On orechiette........

One of the things that brings me great joy is cooking with friends and family. Making pasta is probably one of the best ways  to interact  with one another in the kitchen. It can very time consuming depending on the shape, but it gives you an opportunity to connect with each other. My favorite pasta  of all times is orecchiette which literally translated means "little ears". Its a pasta typical of Puglia, a region in the south of Italy. The typical regional recipe combines the orechiette with garlic and cimi de rapa(rapine or broccoli rabe).In Southern Italy, women sit outdoors in the spring and make the dough into small cylinders, which they cut into little cubes. Then they press down each cube with their right thumb, dragging it on the board, thus making it curl slightly . Then they insert their thumb on the reverse side, making it pop out with a little convex bulge. Here is a quick and simple recipe for the dough. It will 4 small portions or 2 portions if you have a good appetite  If you want to know how to shape the pasta (do as the romans do).......watch a video on youtube.

 Orecchiette Dough

 1 cup All purpose flour
 1 cup Finely ground semolina
 1/2 cup Water
 1 Pinch of salt