Courgette cavatelli with sourdough croutons

Inspired by the classic Puglian dish with cime de rapa, or more commonly here in the UK, broccoli and chilli; one of the fewer recipes where vegetables should be cooked a little longer to create a deliciously vibrant green sauce. This is my summer take using courgettes and chilli, taking advantage of the pleasant crunch of courgettes by coarsely grating most of it, but leaving some to make up the sauce, and topped with sourdough croutons. You don’t need the croutons but as an avid sourdough baker I often have stale crusts leftover at the end of the week, and I find it adds a pleasant crunch and fragrance from the lemon zest.

During lockdown, I’ve got quite used to experimenting with different types of pasta dough, including this eggless cavatelli dough, which holds the sauce perfectly in this recipe. Some recipes call for a 100% semolina flour dough, I personally like to have a 50:50 ratio of semolina to 00 flour as I prefer the texture, but you could play around with this over time to see what tastes best for you. You could otherwise skip this step and use any dried short pasta in its place, such as penne or short rigatoni.

| Serves 2 |

INGREDIENTS

For the cavatelli

 200g ’00’ pasta flour

200g finely ground semolina flour

180-200ml tepid water 

2g/ 1/2 tsp salt 

For the sourdough croutons

Olive oil

1 garlic glove, smashed with the back of a knife 

Stale sourdough or any other stale white bread

Flaked sea salt

1 tbsp lemon zest

For the courgette sauce

1/2 long red chilli, finely sliced

3 cloves garlic, finely sliced

2 courgettes 

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

50g parmesan

20g butter 

METHOD

To make the the cavatelli, weigh out the two flours and mix with a fork to combine. Either use a bowl or heap the flour onto the work surface and make a well. Pour in the 180ml water to begin with and add the salt. 

Either with the fork or with your finger, slowly incorporate the water into the dough. You may find that there is still a lot of untouched excess flour, so at this stage try and scrunch that excess flour into the wetter dough, so the dough looks ‘shaggy’. Try and bring into a ball with your hands, if you find that it’s taking a while to come together, add more water, a little at a time. It shouldn’t be sticky but rather smooth to the touch. 

Start to knead the dough until it feels elastic, anywhere between 5-10 minutes. You can use straight away or leave on the side with a bowl covering it or in plastic wrap for up to 4 hours. 

Cut the dough into quarters. Take out one quarter and put the remainder back under the bowl/wrapped up to prevent it drying out. Lightly dust the work surface with 00 or semolina flour. Using your palms, roll out the quarter into a thin ‘sausage’, until it’s approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut the sausage into scant 1/3 inch pieces. 

Using your index and middle finger, press on the pieces, curling it towards you. Dust the cavatelli with some more semolina flour and space them out a little on a semolina dusted baking sheet. Repeat the same steps with the rest of the dough quarters. 

Remove the crust from the sourdough and roughly tear into bitesize pieces. Place a frying pan over a medium heat and add the garlic clove until aromatic, followed by the sourdough. Fry for around 5 minutes, or until lovely and golden. Remove from the heat and add the lemon zest and a pinch of flaked sea salt. Set to one side.

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a frying pan. Over a medium heat, add the garlic and chilli for about 5 minutes, being sure to stir regularly to prevent browning. 

Coarsely grate one and a half courgettes and roughly chop the remaining half. Add the grated courgette to the garlic and chilli with a pinch of salt. 

Add the roughly chopped courgette to the boiling water for 3 minutes. Reserve the water to cook the pasta. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a blender along with the parmesan and olive oil. Blitz briefly until the courgette has broken down into a sauce consistency.

Meanwhile, salt the pan of water until it tastes like the sea and bring back up to the boil if needed. Add the pasta and give a quick stir to avoid it sticking. If using the fresh cavatelli, boil for approximately 2 minutes, although I generally check for doneness when the pasta rises to the surface. Reserve a cupful of pasta water and drain the pasta. 

Now to bring it all together. Pour the courgette parmesan mix and the pasta to the grated courgette and add a ladleful of pasta water and the butter, stir vigorously over a medium-high heat. Check for seasoning and add more pasta water if it needs loosening.

Serve in bowls with the croutons and more olive oil drizzled on top, if liked.