Michele Portoghese orecchiette

Orecchiette is the most typical pasta shape of Puglia. The resulting shape is round disc, slightly hollow in the center. In the Apulian gastronomic tradition of homemade pasta, the orecchiette were made with white flour, durum wheat semolina and water. Once in small pieces of pasta, they “crawled” with the tip of a knife to obtain a kind of shell, then inverted backwards with the tip of the thumb. In the traditional Apulian recipe, the orecchiette are boiled together with broccoli or turnip tops. They can be served with a tomato and pecorino sauce or with a mixture of garlic and oil.

Pasta Michele Portoghese is an artisanal production. Many years ago, pasta production was completely manual; after the dough was ready, the next phase was the extrusion by using the old fashioned press, and finished by drying the pasta either with the heat of the sun or in a room heated by the antique stoves. Today, the pasta of Pasta Michele Portoghese is made using the traditional methods, but is guaranteed with state-of-the-art quality controls, hand selected grains and the perfect dose of durum wheat semolina. The drying process is slow at a low temperature as it is the most delicate phase requiring maximum attention. The temperature notably affects both the taste and protein content, therefore, the process ensures a high nutritional value, the flavor of the product and causes the pasta to maintain a high quality performance during and after cooking.