A gloriously-sunny day and homemade pasta for dinner. Who could ask for anything more?!?

The day started off by my putting together a potting bench we bought last fall. The weather wasn’t conducive for keeping it outside over the winter, so the box went down into the basement. Today was the perfect day to bring it up.

It was pretty easy to put together – the hardest part was aligning all the pieces for the drawer. But in less than 30 minutes we had a bench. All it needs now is a coat of water-sealer and we’re ready for planting!

My reward for being a handy husband was fresh malloreddus – a Sardinian pasta similar to a gnocchi. I think the first time Victor made this was from one of the La Cucina Italiana magazine’s Pasta Issue. It’s been in the repertoire for quite a few years, now. It’s pretty awesome stuff.

It’s heavier than the gnocchi he makes but it has a great bite and a great flavor – for being of such simple ingredients.

Malloreddus

• Sea Salt
• 1 ¼ cups semolina flour
• ¾ cup tipa “00” flour or all-purpose flour
• Extra virgin olive oil

Gnocchi board or a table fork

Dissolve 1 tsp salt in ¾ cup warm water. In a large bowl whisk together semolina and all purpose flour; mound and form a well in the center.

Add water mixture and 2 tsp olive oil to the well. Using your hand or a fork, slowly incorporate flour from inside the rim of the well. Continue until liquid is absorbed, then knead in bowl until dough forms a complete mass (dough will be slightly sticky).

Transfer dough to a well floured work surface and knead, dusting with a bit more flour as needed just to keep dough from sticking to your hands, for 5 minutes. Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

Break off about 1/8 of the dough; tightly rewrap remaining dough. Roll dough into ½ inch cylinder, and cut into ¼ inch thick pieces. Pressing with your thumb, roll each piece on a gnocchi board (or down the back of a fork) to give it the characteristic ridges, and put on a floured baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough.

To cook fresh Malloreddus, bring a large pot of salted water to a bill. Add pasta and cook until tender, about 6 minutes after water returns to a boil. Drain, transfer to a large serving bowl and immediately toss with sauce and serve.

Of course, both our semolina and our flour come from Italy – and the olive oil is from a friend in Sicily. Hell – even the salt is Mediterranean. The pasta sauce is homemade as are the meatballs…

One of these days I’m going to be accused of being a food snob. Your results may vary.

But it is Spring and that also means bringing out my most-favorite wind chimes. My sister, Arlene, gave these to me for Christmas years ago and I love them. I’ve put them back together several times and have water-sealed them many times, as well. They still have lots of life left in them!

The windows in the background are our office and it’s great to listen to them while working…

So… time to relax and think about dessert… I made lemon almond semolina cupcakes last night… ::burp::