Sista Felicia’s Homemade St Joseph Semolina Pasta Recipe

Every Sicilian family makes their homemade St. Joseph Pasta slightly different. Some use eggs, some use white flour, some use semolina , and others use a combination of both.  The combination of ingredients and  the pasta’s thickness really determines both the  taste, and  texture of the final traditional pasta dish. The St. Joseph “Goranza”  is traditionally made with Cauliflower fava beans, chic peas, and fennel frauns.  Some Sicilian families  add several kinds of beans and some add the stalks and bulb of the anise.  Like all Italian and Sicilian recipes ….each family has their own twist.  Many make this pasta  extremely thick and heavy, I do not.   Over the years I have developed this pasta recipe and mastered the technique of making it.  If your looking for a pasta recipe that’s tender and delicious this is the recipe to follow….Even The Godmother of Gloucester  “Sefatia”  gave it the 2 thumbs up.  She loved it so much she took 5 lbs. home after last years feast celebration.  

 This year we made 130 lbs. of Pasta, for our St. Joseph Feast, which we will be celebrating this Saturday. 130 lbs. of pasta may sound like a lot but, part of the tradition for me to keep alive is the tradition of  send family and friends home with  a container of St. Joseph Pasta.  I can vividly remember a long line of people waiting with containers in hand during my Uncle Mike and Aunt Vincie’s St. Joseph Feast Day.  A line from her stove in the kitchen, went through the house, out the front door and down the street 2 city blocks.  People waited hours to get a potion of blessed pasta.  For the past few years I decided to take that tradition one step further, and send my family and guest home with a bag of dried pasta, and  small container of St. Joseph Goranza, so they can prepare and enjoy it one more time at home.  It has become the grand finally of our feast day.  Everyone  waits in line for their opportunity to digs into the giant containers of stored pasta.  Each fills a plastic bag up with homemade dried pasta,  and heads to the kitchen to pick up their container of Goranza by the stove top.  This new tradition is another Gift Of Gold  that I hope to pass on to the next generation!  

For St Joseph Semolina Pasta Dough Recipe and  Step-by-Step instruction 

St Joseph Semolina Pasta Dough

Ingredients:

3 cups semolina flour (available at Italian grocers), plus ¾ cup, and an additional 3 cups for rolling out the dough

2 cup warm water

2 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon Kosher Salt

Step-by-Step

1  sift flour and salt directly into the bowl of  stand mixer

2  whisk olive oil and water together in  small glass

3   add the olive oil and water to the flour

4  set machine on a medium setting and mix until dough begins to come together and forms loose dough

5  add additional ¾ cups flour, continue to mix until it is consistent and smooth when stretched

6  remove dough from mixing bowl and shape into  log

7  roll log in ½ cup flour, coating the outer layer of the dough

8   keep dough covered with kitchen towel if making multiple batches, or place in olive oil coated bowl

9  using a pastry knife cut small tennis ball size pieces of dough

10   roll dough into rectangle shape piece 3 inches wide

11  flour each side of the dough and guide dough through the pasta roller set on thickness 1

12  repeat steps 9-11, adjusting the pasta roller setting down a thickness level to your desired pasta thickness (I prefer to roll my pasta to a setting 4)

13  using a pastry knife, cut pasta sheets into 12 -14 inch lengths

14  flour each side and carefully guide through a fettuccini pasta cutter attachment

15  cook in boiling salted water until al dente (this generally only takes a 3-5minutes depending on the thickness of the pasta)