Cavatelli and tacconelle

Cavatelli are small pieces of semolina and water pasta hollowed by pressing with one, two or three fingers on the board: they become little elongated shells that hold the sauce well. Tacconelle are made from the same dough, rolled out and cut into irregular squares or rectangles.

Inland from Chieti they are dressed with lamb or pork ragù and plenty of pecorino, or cooked with pulses, beans or chickpeas, like sagne.

For the pasta

• 400 g fine durum wheat semolina
• About 200 ml lukewarm water
• A pinch of salt

For the lamb ragù

• 500 g lamb in small pieces
• 1 onion, 1 garlic clove
• 700 g tomato passata
• Half a glass of white wine
• Extra virgin olive oil, salt, chilli, bay
• Grated pecorino

1. Make the ragù: brown the lamb in oil with onion and garlic, deglaze with the wine, add the passata, bay and chilli and simmer gently for an hour and a half.
2. Knead semolina, water and salt into a smooth, firm dough; let it rest covered for 30 minutes.
3. Cavatelli: roll finger-thick ropes, cut them into 2–3 cm pieces and drag each piece along the board pressing with your fingers, so it hollows.
4. Tacconelle: roll the dough out 2 mm thick and cut it into 3–4 cm squares or rectangles.
5. Let the pasta dry on a floured tray.
6. Cook in salted water (4–6 minutes for tacconelle, 8–10 for cavatelli), drain and dress with the ragù and pecorino.

• Only lightly flour the board: if there is too much flour the cavatelli slide and do not hollow.
• Fresh pasta freezes well on a tray and then in bags.
• With beans and pork rind, tacconelle make an excellent winter one-dish meal.

We do not have photos of this dish yet: the image is an illustration made for this page.

Egg-free semolina and water pastas are the basis of peasant cooking in southern Abruzzo and Molise. They were made in the morning on the pasta board, with flour from durum wheat grown on the hills.

Cavatelli and tacconelle were the Sunday first course, dressed with meat ragù that simmered for hours on the fire.