Sicilian Food: Handmade Busiate with Morels, Cauliflower Aglio e Olio Recipe

Simple and flavoursome, Sicilian cooking is driven by the land, paying attention to what is growing and understanding what the land can produce. For this reason, you can always expect fresh and vibrant food, lovingly cooked with the utmost respect for produce. To add some Sicilian flavour to your next dinner at home, the owner and chef of Melbourne’s Mister Bianco and Massi restaurants, Joe Vargetto, has shared his delicious recipe for Handmade Busiate with Morels, Cauliflower Aglio e Olio. If you fall in love with this recipe (like we know you will), Joe’s cookbook Siciliano is filled with many more delicious dishes.

Ingredients

Pasta dough

350g semolina100g tipo ‘00’ flour3 eggs50ml water20ml extra-virgin olive oilextra flour for rolling

Sauce

200g morel mushrooms, cleaned and washed1 small organic cauliflower, cut into little florets200ml olive oil1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped20 picked marjoram leaves

Pangratatto

2 stale ciabatta or pasta dura bread rolls, chopped into small pieces1 garlic clove500ml olive oilsalt and pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Add the garlic and stale bread to a tray and place in the oven until golden. Let the bread mixture cool and crush any piece of bread that is too big, making it resemble grated parmesan. Season with salt and pepper and use the pangrattato to sprinkle on top of the pasta.

Pasta Dough

Combine the flours in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs, water and oil. Using a fork, mix slowly until combined. Knead dough by hand on a lightly floured surface. Add more water as required. Cover with cling film and set aside to rest for at least 1 hour.

Make the Pasta

Cut dough into five equal pieces. Roll out one at a time on a floured work surface. Cut into long strands (e.g. 1cm wide and 10cm long). Place a wooden skewer lengthways across one end of the pasta strand and roll so that the pasta wraps around the skewer to form a long spiral. Slip pasta off skewer and place on a floured tray. Repeat with the remaining pasta dough.

Mushrooms & Cauliflower

Meanwhile, gently heat the olive oil in a heavy-based pan. Add the garlic and marjoram leaves to the pan and fry until the garlic is soft. Add the mushrooms and cauliflower and gently warm through. Take off heat and season to taste.

Add the pasta

Cook pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water until al dente (5–6 minutes) and drain into a colander. Reserve a little pasta water, if required, for the sauce. Add the pasta to the mushroom mixture and toss to coat.

To serve, equally spoon the pasta into plates and sprinkle with pangrattato. Grating over salted ricotta also works well.