Homemade orecchiette pasta with delicate green lintels, baby portobellos, and a hint of Serrano peppers. Hand making the orecchiette is completely optional. It didn’t take me too long to do it (probably about an hour, including the time needed to rest and make my dough), but you definitely need to commit to the rolling, cutting, and shaping of each piece of pasta – there’s no shortcuts for this one, I’m afraid. Otherwise, this is a relatively easy, one-pot, hearty vegetarian recipe. I encourage you to try it with store bought orecchiette if pasta making isn’t your thing. I’ve adapted this recipe from one found in the March edition of Bon Appétit magazine. The basic structure of the recipe is the same, I’ve just switched around a couple ingredients – fresh pasta instead of dry, green lintels instead of brown, portobellos instead of crimini, and fresh Serranos instead of died chilies.

Orecchiette Pasta

This recipe makes a lot of dough, enough for 8-10 servings of pasta. I usually split the dough in half, and freeze some for a later date. It’ll keep in the freezer for about a month. Just pulled it out the night before you intend to serve it, and let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Tipo 00 Flour (or substitute for bread flour)
• 1/4 cup Semolina Flour
• 2 cups Bread Flour
• 3 Eggs
• 7 Egg Yolks
• 1 tsp Olive Oil
• 1/4 tsp Salt

Directions:

1. Place all of the ingredients into a food processor, and pulse it until they come together into a dough, or hand knead the ingredients into a dough.
2. Tightly, cover the dough, and let it rest for about 20 minutes.
3. Divide the dough into 4 equal sections (8 sections, if your doing the whole batch of pasta).
4. Roll the dough out one section at a time, either by machine or by hand until it’s about 1/8″ thick (usually, around the 3 setting of a pasta machine).
5. Use a small ring mold, or cookie cutter, to punch out each orecchiette.
6. Dust your finger with flour, and then firmly press it into the center of each small circle of dough. The dough should curl up slightly on the edges, and your finger should leave a little concave dimple in the center of the circle.
7. Store the finished orecchiette on a floured baking sheet, for up to an hour before use, or freeze them for a later date.

Orecchiette with Lintels and Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 1 diced Onion
• 8 oz sliced Baby Bellas (mini portobello mushrooms)
• 2 minced cloves of Garlic
• 3/4 cup Green Lintels
• 1/4 cup Tomato Paste
• 1-2 diced Serrano Peppers
• 1 tsp Salt
• Orecchiette Pasta
• 2 tbsp Butter
• grated Parmesan Cheese for serving

Directions:

1. Heat up the oil in a large heavy bottomed pan – a ceramic dutch oven works best, but any stew or soup pot should do.
2. Add in the mushrooms and onions.
3. Cook the mushrooms and onions for about 12-14 minutes, until the mushrooms are beautifully browned.
4. Stir in the garlic, lintels, tomato paste, and Serrano Peppers.
5. Add in 6 cups of water.
6. Bring to a boil.
7. Cook for about 20 minutes with the lid off, allowing the water to cook off slightly, if the water levels get too low feel free to add some more. At this point the lintels should be mostly cooked. If your using store bought pasta, you might want to add it in around the 15 minute mark since it needs a little more time to cook then the fresh pasta.
8. Add in the orecchiette and salt.
9. Give it a stir, and allow it to continue to cook until the pasta is done (about 4-6 minutes for the fresh pasta).
10. Remove it from the heat, and stir in the butter.
11. Enjoy!