How many times have you returned home from another Halki holiday and you wondered, “OK, I’ve bought this Halki pasta, but how does one cook it?”. It would be great to have one of your favourite taverna owners and cooks there to assist, but that’s a little difficult. Worry no more, we’ve come up with the traditional Halki pasta recipe so that you can make the lovely onion sauce in order to cook your pasta, in true Halki fashion.
A little background
Pasta dishes are very common in the whole of the Dodecanese region. You will find simple pasta dishes like the one in Halki in most of the villages in Rhodes, Halki, Tilos and the rest of the islands. The Dodecanese were under Italian rule from 1912 to 1945, after the end of World War II. In difficult times, people had to survive on whatever produce was available to them, so making pasta with water and flower was an obvious choice for energy and nutrition, a sort of peasant food. Today this pasta dish is mainly prepared on special occasions and festival, to celebrate today with an ode to the past.
The Recipe
Ingredients
- Halki Pasta
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Butter
- Cheese
- Salt&Pepper
Cook your pasta for a few minutes in salted water until ready. In a frying pan, start with some good quality butter and a touch of extra virgin olive oil, plenty depending on your pasta quantity, 3 thinly sliced onions. Slowly colour the your onions until light golden brown. Give this step sometime as the slower you cook them, the sweetest they will be! Take your pan away from the heat, add your cooked pasta, adding water from the pasta water and add cheese (any Greek cheese would do like Graviera or if you cannot find Greek go for any white or yellow hard cheese)
You can layer a bowl with your cheese, then pasta and onions on top and then more cheese to finish. You may also finish with a little extra olive oil and pepper.
I’m off to prepare a bowl for myself now!
Halki is one of my favorite places on earth, especially Kania Beach. I’m so happy to have this recipe to make at home.
A question instead of a comment.
How may I prepare the typical pasta format for Halki Pasta at home?
Does anyone know the amounts please