Cavatelli with Roasted Nduja sauce and Cime Di Rapa - Chef Recipe by Fabrizio Faitella.

Ingredients

Cavatelli:

500g semolina duralina organic
225g water luke warm
13g salt

Sauce:

1kg banana shallots
150g garlic
100g ginger
200g crispy chilly 'laoganma'
80g nduja
200mL bonito soy sauce (tzuyu no moto)

Pork and fennel sausage:

500g pork belly
5g fennel seeds
3g chilli flakes
3g black pepper
10g salt

1 bunch cime di rapa or turnip tops rapini

Method

For the cavatelli dough:

Using a mixer with a hook attachment, mix semolina, warm water and salt.

Let knead for a minimum of 10 minutes at medium-low speed and after this time wrap the dough and let rest overnight or at least 4
hours. Once rested, flatten the dough slightly then cut the dough into quarters.

On a clean work surface with no flour (important) roll one-quarter into a long rope shape about half an inch thick (make sure to keep
the rest of the dough covered in plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out). Cut the rope into half-inch wide squares.

To shape the cavatelli, place one cut piece of dough in front of you with the cut side at the top. Using a finger or side of your thumb, roll the dough towards or away from you to create a smooth shell shape then place it in an area dusted with flour.

Repeat with the remaining dough, rolling into ropes, cutting and shaping.

To cook them bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the cavatelli for about 2-3 minutes then toss them into the sauce.

For the pork and fennel sausage:

Mince the pork belly using a meat mincer then combine the ground chilly, fennel seed and black
pepper and salt.

Blanching the cime di rapa:

In abundant boiling salty water blanch the cime di rapa for no longer than 4 minutes and chill in icy water.

For the sauce:

In a saucepan heat 300mL olive oil then add the nduja and let roast/render when starting to get coloured add the banana shallots that have been previously minced with a knife or a food processor and let fry for about 10 minutes on medium heat stirring often then add the garlic and ginger (also minced beforehand).

Just when the mixture starts to get colour add the crispy chilli and the bonito soy sauce, add about 300mL of water and let simmer for about 30 minutes.

Assemble the dish:

Heat a large fry pan with extra virgin olive oil, when hot add the sausage broken into small pieces, when golden brown move the meat on a side of the pan then quickly flash the cime di rapa and remove it from the pan leaving just the sausage.

At this point add the nduja sauce letting warm up and when the pasta is ready mix everything together. We usually plate the greens on top of the pasta.

Recipe provided by Orzo