← Nouns Cooking · Italian

Ingredients

• 150 g 00 flour or plain flour
• 150 g fine semolina (semola rimacinata)
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 150 ml Water, warm
• ½ tsp Salt
• 500 g floury potatoes
• 80 g Pecorino Sardo or Romano, finely grated
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove Garlic, crushed
• 10 mint leaves, finely chopped
• Black pepper
• 400 g Passata
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 clove Garlic, lightly crushed
• 1 handful basil leaves
• 30 g extra pecorino, to serve

Method

1. Boil the potatoes whole in their skins for 25–30 min, until a knife slides in easily. Peel them while hot and mash until smooth.
2. Warm the filling oil with the crushed garlic for 1 minute, then discard the garlic and stir the oil into the potato with the pecorino, mint and plenty of pepper. Taste for salt and leave to cool.
3. For the dough, mix the flour, semolina and salt, then add the oil and enough warm water to make a firm dough. Knead for 10 min until smooth, wrap and rest for 30 min.
4. Meanwhile, make the sauce: warm the garlic in the oil, add the passata and a pinch of salt and simmer for 15 min. Stir in the basil.
5. Roll the dough out to about 2 mm and cut 8 cm circles. Put a walnut-sized ball of filling on each. Holding one in your palm, fold the bottom up and pinch the edges together alternately left and right, working up to the top, to make a little wheat-ear braid. Seal the tip well.
6. Cook the culurgiones in a big pot of gently boiling salted water for 4–5 min, until they float and the dough is tender at the seams.
7. Lift them out with a slotted spoon, toss gently with the hot sauce and serve with extra pecorino.

Tips

• If the braid defeats you, fold each circle into a half-moon and press the edges with a fork: they taste just as good.
• Freeze uncooked culurgiones on a floured tray, then bag them; cook from frozen for 1–2 min longer.
• Traditional pecorino is made with animal rennet; choose a vegetarian cheese if that matters to you.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Great Italian Chefs GialloZafferano Pasta Grammar