This week’s pasta is a quick little dish built on pantry staples. We’ve mixed our pasta dough up with a hit of smoked paprika, turning the typically green foglie d’ulivo into a more autumnal colour (for our northern hemisphere friends). They’re served in a warming but understated brown butter sauce flavoured with garlic, saffron, fennel, pepper berries, and rosemary. One of the easiest doughs to make, turned into a forgivingly rustic pasta shape, served in the easiest of sauces. A perfect short notice treat.
To make the dough, mix the dry ingredients together, stir in the water, and then knead for 10 minutes. Note that it may feel wetter for longer as you knead (compared to egg dough), so give it a few minutes before adding in any extra flour. Rest for 30 minutes, sealed in cling wrap, away from direct sunlight and heat.
To form foglie d’ulivo, roll the dough out into long ropes of around 15mm in diameter; chop into pieces of about the same length, and then roll between your palms to taper the ends. Use a thumb to lightly pin the upper edge of of each piece down against the work surface (a wooden board works best), and then draw a flat blade or bench scraper across it and towards you, spine first. I tend to do this at a 45 degree angle. Apply light downwards pressure to the knife so that the dough is stretched underneath it. You may find that it helps to regularly ‘open’ the upper edge of each piece back as it will want to roll over the knife. For the more traditional olive leaf shape, let it curl a little more; for broader leaves, stretch each piece open. Don’t worry if you mess it up – this dough is very forgiving. Just squash it up and try again.
Transfer the finished pasta to baking paper lined, semolina-dusted oven trays. Allow to air dry and then refrigerate uncovered over night, or freeze until you’re ready to cook with them.
For the sauce, melt the butter in a deep fry pan over medium-high heat, until it begins to foam. Incrementally add in the remaining ingredients, starting with the fennel seeds, mountain pepper berries, and rosemary, and finishing with the garlic and saffron (this at the last moment, to avoid it burning). Little tip: if you have trouble judging how brown the butter is in a regular dark frypan, try a lighter coloured enamel-coated cast iron thingy or similar.
Once you’ve cooked the pasta, scoop a little cooking water into the sauce and whisk well to create an emulsion. Use a slotted spoon to drop the pasta directly into the sauce from the pot, stir well to coat, and then serve simply with a sprinkling of smoked chilli salt flakes.
Buon appetito,
– Al, Al, and El.
Ingredients
Dough
- 440 g durum semolina flour
- 240 ml warm water
- 2 teaspoons olive oil extra virgin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
Sauce
- 100 g unsalted butter
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp whole mountain pepper berries
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- 1 teaspoon saffron or about 2 small pinches
- smoked chilli salt flakes to finish and to taste
Instructions
- Form the dry dough ingredients into a well, and add the olive oil into the centre. Gradually pour in the water, whisking gently with a fork to combine into a shaggy ball. Knead for 10 minutes before sealing in cling wrap and resting away from direct sunlight and heat for 30 minutes.
- Roll the dough out into long ropes of around 15mm in diameter, and then chop into similar length pieces. Roll between your palms to taper the ends.
- Lightly pin the upper edge of each piece to your work surface using your thumb, and then drag a flat edged knife or bench scraper from top to bottom, spine first towards you. Apply light downwards pressure so that the knife stretches the dough, lightly tearing its surface. For broader 'leaves', open each piece back up with your fingers; for the more traditional olive leaf shape, let them curl over the blade slightly. Transfer to baking paper lined, semolina-dusted oven trays. Allow to air dry and then refrigerate uncovered over night, or freeze until you're ready to cook them.
- To make the sauce, melt the butter in a deep fry pan over medium-high heat, until it begins to foam. Add in the fennel seeds, mountain pepper berries, and rosemary, and stir for 1-2 minutes before adding the garlic. Allow the garlic to brown, 2-3 minutes, before turning off the heat and adding the saffron (adding it at this late stage will prevent it from burning but still release its full flavour). Stir well and allow to sit for a few minutes.
- Drop the pasta into a large pot of lightly salted boiling water, and cook until done; 3-5 minutes depending on how thinly you formed each piece.
- Scoop 2-3 tablespoons of pasta cooking water into the butter sauce and whisk vigorously to form an emulsion. Stir the pasta into this, and plate up, serving with a sprinkling of smoked chilli salt flakes.
Cheers