In short. Cavatelli with cooked wheat berries and beans in a light tomato sauce — a dish that puts three starches in one bowl and makes complete sense the moment you taste it.
Cooked wheat — grano cotto — turns up across southern Italy, usually tied to the feast of Santa Lucia. Here it goes into a everyday plate of pasta and beans, and gives it a chew that pasta alone does not have.
Ingredients
- 500 g of cavatelli
- 500 g of cooked wheat berries
- 250 g of dried beans
- 250 g of peeled tomatoes or tomato sauce, plus 2–3 fresh tomatoes
- garlic, celery, basil
- extra virgin olive oil, salt, grated cheese
Method
1. The beans. Boil them with the celery, the garlic and the fresh tomatoes. When they are done, finish with a little oil.
2. The sauce. In a pan soften oil, basil and garlic, add the tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes.
3. The pasta. Cook the cavatelli in plenty of salted water and drain.
4. Together. Add the cooked wheat to the beans and the tomato sauce, and mix everything through the pasta. Grated cheese over the top.
More on the first courses page.
