Making Garganelli

Here's a recipe for how to make your own garganelli from yesterday's post. Also, here's a lovely video made by Trattoria da Martino in Bergamo, Italy that shows the technique for making garganelli rigati (with ridges). Definitely check it out to see the traditional ridged-tool used called a pettine.

Recipe for Northern Pasta Dough

400 grams OO flour* (a little more than 3 cups)

4 eggs

Swirl of olive oil

Pinch of salt

Spoon of grated parmesan cheese

Pinch of nutmeg

Semolina flour for rolling

Water for sealing

{*See Pasta Q&A for information about 00 flour}

Give it a try!

Mix together the flour, salt, parmesan cheese, and nutmeg in the base of a bowl. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the eggs and olive oil. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Drizzle some of the egg mixture into the well. Use a fork to mix some of the flour from the walls of the well into egg pool. Continue adding eggs and mixing until you get a shaggy dough. Get rid of the fork and use your (clean) hands to knead the dough together until it becomes a smooth, cohesive ball. (Alternatively, you can add all ingredients to a food processor and process until a dough ball is formed.) Cover and let rest.

Roll out the dough on a semolina-dusted wooden work surface into a very thin (1/16th inch) rectangle using a rolling pin. Alternatively, if you have a pasta machine, roll the dough out until almost paper thin. Cut the rectangle into 2-inch strips. Then cut the strips into 2x2-inch squares.

Position the squares of dough so they look like diamonds facing you on the table (rotate the squares 45 degrees). Place a wooden dowl, clean pencil, or chopstick on top of each diamond, making the tool parallel with the edge of the table. Roll dough around tool to form a tube. Use a little drop of water on the bottom corner of the rolled dough diamond to seal the garganelli.