How To Make Cavatelli Pasta

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How To Make Cavatelli Pasta - with gnocchi board

Cavatelli means ‘little hollows’ (related to the English word ‘cave’), a reference to its shell-like shape with hollows that are perfect for holding pasta sauce. Cavatelli are made using the same southern Italian pasta dough as foglie d’ulivo and orecchiette and appear all over southern Italy with all sorts of sauces. They’re one of the most satisfying pastas to make, and you can serve cavatelli with a simple tomato sauce (see video below) or puttanesca, sauce spiked with spicy Calabrian ‘nduja, or a pork sausage ragù. You’ll need a gnocchi board to get the traditional ridged shape of cavatelli rigate. There is a version made by just rolling the dough towards you on a work bench – called cavatelli lisce (smooth cavatelli) – but I don’t think it’s as much fun to make. Learn more about how to make fresh pasta here – including tips on technique, equipment and ingredients – and see my page on how to cook pasta for perfect results every time.

To make enough cavatelli to serve 4 as a starter, you’ll need:

  • Coarse semolina, for dusting (called semola in Italian and often just ‘semolina’ in English)
  • 1 quantity Southern Italian Pasta Dough (about 300g/10½oz)
  • Large tray
  • Sharp knife or pastry scraper
  • Plastic wrap
  • Gnocchi board
  • Tea towel

Here’s how to make cavatelli:

  1. Dust a large tray with semolina and put it on one side of your work bench.
  2. Cut the dough into 4 pieces. Work with 1 piece at a time, leaving the rest covered with plastic.
  3. Roll one piece of dough into a log about 30cm long (12″) and 1–1.5cm thick (about ½″).
  4. Cut it into pieces about 1–1.5cm thick (about ½″).
  5. Place a piece of dough, cut side down, towards the top of a gnocchi board.
  6. Pressing it with your thumb, roll it down the board to create the hollow curled cavatelli shape.
  7. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough, scooping the cavatelli up a few at a time with a pastry scraper or large spatula and placing them in a single layer on the semolina-dusted tray. Cover the tray with a clean, dry tea towel.
  8. Roll another piece of dough into a log and continue shaping cavatelli until all the dough is used.
  9. Cavatelli can sit, covered, on the semolina-dusted tray in a cool place for a few hours before cooking.

Here’s how to cook cavatelli:

  1. Bring a large saucepan of well-salted water to the boil, using 10g salt/litre water (⅓oz salt/2 pints water).
  2. Shake excess semolina off the pasta, add pasta to the water and stir well.
  3. Return to the boil and cook for about 5 minutes, until tender. Cooking time will depend on how long the pasta has sat before cooking, and on how tender you prefer it; test after 4 minutes, it may take 6 or 7 minutes.
  4. Scoop directly from the water into your favourite sauce, toss and serve. 

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