Maria’s Orecchiette with Tomato

Maria from Cisternino is 88 years old and makes orecchiette with a tomato sauce and ricotta salata cheese on the top. It’s something very simple to follow along and make, once you master that cut, roll, and flip technique you see in the video. The real trick for adding the flavour here is her own stock cube. Yet, you can cheat if you like to make things faster. We suggest trying her stock recipe for another time anyway, it adds heaps of flavour to any dish.

Ingredients

For the dough:

Semola rimacinata (re-milled durum wheat semolina)
400g (about 1 handful per person, as Maria says)
Hot water: about 200–220mlTomato Sauce
Fresh tomatoes: 500g
Tomato passata: 300ml
Onion: 1 medium
Extra virgin olive oil: 3–4tbsp
Fresh basil: a few leaves
Vegetable stock cube: about 1 tsp (to taste)
Salt: a small pinch (optional and adjusted, since the stock cube is very salty)Homemade Vegetable Stock Cube
Mixed vegetables (e.g. celery, carrot, onion, parsley, tomato): 1kg total
Coarse salt: 600g
Extra virgin olive oil: 2–3 tbsp
To finish: Salted ricotta or cacio ricotta: 80–100g, grated

Method

Homemade Vegetable Stock Cube (this is Maria’s secret taste weapon).

Wash and dry vegetables well. Chop roughly and place in a food processor. Pulse until you get a coarse paste (not juice). Add salt and olive oil. Blend again into a thick paste.

Put the paste in a wide pan over very low heat. Cook uncovered 45–60 minutes, stirring often, until thick, glossy, and no liquid remains. Let cool completely.
Store in jars in the fridge (keeps 3–4 months) or freeze in ice cube trays.
You now have real Italian vegetable bouillon concentrate.

Tomato sauce

Finely chop onion. Heat olive oil in a saucepan on medium-low. Add onion with a pinch of salt. Sweat slowly until soft and translucent (just sweat, don’t brown too much).
Chop fresh tomatoes and add them. Cook 10 minutes until they collapse. Add passata. Add the homemade stock cube.
Simmer gently 30–40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thick and glossy. Taste—usually no salt needed but you can add a little extra if necessary.

Orecchiette rolling and shaping

Make a mound of semola on the table. Add water gradually while mixing with a fork. Knead firmly 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Cover and rest 30 minutes.
Roll dough into ropes about 1.5 cm thick. Cut into 1 cm pieces. With a knife, drag each piece toward you to form a small shell. Flip over your thumb to create the “little ear”. Dust with semola and let dry 30–60 minutes.

Cook & Finish

Boil well-salted water. Cook orecchiette 3–5 minutes (they float and soften).
Transfer directly into the hot sauce with a little pasta water. Toss gently 1 minute. Serve with: Grated salted ricotta / cacio ricotta (80–100g) Top with extra basil if you like.