Day 1: Pesto cavatelli

Anecdote

I saw a video on social media of a 7 year old making cavatelli, flicking them out of her little fingers at a furious pace. It was pretty inspirational so I decided to give it a go.

Ingredients

Serves 2 (the cavatelli)

Pesto:

We halved and adapted the BBC Good Food recipe (see below where we did the mental maths already), which yielded enough pesto for around four servings of cavatelli. However, we just saved the leftover sauce for meatballs the next day. It should keep in the fridge for a couple of days with a good layer of olive oil covering it.

• 25g pine nuts

• 40g basil

• 25g parmesan

• 75ml olive oil

• 1 garlic clove

Vegan miso pesto:

I've tried these two but just left out the sesame oil:

1. Baby spinach, coriander, lemon, garlic and white miso

2. Kale, lemon, garlic and white miso (I personally prefer this one - I didn't even reach for the parmesan here)

I haven't tried this but it has a basil and pine nut base with miso and nutritional yeast. So if you have the flakes lying around, this could work too.

Cavatelli:

Simple ratio to remember:

• 200g of fine semolina flour (I recommend Asian/Afro-Caribbean supermarkets for this)

• 100g/ml of lukewarm lightly salted water - different semolina flours have different levels of thirstiness... some only need around 90g

Recipe

Semolina flour dough:

1. Slowly incorporate the lightly salted water into the flour, mixing with your fingers as you go along (you may not need all the water, it depends on how thirsty the flour is)

2. When it's coming together into a ball, bring it onto a clean work surface and start kneading until a smooth ball forms (around 5-10mins), if you squish your thumb on the surface, it should bounce back a little but also leave an imprint

3. Then cover in clingfilm and rest for 30 mins

Whilst the dough is resting, get started on the pesto.

Pesto: (for the vegan ones, see the links above)

1. Heat a small frying pan over a low heat. Toast the pine nuts until golden, shaking occasionally

2. Set aside a bit for garnish

3. Put the rest into a food processor with the basil, parmesan, olive oil and garlic cloves. Process until smooth and season (S&P here)

Cavatelli shapes:

1. Divide the dough up into four, keeping the pieces that you aren't working with wrapped/covered

2. Roll into a thin log and cut 1cm pieces

   

3. Think bend and snap from Legally Blonde but instead you take two fingers and drag it towards you and then flick out. This will take a bit practice. Once you get the hang of it, it's very entertaining (for both adults and children)

   
   

READY TO BOIL AND SERVE:

1. Get a pot of salty boiling water going! Don't forget to salt it, it's a must

2. Plop them all in gently (try not to burn yourself) and wait for them to come to a boil again - it should take around 2 minutes

3. Take one out to try, it should have a good chew but be cooked through

4. Drain the cavatelli but keep a bit of pasta water!!!

In a separate big bowl, mix the cavatelli with the pesto sauce and a splash of pasta water (start little, add more if needed) to bind until it's saucy and well-coated. Douse another drizzle of olive oil and hit it hard with the grated parmesan, cracked black pepper and sprinkle the leftover toasted pine nuts.

Now go marvel at your handiwork.