It is not surprising the great variety of pasta shapes that we can find in Puglia, if we think that the cultivation of wheat, especially in the so-called Puglia board, has been for centuries one of the most practiced and profitable activities. After all, pasta, fresh and rigorously homemade, has been the staple food for centuries, especially of the less well-off classes, since only two ingredients were really needed to prepare it: water and flour.
Among the many shapes that we can taste a po 'anywhere in Puglia, there is one in particular that lends itself to many preparations: the "cicatelli". It is a short pasta prepared strictly by hand, made with durum wheat semolina, with a slightly elongated and hollow shape. To give the typical hollow shape, the slight movement of the fingers is important, as they must apply a slight pressure on the small pieces of dough obtained from the dough.
For the preparation of cicatelli, in addition to durum wheat semolina, it is not uncommon, especially in the Foggia area, to use burnt wheat flour, a real Apulian excellence, which gives a darker color and a unique flavor to the pasta. Burnt wheat has an ancient history, dating back to the peasants' custom of recovering the scorched ears after lighting the stubble. The spikes that survived the harvest could not be wasted and the peasants had the permission, from the rich landowners, to harvest them to obtain a dark flour, with a typical smoky taste.
Once a symbol of poverty, today burnt wheat is considered a product of excellence, used for the preparation of dishes with an unmistakable taste. Cicatelli go perfectly with different types of condiments, from mussels to wild vegetables, from meat sauce to turnip tops.
For pasta:
700 gr flour 00
300 grams of burnt wheat flour
500 ml of water
Sift the two flours, arranging them in a fountain. Add half a tablespoon of salt and slowly the water and start kneading. Knead well until you get a homogeneous and compact cloth, let it rest for about half an hour, covered with a cloth. Resume the dough and roll out all the dough into a single sheet, fold it in half and cut into strips 5 cm wide. Cut each band, made up of two layers of dough, into many smaller bands in the direction of the width, engrave each band with the fingertips of index and middle and ring fingers by applying moderate pressure on each cicatello.
Ingredients for 4 people
400 gr.di cicatelli
600 gr.of rocket
400 gr.of cherry tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
200 gr. of fresh grated ricotta cheese.
Preparation: Wash and cut the cherry tomatoes, chop the garlic, clean and wash the rocket. In a pan with extra virgin olive oil, sauté the garlic, add the cherry tomatoes and salt to taste. Cook over low heat, pouring a little water from cooking the pasta to keep the tomato from drying out. In a pot with salted boiling water, blanch the rocket for two minutes, add the cicatelli and finish cooking. Drain the pasta and toss it in the tomato pan, add grated ricotta cheese and stir over high heat. Finish with a sprinkling of ricotta cheese and a pinch of chilli.
