A couple of weeks ago, I tried making cavatelli for the first time, with the help of Mr Minx. It worked out so well, I decided to buy one of those little grooved paddles used to make gnocchi and tried making malloreddus, aka Sardinian gnocchi. Only malloreddus are made with semolina, and mine are not; technically I have no idea what the things I made are called. Someone on Instagram suggested "gnocchi" or "gnocchetti," but doesn't that normally bring to mind the pasta commonly made with potato?
So what did I do to cause myself so much nomenclatural consternation? I used rye flour. And all-purpose wheat flour. And some ground caraway seeds. You see, I wanted them to taste like rye bread. I was feeling all clever and decided that rye pasta needed a mustard cream sauce and pastrami.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the way the dish turned out and thought I'd share the recipe guidelines with you. Enjoy!
Pastrami Sandwich Pasta
For the pasta:
1.5 cups finely milled rye flour (I used Arrowhead Mills)
1.5 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon caraway seeds, ground to a powder in a spice mill
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
About 1 cup water
For the sauce:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
Spicy brown mustard
Mustard powder
Sherry vinegar
1/4 lb pastrami, chopped
Cheese of your choice (I used cubed smoked mozzarella)
Parsley for garnish
Additional caraway seeds (optional)
To make the pasta: Place flours, ground seeds, and olive oil in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add most of the water and turn on the machine. After a few turns of the hook and scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula, check to see if the mixture seems too dry. If that's the case, add more water. If you add too much, the dough will make an unpleasant squishy slapping sound in the mixer. Never fear! That can be fixed by adding more rye flour until the dough seems dryer yet holds together. (It is better to err on the side of dry than of wet.) Remove the dough from the bowl to a board and give it a few kneads. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Flour a cutting board and prepare some baking sheets with parchment. Give them a generous dusting of semolina or regular flour to prevent sticking. If you have a grooved gnocchi board, give that a light dusting, too. If you don't have one, don't worry about it; you'll just be making cavatelli instead.
Remove the rested dough from the fridge. Cut off small pieces of the dough and roll them into snakes that are a bit less than half an inch wide. Cut the snake into pieces about an inch long. Take each piece and roll into a hot-dog shape by pressing it with your first two fingers and rolling it toward yourself. A video really helps:
I actually use my thumb and roll the pasta away from me, but whatever works!
Place the pasta on the prepared baking sheets and toss with the flour. Repeat until all of the dough is used up.
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until the pieces float and stay there, 3-8 minutes, depending on the size of the pasta. Reserve a bit of the cooking water to thin the sauce, if necessary.
To make the sauce: Heat the oil over medium heat and add the onions and a pinch of salt. Cook the onion, stirring occasionally, until translucent. Sprinkle onion with the flour and stir to combine. Let to cook a few moments before adding the cream. I wanted my sauce to be obviously mustardy, so I added about 1/4 cup of the brown mustard and a good teaspoon of the dried mustard, plus a few teaspoons of sherry vinegar to add the requisite tang. You may feel the brown mustard alone does the trick, so I suggest seasoning to your taste. Add half the pastrami to the sauce.
Toss the cooked pasta in the sauce, using reserved cooking liquid if the sauce seems too thick. Serve pasta topped with more of the pastrami, a bit of cheese, and some parsley. A sprinkle of caraway too, if you're as fond of the flavor as I am.
Posted on Minxeats.com.
