Our pals at Rio Vista Olives sent us the incredible oil that we cook with in this post. Like everything that we recommend on our blog, we use and love their products, and hope that you will too!
The Story
My Ma used to whip up a great beef steak ragu every now and then, nice and simple, with tomatoes and olives. We’d often lift the steak out at the end and eat it with a salad, stirring the sauce through our pasta. I’d forgotten about this little gem of a dish for years, but it recently came to me out of the blue, and so naturally we decided to dream up a Pasta et Al version. The key to it all is that rich olive flavour, and so we thought that we’d stick the olives straight into our pasta dough, and cut it into some fine looking pappardelle. We served it up this week with a short-rib ragu, to tie it back to the meaty, tomatoey goodness that inspired us. So make sure that you jump on over and check out that recipe too!
The Pasta
Unlike our egg yolk version, this recipe uses a relatively high ratio of semolina, and less yolks, making for a more robust pasta to pair with a meaty sauce. It also makes for a more intense kneading session than usual, so prepare yourself!
Note that while you could use any dark or black olive for this dough, we’ve gone for wild South Australian olives, for the more intense flavour that these firm little roadside things bring. Wild olives spread from cultivated plants first brought in by Italian and Greek communities during the 1800s. Since then, while their farm-grown cousins lived plump and comfy lives, they’ve become a hardy pest and threat to native flora and fauna. They’re nonetheless (or perhaps as a result) delicious.
So start off with that good old flour well. If you’ve gone with unpitted olives, which is our preference, give them a whack with the side of a knife to loosen them up, and then remove the flesh. Grind that down to a paste in a mortar and pestle or food processor, and then add it to the centre of the well, along with the remaining dough ingredients. Gradually bring it together into a loose ball, using a fork or just your hand, and then get ready to knead. Alternatively, you can pit the olives and then drop all ingredients into a food processor, pulsing until the olive colour is evenly distributed, and the dough begins to hold together. Whichever method you choose, knead by hand for 10 minutes, pushing down and away from yourself, folding the dough over as you go. Then seal it up in cling wrap to rest for 30 minutes, away from direct sunlight and heat.
Now it’s time to roll! If you’re using a pasta machine, begin by rolling the dough through on the thickest setting a few times, folding over itself in between passes. It may help to initially flatten it out with a rolling pin before feeding it in. Then gradually step it through to a medium-thin setting. We like our pasta chewy, so for us this was a 6, on a 9-setting machine. If you’re not using a machine, give it a few minutes of extra kneading, before rolling it out with a long pin, to your desired thickness (typically, pappardelle is around 2mm thick).
Next, cut the sheets into lengths of approximately 30-40cm, or however long you’d like your pasta to be, and dust lightly with semolina. Use a pasta cutter or sharp knife to form the individual strips of pappardelle. We like super wide pasta, around 4cm, but if you’d prefer to keep it more traditional, cut it closer to 2-3cm.
Finally, to store, either leave your pappardelle stretched out on lightly floured baking paper lined trays or, if it’s adequately floured, you can stack or roll them up to save a bit of space. Keep them uncovered (for a bit of extra bite) in the refrigerator for up to one week.
If you’re after an ideal sauce to pair with our wild olive pappardelle, we highly recommend our short-rib ragu! They were (actually) made to go together.
Happy Sunday, and the very best from Pasta et Al!
– Al & Al.
Equipment
- Air tight container for resting
- Pasta roller and cutter (if not using a rolling pin and knife)
- Pastry/pasta cutting wheel
Ingredients
- 360 g 00 flour
- 220 g durum semolina flour
- 90 g wild black olives
- 3 eggs
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tbsp olive oil extra virgin (we used Rio Vista Olives’ Nothin’ But Classic)
Instructions
- Combine the flours, and form into a well. Use a mortar and pestle to puree the pitted olives, and then add to the centre of the well, along with all other ingredients. Bring together into a rough ball using a fork, or your hand. Alternatively, pit the olives and then blitz all ingredients together in a food processor until the dough begins to hold together.
- Knead the dough vigorously for 10 minutes, pushing down and away from yourself, and folding the dough over itself as you work. Seal in cling wrap or an airtight container, and rest for 30 minutes, away from direct sunlight and heat.
- If using a pasta machine, flatten the dough out a little by hand and then roll it through on the thickest setting a few times, folding it over itself in between passes. Step it through to a medium-thick setting (6, on a 9-setting machine). If not using a machine, knead it gently by hand for a few minutes, and then roll it out in a large sheet to your desired final thickness. Pappardelle is generally around 2mm thick.
- Cut your dough into lengths of approximately 30cm, dust lightly with semolina, and then use a pasta cutter or sharp knife to form the pappardelle, with a width of 3-4cm.
- Transfer to lightly floured, baking paper lined trays, and refrigerate uncovered for up to one week (the resulting dehydration will give the pasta extra bite).
- To cook, simply drop into a large pot of lightly salted boiling water, and cook until al dente (firm, but with no white dough showing when the pasta is cut into). If you’re after the perfect sauce to pair our wild olive pappardelle with, check out our short-rib ragu! Just save some cooking water when draining your pasta, in case your pappardelle and sauce need a little help emulsifying.
