Neapolitan Orecchiette 500g

Orecchiette Napoletane are a lovely, special shape of pasta made by Grania from Naples.

At first glance, Grania’s Neapolitan orecchiette look a bit like small bowler hats and on further inspection actually resemble orecchiette or little ears, from which the name is derived.

This shape is particularly good at at capturing and holding all kinds of sauces which makes them very verstaile in the kitchen. Try it with a meat ragu and peas or broccoli and sausage (traditional Neapolitan recipe). Orecchiette Napoletane are delicious with tuna or with speck and cream, spicy sausage and tomato. Try it as a base for pasta salad too. Nice!

THE GRANIA PASTA RANGE

Grania have called this range of gourmet pasta Le Gemme del Vesuvio or “Vesuvius Gems”. In the Volcano’s shadow, a group of artisan pasta makers apply their art every day to produce a pasta which looks and tastes fabulous. Only 3 ingredients are used. The finest durum wheat, the purest water and time. Lots of it.

At Grania, they have revived an ancient Neapolitan production process which involves drawing the pasta through bronze moulds to produce a rough surface which grabs the sauce and binds to it. The pasta is then dried very slowly at low temperatures to maintain all of its natural taste and goodness.

It keeps its shape and consistency perfectly when cooking and the “al dente” moment is very forgiving in case you just miss it!

The pasta has a lovely golden yellow colour and is just another reason they call them Vesuvius Gems!

Grania’s Bucatini and Trofie pasta have won Gold Medal at the Great Taste Awards. Widely considered the “Oscars” of artisan food in the UK, this bears testimony to the quality of this fine pasta range.