Buckwheat Orecchiette
In my opinion, everything becomes better if you add buckwheat. Buckwheat pancakes, buckwheat bread, buckwheat noodles, buckwheat muffins.
See my point?
I grew up eating soba. Or as I called it, cold green noodles. Yes, I was a sophisticated child. Japanese food was my favourite, and I would always order a side of soba. Served on ice on a bamboo mat with little shreds of seaweed on top. Cold green noodles.
I have only branched out in my love for buckwheat in the past two years. Buckinis were a morning staple, an ice cream topper, a mindless munchie.
So, of course, when I found a website with a recipe to buckwheat pasta, how could I resist?
You will need two kinds of flour for this gluten-free dish. Soy and Buckwheat. I love Bob's Red Mill for both. If you are not a fan of soy, I have made this once using garbanzo bean flour. Try any other flour with a high protein content. It was a little too crumbly with garbanzo flour for my taste, so I stick to soy. It's only a teensy bit anyhoo.
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| Buckwheat // Soy |
I do believe, however, this recipe is not for everyone. Do not expect it to taste like pasta because it definitely does not. If you are a buckwheat enthusiast (hands up!), go for it. If you are gastronomically adventurous, go for it. If you feel like pasta has begun to get boring, go for it.
Buckwheat has a very intense flavour, so I recommend you pair this with a tomato sauce, any cream sauce may make it a bit too heavy and oil alone may not be enough to bring out the best in this pasta.
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| Yes, I apologise for the lack of a tripod. |
I also believe (yes, I do have some very strong views on the best way to eat a pasta dish) that all pasta should be accompanied by a ton of roasted, caramelised, baked-until-creamy-perfection veg. Go for your favourites. Mine are kabocha (duh) and cauliflower (double duh). Drizzle them with a lil' EVOO, sprinkle some mixed herbs and pink himalayan sea salt and roast in a 200C oven for 20 minutes or so.
Viola.
As I said, the shape of the orecchiette does take a little practice. And patience. And a generous bit of flour on your hands. Here is a quarter of the dough all rolled and pressed into my best ear-shape.
If you take your pasta shapes seriously, I do apologise for this mumbo jumbo of red-blood-cell-esque shapes. Actually, no. They look like koko krunch. Another childhood staple. But that's a story for another day.
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| I boiled a quarter of the batch at a time. Because too much pasta in a pot = stress |
Okay enough talk.
Buckwheat pasta time.
Buckwheat Orecchiette
Source: Bread and Companatico
Serves 4
100g buckwheat flour
50g soy flour
75g lukewarm water
1/4 tsp Himalayan sea salt
Mix all ingredients together and roll into a ball. Leave in a covered bowl for about an hour, I find it better to work with after you leave it. But if you let it rest too long it may dry out and become too crumbly.
Pinch off little pea-sized bits with well-floured hands, roll into a ball and then press it down in the centre with your thumb (i used my middle finger because I found it fit better shhhh!). Once all the dough is ready and rolled, drop them into a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes.
Scoop them up and serve with your favourite pasta sauce (I fry onions, garlis, carrots and basil then dollop a jar of passata and let it reduce a bit), truffle salt, roasted veg (see above), wasabi sprouts, cherry tomatoes. Go cray.
Or, pesto. I have an awesome recipe here.
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