Malloreddus di Desulo (Vitellini di Desulo)

• 16 ounces fine semolina flour, plus additional as needed
• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt, plus additional for cooking the pasta
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, pan-roasted and dissolved in 2 tablespoons warm white wine
• 1 cup water, plus additional as needed
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 8 ounces fresh, Italian-style sausage, removed from its casing
• 1 small yellow onion, peeled and minced
• 2 fat cloves garlic, peeled, crushed, and minced
• 1 14-ounce can plum tomatoes, with their liquids
• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• Freshly cracked pepper
• 1 1/3 cups good red wine
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, pan-roasted and dissolved in 2 tablespoons warm red wine
• 1 cup just-grated pecorino
• 1/2 cup torn basil leaves

1. On a large wooden board or a pastry marble or in a large bowl, place the 16 ounces of flour with the 2 teaspoons sea salt in a flat mound and form a well in the center.
2. Have the saffroned wine and 1 cup of water at the ready.
3. Pour the water and the saffroned wine into the well, drawing the flour from the inside wall of the mound gently into the liquids.
4. Using your hands, continue to work the elements into a rough paste.
5. Add more water, only drops of it at a time, should the paste seem too dry.
6. Work the paste vigorously, distributing the saffron so that the paste is of a uniform golden color.
7. This is a rustic, dense sort of dough, having nothing in common with the satiny texture of egg-based pasta dough.
8. Building this dough is a bit like building mud pies, in the sense of its compactness.
9. The goal is to end up with a dough that can be molded rather than rolled.
10. Take an ounce or so of the dough and form it into a rope about 1/2 inch in diameter.
11. Using your thumb and forefinger, pinch off bits of the ropeeach about the size of a dried white beanand press each bit, rocking it, really, with your thumb, over a rough surfacea tea strainer turned upside down, the tines of a fork turned upside down, or even over a straw place mat.
12. Youll find that the dough, while taking on the imprint of the surface over which it was pressed, also rolls over on itself, forming a fat little dumpling with a hollow.
13. One needs to practice the technique.
14. Place the finished malloreddus on a tray lined with a kitchen towel lightly dusted with semolina.
15. Cover the malloreddus with another kitchen towel and let them restup to 48 hoursuntil you are ready to cook them in abundant, boiling, sea-salted water until they are tender.
16. Their cooking time is wholly dependent on how long the pasta has been left to dry.
17. Drain the pasta, leaving it somewhat wet, tossing it with its good sauce.
18. In a large pot over a medium flame, warm the olive oil and saute the sausage, crushing it into the oil.
19. Soften the onion and the garlic in the oil, taking care not to let them color.
20. Add the tomatoes, the sea salt, generous grindings of pepper, the wine, and the dissolved saffron, bringing the mixture to a gentle simmer.
21. Cook the sauce, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
22. Off the flame, add the pecorino and the just-torn basil, stirring the sauce well, then permitting it to rest for 1 hour.
23. Toss the cooked malloreddus with half the sauce, passing the remainder at table with more pecorino and sending round a jug of rough red wine.

semolina flour, salt, saffron threads, water, extravirgin olive oil, sausage, yellow onion, garlic, tomatoes, salt, freshly cracked pepper, good red wine, saffron threads, pecorino, torn basil

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/malloreddus-di-desulo-vitellini-di-desulo-391227 (may not work)