RECIPE
Makes 3 serves - Preparation time 1 hour - cooking time 40 min
Ingredients
Dough:
-200 grams 00 flour or all purpose flour
-1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- a pinch of salt
- 100 ml warm water
- a handful of semolina flour, for dusting
Tomato sauce:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, sliced
- 700g tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoons chopped thyme
- 1 fresh red chili, optional
- 200ml water
- ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg, grated
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- A sprig of fresh basil, torn leaves, or fresh flat leaves parsley, chopped(optional)
- Parmesan cheese, freshly grated.
Place the flour in a bowl. Make a well in the center and Add 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt. Gently mix to combine.
Slowly incorporate 100 ml warm water into the flour, using a fork to mix.
Put the dough on a wooden surface and knead it until it is smooth and resilient.
Cover the dough and place it in the fridge to rest for at least half an hour before using.
While the dough is resting prepare the sauce:
Heat a large pot until hot, then add the olive oil. Add the onion and saute for about 5 minutes or until softened.
Add the tomato sauce, thyme and chili, stirring well. Add the water and bring to the boil.
Finally add nutmeg and salt to taste. Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring from time to time.
Add more water if you think that the sauce is reducing too much.
Remove from the heat and set aside till needed.
Now, let’s roll pici:
Cut off 1/3 of the dough and, with a rolling pin, roll the section into a slab about 1/2 centimeter thick. Brush the dough lightly with olive oil on all sides to prevent drying.
Cut the slab into strips about 1 centimeter wide.
Roll each strip into ropes, about 0.5 cm thick. Do this quickly to prevent drying and breakage.
Dust the pici in semolina flour and set aside. Repeat until all the dough is finished.
Cooking Pici:
Bring a large pot of salted water (a table spoon each liter of water) to a boil. Add pici, stir gently with a wooden spoon. It takes about 2 minutes to cook. Drain, toss with sauce, garnish with basil or parsley. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top and serve.
Want to spice this recipe up?
Try this SPICY CALABRIAN TOMATO SAUCE!
Hope you enjoy this recipe! If you make it, please let me know your thoughts and tag me on my Fb page Pasta Journey or my Instagram _pastajourney_ . I would love to hear from you!