The Story
Pasta that looks like beans! This week’s capunti are made with a classic flour and water dough; no pasta sheets, no filling, just hand-shaped pods of goodness. You might remember that way back we made casarecce and pici with similar doughs. Like them, the lack of egg in our capunti makes for a creamy, smooth texture. Poke a few little hollows in the middle to catch the sauce, and you’ve got a simple, tasty, pleasingly textured pasta.
To go with these chaps, we wanted an equally simple sauce, and green stuff’s always good. So it’s a quick broccoli purée. And don’t worry, we tested out a few little tricks for you to make sure that you can produce a sauce as smooth as ours, in a food processor as old and embarrassingly broken as ours.
For an easy finishing touch, to contrast with all that chewy softness (and last week’s white beans), we’ve roasted a big handful of black beans in chilli and oil. They look just like they’ve popped out of our pasta pods.
Any pasta making’s a good opportunity to get varied and tiny hands involved, but this one is particularly perfect. It’s like playdough, but you can eat it. Without getting a stomach ache or a talking-to.
The Pasta
Quick and easy. Just mix your flours together in a large bowl or clean benchtop, and then gradually add the water as you bring it together with your hand. Once it holds together in a shaggy mass, without sticking to anything, knead it vigorously for 10 minutes. If it’s too wet, just add a little more flour. Once kneaded, seal it in cling wrap and leave it to rest for 30 minutes, away from heat and direct sunlight.
Next, roll the dough out into long thin sausages of around 1cm diameter, and chop them up into lengths of 4-5cm. Use the fingertips of your middle three fingers to make indentations along the length of each piece, pushing down and drawing gently towards yourself. If the dough slides around too much, give it a very light spritz of water; if it’s too sticky, add a little flour to your work surface. Transfer them to lightly floured baking paper lined trays as they’re formed, and refrigerate uncovered for up to one week. You can also drop them straight into the freezer.
To cook the broccoli, add around one inch of water to a large pot with a ¼ tsp of baking soda, and a pinch of salt. The baking soda will help the broccoli break down easier, and make for a nice smooth purée when blended. No little bits of floret, no brown discoloration because you had to cook it forever! Add the broccoli, and give it 6-8 minutes, then drain and stick it into the food processor or blender still warm, along with the other purée ingredients. Blitz until smooth.
Finally, those crunchy beans. Just toss them in the oil with the chilli and salt, and roast in a 200 degrees Celsius oven for 30-40 minutes.
The capunti will only take a few minutes to cook, so plonk them into a large pot of lightly salted and vigorously boiling water, and wait for them to surface. Let them bob around for a bit, and then cut (bite) across one to check that there’s no white raw dough. Drain, toss through the purée, and serve with the black beans sprinkled on top.
Happy Sunday, and enjoy!
– Al & Al.
Equipment
- Food processor
Ingredients
Pasta
- 240 g 00 flour
- 120 g semolina flour
- 220 ml warm water
Broccoli Purée
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 2 large heads broccoli chopped into florets, stem peeled and chopped roughly
- 60 g butter
- 20 g Parmigiano Reggiano
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Salt to taste
Roasted Black Beans
- 150 g black beans rinsed and drained
- 1 tsp olive oil extra virgin
- 2 tsp dried red chilli
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Mix the flours together and then gradually add the water until the dough holds together in a ragged ball without sticking to your hands or your work surface. Knead for 10 minutes, then seal in cling wrap and rest for 30 minutes away from heat and direct sunlight.
- Roll the dough out into thin sausages, around 1cm thick, and then chop into 4-5cm lengths.
- Use the tips of your middle three fingers to make indentations running the length of each piece; push down and then pull gently towards yourself. Transfer to lightly floured baking paper lined trays as they’re formed.
- For the sauce, begin by preheating the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
- Add around one inch of water to a large pot, stir in the baking soda and a pinch of salt, and bring to a vigorous boil. Cook the broccoli for 6-8 minutes until tender.
- While the broccoli is still warm, add all purée ingredients into a food processor or blender, and blitz until smooth.
- Toss the black beans in the olive oil, and spread out thinly on a baking paper-lined oven tray. Roast for 30-40 minutes, shuffling them around regularly.
- To cook the capunti, drop them into a large pot of lightly salted and vigorously boiling water, and cook until no raw white dough is visible when cut across.
- Drain the pasta, toss through the purée, and serve with the black beans sprinkled on top.
