Homemade corn and wheat flour pasta triangles with pancetta. Recipe from Abruzzo
Known as patellette, this homemade corn and wheat flour triangular pasta is traditionally served in a delicious brothy tomato and pancetta sauce but actually goes well with many other sauces, including seafood. Easy to make and full of authentic Italian flavour #maltagliati #patellette #homemadepasta #thepastaproject
Servings: 4
Calories: 836kcal
Ingredients
For the pasta dough
- 300 g wheat flour (10.5 oz) you can use Italian '0', '00' or all-purpose flour
- 150 g fine corn flour (5.3oz) not cornmeal for grits
- 250 ml tepid water (8.5floz)
- 1 pinch salt
For the sauce
- 300 g pancetta (10.5oz) cut into small cubes or guanciale
- 500 g sauce tomatoes (1.1lbs) or half cherry tomatoes and half passata (tomato puree) or pulp.
- 1 onion peeled and chopped
- ½ fresh peperoncino (optional) or red chilli flakes as required
- 2-3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil.
- salt for pasta and to taste
- freshly ground black pepper. to taste
- grated pecorino cheese as required
Instructions
Make the pasta
- Mix the flours, then sift them together into a mound on to a pastry board, make a well in the middle and pour about 250 ml of water into the centre, add a pinch of salt. Mix the flour and water together until you have a dough. Work the dough until no dry flour remains. Then knead until smooth and elastic. About 5-10 minutes. Roll the dough into a ball and cover with plastic wrap or a teatowel. Let it rest for about 15-30 minutes. (Some people don’t do this with flour and water dough, but I like to).
- I sometimes start the dough in my kitchen aid or even just in a bowl and then turn it out onto a pastry board and finish kneading by hand.
- After the dough has rested, cut off ⅓ and with a rolling pin roll it out into a sheet. It doesn’t need to be very thin. Cut the sheet into 5 cm wide strips. Either one strip at a time or after putting 4-5 strips on top of each other cut the strips obliquely into triangles (patellette). Spread them out on a lightly floured surface to dry a little. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Make the pancetta and tomato sauce
- Peel and finely chop the onion, dice the pancetta and if using fresh sauce tomatoes blanch, peel and chop them. I like to use fresh cherry tomatoes and pulp or passata(tomato puree) together. I don’t peel cherry tomatoes. Remove the seeds from the red chilli pepper (peperoncino) if using and finely chop that too!
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan, add the onion and pancetta and sauté until the pancetta has just started to brown. Add the cherry tomatoes (if using) and let them soften slightly, then add the passata/ pulp or canned tomatoes. Cook briefly because the sauce should be quite liquid. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cook the pasta, finish and serve
- Puta pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Add salt once it starts to boil and bring to the boil again. Cook the pasta for a few minutes in the boiling salted water. You will need to test taste before draining as cooking time will depend on the thickness of your pasta. Probably around 5 minutes. Save a cup of the pasta cooking water and drain the pasta.
- Add the patellette to the sauce and mix carefully. The sauce should be quite brothy so if it seems dry add some of the saved pasta cooking water! Serve immediately with a generous helping of grated pecorino and some red chilli pepper if using.
Nutrition
Calories: 836kcal | Carbohydrates: 98g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 39g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 19g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 50mg | Sodium: 676mg | Potassium: 734mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 299IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 115mg | Iron: 6mg