Scialatelli

Scialatelli (Hand-Rolled Semolina Pasta from the Amalfi Coast)

Scialatelli is a rustic, thick ribbon pasta from the Amalfi Coast of Campania, traditionally made by hand-rolling small ropes of dough around a thin wooden dowel (or a chopstick at home). It is most famously paired with a seafood or fresh tomato sauce.

Prep

30 min

Cook

4 min

Total

34 min

Serves

4

Difficulty

Medium

Recipe ingredients

• •200 g (1⅓ cups) semolina flour, fine durum semolina rimacinata, traditional
• •100 g (¾ cup) type 00 flour, or additional semolina if unavailable
• •2 whole (2 large) eggs, room temperature
• •1 whole egg yolk, for richer dough
• •30 ml (2 tbsp) warm water, only if needed for hydration
• •1 pinch fine sea salt

Steps

1. 1 Mound the semolina and 00 flour on a clean wooden board or work surface, make a wide well in the center, and sprinkle the salt around the rim of the well.
2. 2 Crack the whole eggs and the extra yolk into the well. Using a fork, beat the eggs while gradually pulling in flour from the inside walls of the well until a thick slurry forms.
3. 3 Knead by hand for 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth, firm, and elastic but not sticky; add warm water only by the teaspoon if the dough feels too dry, or dust with a little semolina if it sticks. The traditional dough should be quite firm.
4. 4 Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes (do not refrigerate, as the dough should remain pliable).
5. 5 Pinch off small walnut-sized pieces of dough (about 15 to 20 g each) and roll each piece between a lightly floured palm and a thin wooden dowel, chopstick, or pencil handle into a short, thick rope about 12 to 15 cm long and roughly the thickness of a pencil. Traditional scialatelli are irregular and rustic, not uniform.
6. 6 Dust the shaped pasta with semolina and spread on a tray; they can be cooked immediately or air-dried for up to 4 hours.
7. 7 Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a rolling boil (about 10 g salt per liter). Drop in the scialatelli and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until they float to the surface and the center is tender when bitten; they should remain pleasantly chewy (al dente).
8. 8 Drain the pasta, reserving a small ladle of the cooking water, and toss immediately with your sauce of choice, loosening with a splash of the reserved water if needed.