Today is a great example of the blending of my two worlds. There’s my FOOD world, of which you know everything — the endless parade of bacon, peanut butter on everything, salads galore, and all things chocolate chips.
There’s also my NUTRITION world — the day job that allows me to bring home the bacon 🙂 In that capacity, I advise and mentor nutrition students and love giving them a boost in their careers whenever I can.
Today’s post is brought to you by one of those very students – Nicolette. Our paths have crossed frequently over the past year, and we’ve talked as much about food as we have about careers in nutrition! She made some homemade whole wheat cavatelli pasta, took some photos, and decided to share with me. I immediately suggested she write a post. Here she is – in her own words. Enjoy!
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Hi everyone! I’m really excited to share this fun and easy pasta recipe with you ☺ Julie, thank you for welcoming me to the blog!
Here’s my story: Born and raised in New York, I grew up in a traditional Italian family where everything revolves around food. My Granny, who moved from Italy to America when she was 9 years old, lived a few houses down the road and was a huge part of my childhood. While she never learned to drive, Granny sure knew how to cook! She is the one who first taught me how to make homemade pasta, and she is the one who inspired this recipe.
The other day, I was in the mood for pasta (not surprising). I opened up my pantry and found 12 POUNDS OF PASTA! You would think I had enough, right?! Well, apparently not. I decided that it might be fun to make my own. Putting my own twist on a simple pasta recipe, I embraced my inner Italian and went to work.
I encourage you to try this recipe at home. If you’re not actually Italian, don’t worry, you can pretend that you are as you make this recipe!
Please feel free to follow me on Instagram or Twitter (@nicolette__star).
WARNING: I mostly post about food. What can I say, I’m Italian ☺
Xoxo Nicolette Maggiolo
Homemade Whole Wheat Cavatelli Pasta
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups unbleached white whole wheat flour
2 cups fat-free ricotta cheese
2 whole eggs
Making the dough
1. In a large bowl, combine flour, eggs, and ricotta cheese. Fold the eggs and ricotta into the center of the flour. Once folded in, continue mixing by hand (like I did) or use a standard mixer.
2. Knead the dough together until a soft dough ball is formed. If the dough ball is still sticky, consider adding more flour. Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and let rest for at least 30 minutes.
Shaping the dough
3. After the dough has rested, divide the dough ball into quarters, and then in half again. Take the divided piece of dough (1/8th of the original amount) and roll into a long tube about ¼ inch in diameter. You can coil the tubes of dough to save space if necessary.
4. Using a knife, cut the tubes into 1-inch pieces in length.
5. Holding a butter knife at a 45 degree angle, press on each piece of dough and pull across the length of it (see pics below). This should cause the edges of the dough to curl up like a hot dog bun. It may feel funny at first, but after a few tries you’ll get the hang of it!
6. Place finished cavatelli on a lightly floured baking dish. Once you have made all your cavatelli, place baking dishes in freezer for about 30 minutes (long enough so that the pieces no longer stick together). For storage, place the cavatelli in a Ziploc freezer bag.
Cooking the cavatelli
7. Place frozen cavatelli in pot of rapidly boiling water and cook for about 5-7 minutes. It may only take a few minutes to cook cavatelli which has not been frozen. Usually the cavatelli is done when it floats to the top, but always taste test to make sure!
8. You can serve this pasta with your favorite sauce and/or toppings! I like grandma’s tomato sauce and veggies, but feel free to make this dish your own! MANGIA!
I’m right with you. Leave it to the student to teach the teachers 🙂