DIFFICULTY: 4
3 hours
INGREDIENTS PER 2 PEOPLE
Ingredients for the pasta:
Chickpea Flour, 1.75 Oz
Semolina flour, 1.75 Oz
A pinch of fine Sea Salt
Lukewarm Water (I recommend weighing the water), 2 oz. minus 2 teaspoons
A few strand of Saffron or a pinch of Saffron Powder (optional)
Additional ingredients for the pasta dish:
Olive Oil
A small Shallot, Minced
Roasted Red Beets (see below: how to roast beets), 4 Oz
Fine Sea Salt, to Taste
English-style Coulommiers (a.k.a. English farmhouse cheese) OR fresh Chèvre,crumbled, 2 Oz
PROCEDURE
Make a dough with water, flour and salt, keep kneading until it gets nice and smooth. To have pink gnocchetti, add a teaspoon or so of red beet juice, diluted in the water (the overall amount of liquid should still be 45g). The dough will be stickier than the one made using all semolina flour. Sprinkle it with a small amount of semolina flour on the kneading board, while kneading it.
Let the dough rest, covered, for at least half an hour.
Roll it into a thick salami and cut it into pieces. Keep them covered while you shape gnocchetti. Roll each piece into a pencil-size snake (3/8 inch), then cut it into 3/8 inch long pieces. Shape each small piece into a gnocchetto.
Make pressure on each piece of dough with either your thumb or your index finger and drag it to curl it. The resulting gnocchetto will have grooves on the convex surface and a nice nook on the other side. If using your thumb, the dragging motion is away from you, while if using your index finger, the dragging motion is towards you.
Lay out the gnocchetti to dry. (usually a few hours).
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Rinse and scrub them, then wrap each one in foil, place on a baking sheet, and bake until easily pierced with a knife. Alternatively, place clean beets in a baking pan or dish, add 1/4 inch of water to the pan and cover tightly with foil or dish’s lid. Let beets cool until easy to handle, then peel them.
I usually bake a number of beets at a time, for efficiency’s sake, and stock them for otheer preparations.
Cut the roasted beets into small dices.
In a medium-size skillet, warm up a bit of oil, then add shallot. Sauté for a couple of minutes, then lower the heat and continue cooking until shallot is soft.
In the meantime, bring a small pot of water to a rolling boil, add some coarse salt, stir and then toss the gnocchetti in it. They will come to the surface as they cook. The time needed is a bit variable, depending on the size of the gnocchetti and how dry they are. These cook faster than the original gnocchetti.
While cooking, add red beets to the shallot and warm up. Cover an keep warm over low heat, adding a tablespoon of gnocchetti cooking water to prevent the beets from drying out. Shortly before adding gnocchetti, sprinkle with some salt, and stir well.
Drain pasta, leaving a bit of cooking water cling to them, then toss them into the skillet with the beets. Stir delicately over low heat for one minute. Sprinkle with most of the cheese, as stirring.
Remove the skillet from the heat, sprinkle with the rest of the cheese on the pasta and serve immediately. The recipe makes two portions.
Thanks to: Briciole
