PESTO PICI PASTA
Pici pasta hails from the charming countryside of Tuscany, Italy, particularly the province of Siena. It’s a thick, hand rolled spaghetti like noodle, made from simple ingredients: just flour and water, no eggs. Traditionally, the dough is rolled into long, fat strands by hand, giving each pici its signature rustic, uneven texture.
Pici emerged as a humble peasant food, born out of the necessity for easy to make, filling pasta that could be enjoyed with simple sauces like garlic and olive oil, tomato based ragù, or wild boar. The name “pici” might stem from the Italian word “appicciare,” meaning “to stick,” referencing the dough sticking to the fingers as it’s rolled.
I have paired it with a store bough pesto making it such an easy fresh pasta recipe when all put together. if you’re a beginner to home made pasta, pici is the perfect entry point for every beginner. Super simple to put together, and the rolling process is quite fun. Plus the pasta is completely vegan, meaning pairing it with a homemade vegan pesto will also be so delicious and great for when vegan mates are coming over.
PESTO PICI PASTA
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PESTO PICI PASTA 〰️
Time: 75 minutes
Serves: 3-4
300ml semolina
145ml warm water
180gm Store Bought Basil Pesto
Place semolina and water into a bowl using your hand begin bringing
both together. Keep going until you have created a shaggy dough
ball, but all the semolina has been incorporated. Place onto dry surface
and knead the dough for 10 minutes, making sure you’re stretching as
you go. Wrap in cling film and let rest for thirty minutes.
Cut a piece of the dough off and using a rolling pin roll it out to about a cm thickness. Using a knife cut out the pics pieces, around half a cm apart from each other. Then using your hands roll out the pici pieces until you have long straw like noodle shapes. You want the noodle quite thin as the pasta will bulk up when cooked.
Add to a tray lined with semolina and attempt to keep all the pici the shape of the small tray. Work your way through all the dough and allow to dry whilst you organise the water.
Place big pot of water of high heat with lots of salt and bring to a rolling boiling temperature. Add the pici and allow to cook for around 2 minutes, but just off al dente. This will change depending how thin you rolled the pici so just allow it to cook until its just off al dente.
When pici is done, scoop a bit mug of pasta water out and then strain the pici. Pop a pan on low medium heat and spoon in the pesto and add a glug of pasta water and mix it through. Add the pici and allow it cook into the pesto on medium heat for a minute, add pasta water to achieve the desired consistency.
Plate up with fresh basil or oregano, and a drizzle of EVOO.