I checked off a bucket-list item this past fall when I took a week long cooking course at the Awaiting Table Cookery School in the Puglia region of Italy. While I was there I was introduced to “cucina povera”, which is Italian for cuisine of the poor. It is amazing how flavorful and nutritious food can be even with very simple ingredients. Many of our recipes would be considered essential to the Mediterranean Diet.
This first (of hopefully many) recipe was inspired by the number of different types of pastas we made the week of the course. What makes this pasta unique from other types of pasta I have tried is the use of barley flour combined with semolina flour. I believe that the barley flour gives the pasta a good “chew” when cooked.
A good guide to use when making this pasta is to use a 2:1 ratio. By this I mean use 2 cups (200 grams) of semolina flour to 1 cup (100 grams) of barley flour. I would use 8 ounces of lukewarm tap water to start and adjust accordingly.
Pro Tip! You do not have to let water based pasta dough rest, only egg based pasta should rest for at least 30 minutes.
Buon appetito!