One of our very favorite pastas hails from the heel of the boot of Italy, in Puglia. Roughly translating into “little ears”, Orecchiette are tiny cups of pasta joy, allowing an abundance of flavors to envelop your palate, and acting as perfect little sauce saucers with every bite. Everyone’s mamma from this area makes orecchiette and of course, everyone’s mamma’s recipe is the undisputed best!
Multitasking
On my most recent trip to Bari, I walked around the city on an unseasonably rainy night, and noticed everyone’s doors wide open, with all the little ladies of the village taking advantage of the languid evening to dry their freshly made pastas with the outside air.
What better way to spend a Sunday?
Orecchiette vary in size and shape, ranging from teeny weeny, to manly man, depending on the pasta maker.
One by one…
Our favorite version of this pasta comes with a savory white sauce, laden with chunks of sausage and thin, bitter stalks of broccoli rabe. But really, any sauce will do, as the pasta is the star.
A gargantuan manly man version with fresh tomato sauce and Caciocavallo cheese
And don’t worry non-pasta making readers, there’s something for everyone on pasta making day! While the ladies are at home preparing pasta for the week, then men are out trying to bring home the bacon.
Prepare your poker face!
It’s amazing the stories you can encounter by simply taking a walk.
