Make your own fresh, handmade pasta in the comfort of your own home with this easy, no egg dough, pici pasta! The pici is doused in a creamy, umami rich sauce with a special ingredient - black garlic - and fresh basil.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together the 00 flour, olive oil, and salt. Slowly add in the water while combining the mixture together with a fork. Dump out the dough on a wooden surface and knead until firm and smooth - about 10 minutes.
Set the dough back into a bowl and brush it with a bit of olive oil. Cover the bowl with cling wrap or a towel and let it rest for an hour.
While the dough rests, start prepping the black garlic sauce. Add the heavy cream and black garlic cloves to a food processor and blend until smooth. Set the sauce aside.
After the dough has rested, cut it into four equal pieces. Brush a piece of the dough with olive oil. Cover the rest of the pasta dough. Roll out the quarter of the dough and cut it into equal sized strips. Use your hands to roll each strip into about a ½ inch thick string. Continue this method for the rest of the quarter slabs.
Now that everything is prepped, add the pici to a pot of salted boiling water and cook for 2-4 minutes until done. In a medium sauce pan, melt 2 tablespoon of butter. Add the black garlic sauce to the pan. Toss in the basil and allow it to infuse with the sauce for a minute.
Once the pici is cooked, transfer the pasta to the black garlic sauce and toss it until it's well coated. Once done, plate the pasta and garnish it with pecorino and additional fresh basil leaves.
Notes
Kneading the pasta: You can skip hand kneading the pasta if you have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer.
The black garlic sauce will darken significantly as soon as it heats in the pan.
A great alternative to making fresh pici is grabbing some fresh spaghetti or linguine at your grocery store or dried bucatini.