2438. HANDMADE CAVATELLI with SMOKED BACON, CHANTERELLES, GREEN GARLIC and GRANA PADANO

serves 4-6


4 cups durum semolina flour
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out
1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt
Water as needed (approximately 4 cups)
¼ pound smoked bacon, medium dice
½ cup white wine
1 pound chanterelle mushrooms, sliced thin
2 bunches green garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
3 tablespoons whole butter
Black pepper, to taste
Grana Padano, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

In a stand-up mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, add both kinds of flour and salt; slowly add water with mixer on speed 2 or 3. Mix for about 2 minutes. Dough should be crumbly, but still hold its shape. Remove from mixing bowl. Dust table with a little all-purpose flour, and knead the dough, folding it into itself repeatedly, for approximately 6 minutes. Let the dough rest for about 2 hours; by then it should be a solid mass, ready to be rolled through the cavatelli machine.

Roll the dough out with a rolling pin, to about half an inch in thickness. Then cut into strips, half an inch wide. Start rolling strips through the cavatelli machine, dusting cavatelli with all-purpose flour once finished. Let the pasta air-dry for about an hour.

Bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, heat a large sauté pan; add smoked bacon and sauté, frequently draining of fat (leaving about 1 tablespoon to sauté mushrooms). Add one-third of the white wine to bring down temperature of bacon. Add the chanterelles and sauté until light brown. Add green garlic and thyme, and de-glaze bottom of pan with rest of wine. Reduce wine until it is nearly gone, add butter, and turn off heat.

Add the cavatelli to the pot of boiling water and boil until cavatelli floats to the top (about 8 minutes). When cavatelli is finished cooking transfer with a mesh strainer directly into sauté pan with rest of ingredients. Toss pasta, adding pasta water as needed to make sauce in the pan, season with salt to taste. Finish with generous amount of fresh black pepper and parmesan. Garnish with chopped parsley.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Cory Obenour and Matt Sullivan, The Blue Plate, 3218 Mission Street at Valencia, San Francisco, California 94110