How to make pasta from scratch - by Charlotte

The best pasta in the world: a simple and easy pasta recipe 

My Italian flatmate showed me how to make fresh pasta from scratch and it was surprisingly simple and easy! You just need a couple of hours for prep and cooking time. Traditionally home-made pasta is made with durham wheat flour and water in the south of Italy, but we made it with eggs, typical for the north of Italy. Without the use of a pasta machine we decided to make tagliatelle - a firm family favourite!

Ingredients

• When you’re making pasta from scratch you need to use one egg for each person you’re making it for and 100 grams of flour per egg.
• Sprinkle of flour for rolling.

Instructions

Sieve the flour onto a clean, preferably wooden surface in the shape of a mound. Dig a big enough hole in the middle to crack all the eggs into. Stir until it’s all been absorbed into dough, if the mound collapses just carry on. This technique is a good way for the flour to be absorbed slowly.


Knead the dough, using the underside of your wrists, until the dough is really smooth - this usually takes about 10 minutes, but the longer you do it for the better.


Cover and rest the dough for about 30 minutes. Again, the longer you leave it the better.


Roll the dough, spreading it as thinly and evenly as possible. 1-2mm should be fine.

If you’re making tagliatelle cut the dough into strips using a knife. And lightly fold and rest on trays. Leave for about an hour or freeze.

Keep the offcuts – these are known as maltagliati and are perfect for freezing and adding to things like soup!

Trullo Carlotta is lovely family-owned villa in Castellana Grotte, Puglia. To find out more about Trullo Carlotta including key info, features and facilities and prices please visit our website www.trullocarlotta.com.

For all holiday enquiries, contact Caroline by email: trullocarlotta@gmail.com or phone: +441423 871741.

What to do if it rains

Despite the lovely hot summers Puglia is famous for, it does occasionally rain. In the summer, we've witnessed some spectacular lightning storms, with thunder that literally feels like the sky is cracking apart! But don't worry if you’re staying in Trullo Carlotta, you’re sheltered by a metre thick of limestone.

If a day of rain is forecast during your stay, here are a couple of local wet weather ideas you might find useful.

1. Grotte di Castellana 

The caves at Castella Grotte are truly awesome. Dating back 90 million years since they formed, the caves are particularly unique because of their intricate speleothems – build ups of minerals that make weird and wonderful shapes. A perfect day out for when the weather isn't so good – make sure you take a jumper! 

2. Churches 

You could take a drive to one of the nearby towns and go into some of the lovely churches. Puglia is abundant with churches, cathedrals, castles and basilicas, you can usually find them near the piazzas or in the little back streets of the old parts of town. It might look very small but we love the Church of St. Vito in Monopoli!

3. The Castle of Conversano 

Conversano is a beautiful and well under-represented town. The castle was built before the Norman’s arrived but has since been restored over the centuries. Most of the castle is now private property but inside there’s a municipal art gallery open to the public. 

4. Restaurants

The Italians love their long lunches. An afternoon spent in an osteria is a real treat, and you can enjoy course upon course of delicious Puglian food without feeling guilty about missing the sunshine!

5. Board games and movies 

If you feel like a day at home, we have a little selection of board games for you and your family/friends to get stuck into (great for the evenings too!). There’s also a DVD player and sizeable TV screen suitable for a family to share a movie together, as well as a small selection of DVDs. 

Whether it rains or not, there’s plenty to do and see. You could always venture a little further inland and visit places such as Matera. Matera is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a town built from caves on the side of a cliff – it can be quite an uncomfortable in the height of summer because of the heat, so this might be a good time to go, beating the crowds too.

Trullo Carlotta is lovely family-owned villa in Castellana Grotte, Puglia. To find out more about Trullo Carlotta including key info, features and facilities and prices please visit our website www.trullocarlotta.com.

For all holiday enquiries, contact Caroline by email: trullocarlotta@gmail.com or phone: +441423 871741.

Sombreroni Pasta; easier to make than say! By Barbara

You may have read the previous blog about visiting the lovely Alberobello, it mentions the little artisan shops that sell all sorts, from tea towels to liquors and pasta to pottery. We brought home a packet of extremely colourful "Sombreroni" (pasta which looks like large, stripey, multicoloured sombrero hats) and gave them to Barbara who then shared her secret recipe with us!

"I was more than a little nervous about attempting to cook the Sombreroni (pasta that’s hat-shaped but with a cunning like-ness to trulli) but in the end, it was very simple.

First I prepared the elements for my normal lasagne: 

• Chopped and browned about 400g of mince beef and added a good amount of spaghetti sauce so that the mixture was quite runny. Then simmered for 20 minutes or so until cooked and flavourful. My seasonings included cinnamon, garlic and onions.
• Added about 2 cups of cheese sauce made with strong cheddar.
• Mixed 250g of natural cottage cheese with an egg, some parsley and about 1/4 cup of grated parmesan to make the cottage cheese mixture.
• Cut two balls of mozzarella cheese into small pieces.
• Grated extra parmesan for sprinkling over before cooking in the oven. 

Then, I boiled the pasta as directed on the packet (since it was in Italian we guessed it to be "pre-cook by boiling carefully in salted water for 4 minutes”), gently stirred, carefully drained through a colander and rinsed with cold water.

After that…

1) I spread some cheese sauce thinly over the bottom of the casserole dish.

2) Took a Sombreroni, held it upside down and popped a small piece of mozzarella into the peak,       followed by a small spoonful of meat sauce, a little cottage cheese mixture and a little more mozzarella.

3) Took a disc, placed it over the hat, turned it over and popped in the casserole dish.

I repeated this until all the hats were filled, sprinkled any remaining ingredients over the pasta and popped the casserole dish in the oven at about 190’C until it was hot through and bubbling (roughly 30-40 minutes).

Thanks to my family for introducing me to this delicious and intriguing pasta. I just may have to pop over there myself to stock up!"

Thanks to Barbara for sharing! For more information about artisan pasta in the Puglia region click here. For more information about the recipe please get in touch with us at trullocarlotta@gmail.com.

To find out how to make your own pasta from scratch check out our simple recipe!

Trullo Carlotta is lovely family-owned villa in Castellana Grotte, Puglia. To find out more about Trullo Carlotta including key info, features and facilities and prices please visit our website www.trullocarlotta.com.

For all holiday enquiries, contact Caroline by email: trullocarlotta@gmail.com or phone: +441423 871741.