photography).

8 comments:

  1. Sembra buonissima, la proverò sicuramente :P

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  2. Orecchiettoni= The best big ears I have tasted.

    Only criticism I can think of is maybe adding a tinsy bit more salt to the actual pasta. I liked them how they were, but other salt-lovers might have wanted a little more.

    Awesome

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  3. Unfortunately I didn't get to taste the deliciousness but just wanted to leave a comment anyway. Your "little/big ear" pasta looks great!

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  4. I loved the pasta, and love you, but you spelled "separating" and "separate" wrong.

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  5. gigi- GRAZIEEEEEE (bow)

    Martino- you will get some of my delicious cooking (or disastrous cooking) this sunday! Be there, oh and work the social front for me ;-)

    Alex- What would I do without you? You need to be editing all my posts the grammar must be all sorts of messy right now with just my free-flowing, speech-imitating, comma-loving style.

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  6. ciao sarah, dalle foto sembra molto buona!! e penso lo sia stata. mi chiedo come mai usi scalogno e aglio insieme per il sofritto e l'aggiunta di un cucchiaio di acqua..
    io di solito uso o aglio(sapore forte) o scalogno(molto delicato) e l'acqua di solito i pomodorini dono zeppi non aggiungo mai. mi è piaciuta la rucola dove normalmente(per un piatto veloce)uso/iamo origano, che di solito io abbino al mais. non per nulla amo la mia pizza personale pomodorini rucola e mais magari con mozzarella di bufala!
    ps: se vuoi provare le orecchiette originali meridionali le fai con le cime di rapa(ma non a tutti piacciono il sapore è forte)
    complimenti piccola chef!!!

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  7. Sarah - your followers miss your blog, get cooking! :)

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