Orecchiette Pugliese

Orecchiette is a type of pasta commonly made in the southern Italian region of Apulia. In fact, walk along any street in the region’s capital city of Bari and you will meet an endless stream of women sitting in front of their small flat forming the orecchiette shape with swift movements of hand and knife. They turn the freshly-made pasta consisting of semolina flour, water and sometimes a small amount of olive oil into shapes that resemble little ears – the meaning of the word orecchiette.

This kind of pasta is usually served with a tomato-based sauce or more traditionally, a sauce made from the bitter green resembling broccoli called cima di rapa. It is this latter version that forms the classic Pugliese version – one that traditionally combines cima di rapa with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, anchovies and chili pepper. Typically, the pasta is cooked in the same water as the vegetables, then quickly drained and tossed together with the other ingredients and served with a dollop of something acidic and creamy – usually sour cream.

My vegan version makes a couple of substitutions. I replace the anchovies with salt-cured capers to create a similar salty and umami hit to the sauce. My creamy and acidic replacement is made with a thick, Greek-style soy yogurt. The result is exactly the same – comforting, delicious and addictive.

Difficulty: simple
Yield: makes 4-6 servings