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Pasta shapes · Italian cuisine

Orecchiette

Apulian “little ears” of semolina and water, shaped with knife and thumb – eaten with cime di rapa.

AI illustration of Orecchiette
AI illustration

At a glance

Origin
Puglia (around Bari).
Dough
Durum semolina, type 0 flour and water, no eggs.
Production
By hand: a piece dragged with a knife and turned over a fingertip.
Pairs with
Cime di rapa, vegetable and tomato sauces.
Cooking time
Fresh 3–6 min, depending on size; dried 10–13 min, depending on the maker.

Orecchiette, “little ears”, are small domed discs with a rough surface, typical of the traditional cooking of Puglia. They are made by hand, without eggs.

Durum semolina is mixed with type 0 flour and lukewarm water, often with a little wholemeal flour. After resting, the dough is rolled into pencil-thick ropes, cut into pieces of about 1.5 cm, and each piece is dragged across the board with a blunt knife and turned inside out over a fingertip – forming the hollow ear. Around Bari a blunt knife called a sferre is used. As a hand-shaped “peasant” form they are thicker than extruded pasta, so they are best fresh.

The classic is orecchiette con cime di rapa.

Techniques and tips

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