Orecchiette with Turnip Tops

Orecchiette are typical Italian pasta, ideal for many Italian recipes. They are the symbol of Puglia, where they are strictly kneaded by hand. Orecchiette are round and concave, and this shape is perfect to pick up the sauce. The typical Apulian recipe is orecchiette with turnip tops, but you can prepare many other delicious Italian recipes such as orecchiette with tomatoes or orecchiette with potatoes and rocket. The following recipe shows how to prepare this kind of pasta with your hands: trust me it's simple!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)
400 g of Flour of durum wheat
100 ml of Warm water
Salt
500 g of Turnip tops
2-3 Cloves of garlic
1 / 2 Glass of Extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION TIME: 3 hours

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Rosato di Puglia

PREPARATION
On a surface place the flour as a fountain, sprinkle with salt and add the water in the middle.

Knead for about 10 minutes until you obtain a solid dough and stand it for about 30 minutes.

Then make pieces of the dough and knead them until you obtain loafs thin and longs.

Cut the loafs into small squared pieces. Now take the squared pieces one by one and with the thumb crush them making a sort of diskette; then invert the little shape by turning it inside out. This gives the right shape to the dough.

Stand them for 1-2 hours. Clean the turnip tops and cut off the sticks.

In a large pan heat the extra virgin olive oil, put the clove of garlic and let it brown. Let salted water boil for Orecchiette. When water boil, add the turnip tops, after 5 minutes add the orecchiette and let them cook until they rise to the surface: this will take from 5 to 10 minutes so taste one of them to make certain that pasta is ready.

Drain the orecchiette and the turnip tops. Now place the orecchiette and the turnip tops in the pan with extra virgin olive oil and garlic and sautè them for 2-3 minutes.

Serve hot. This is the result:

BUON APPETTITO!