| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Active: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting and kneading
- 16 ounces whole-milk ricotta
- 3 large eggs
- Kosher salt
- Semolina, for dusting
- 2 cups leftover tomato sauce from Grandma’s Pizza day or any pureed tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 cups leftover pulled chicken from Grilled Chicken Piccata day or any pulled cooked chicken
- 4 ounces Parmesan, grated
- 4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
- 1 cup fresh basil, torn
- Olive oil, for serving
- Freshly cracked pepper
Instructions
- For the cavatelli: Add the flour to a large bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together the ricotta, eggs and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir the ricotta mixture into the flour.
- Transfer the mixture to a floured work surface and, using your hands, gently bring the ingredients together to form a dough. Knead the dough together, adding additional flour as necessary, until the dough is firm and not sticky. Tightly wrap the dough with plastic wrap and allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
- On a lightly floured surface, cut the dough into 6 pieces, then roll the pieces into ropes about 1/4 inch in diameter. Cut the ropes into 1/2-inch pieces. Using your thumb or the dull side of a butter knife, press on each piece of dough and pull across the length of it. Continue until all the pasta dough is used. Transfer the pieces to a baking sheet dusted with semolina.
- For the sauce: Warm the tomato sauce with the pulled chicken in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt liberally. Drop in the cavatelli, give them a gentle stir and boil until they begin to float, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Transfer the cavatelli to the sauce along with 3/4 cup of the pasta cooking water. Stir until the pasta is thoroughly combined with the sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in the Parmesan, butter and basil, Serve with olive oil and cracked black pepper.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 958 |
| Total Fat | 45 g |
| Saturated Fat | 24 g |
| Carbohydrates | 84 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 5 g |
| Protein | 52 g |
| Cholesterol | 287 mg |
| Sodium | 1163 mg |
Reviews
So easy and delicious
These were amazing. I could not believe how easy they were to make. Very tender and delicious.
So easy and comes out perfect!
I am an experienced cook (read old) and Italian, so I have made my share of homemade pasta, including potato gnocchi. However, I’ve never made ricotta cavatelli and had less than optimal results. My problem was that the dough was very moist which required my having to add more flour than I would have liked. I think if I had strained the ricotta in cheesecloth in advance to remove excess liquid, it would have been much better. Going to give that method a try and see if I have better luck.
I used brown butter and sage sauce so my rating is for the cavatelli only.
This was way easier than I thought it would be. I love the fork-roll method in his class because it made more ridges for the sauces to get soaked into. Mmmm!
The pasta was light and fluffy and I made a pesto sauce similar to the one Chef Symon made on his live Facebook feed. So fresh and delicious!