What is the difference between pitaridia and makarounes?

Both are handmade Dodecanese pastas from a simple flour and water dough, but makarounes, from Karpathos, are thick and dumpling-like, while pitaridia, from Kalymnos, are rolled thin and cut into flat ribbons, closer to a rustic tagliatelle.

Can you use dried pasta instead?

A wide, flat dried pasta like tagliatelle is the closest substitute, though it will not take on the sauce in quite the same way as pitaridia cooked directly in it from raw.

How long do fresh pitaridia keep before cooking?

A few hours, dusted well with flour and kept loosely covered at room temperature. For longer storage, dry them fully on a tray before keeping in an airtight container.

Pitaridia Kalymnou Recipe (Kalymnos Pasta)

Pitaridia belong to the same island tradition of handmade pasta as Karpathos's makarounes, a simple flour and water dough worked by hand long before dried pasta reached every Greek kitchen, but the two are genuinely different shapes: makarounes are thick, short, dumpling-like pieces, while pitaridia are rolled thin and cut into flat ribbons, closer in spirit to a rustic tagliatelle.

The dough itself needs nothing beyond flour, water and a little salt, and the real skill lies entirely in the rolling, since pitaridia depend on being genuinely thin to cook through properly and take up the sauce well.

They are traditionally simmered directly in a light tomato sauce rather than boiled separately and dressed afterwards, which lets the noodles absorb the sauce as they finish cooking, similar in principle to how orzo behaves in giouvetsi.

Key preparation steps

Make a simple flour and water dough.
Roll thin and cut into flat ribbons by hand.
Build a light tomato sauce.
Simmer the noodles directly in the sauce until tender.

The dough

Mix flour, a pinch of salt and enough warm water to bring together a firm, smooth dough, kneading for a good ten minutes until elastic. Rest the dough, covered, for at least thirty minutes before rolling, which makes it considerably easier to work thin.

Rolling and cutting

Roll the rested dough out as thinly as you reasonably can, then cut into flat ribbons about a centimetre wide, dusting with flour to stop them sticking together while they wait to be cooked. Genuinely thin rolling is the one thing that most affects how well the finished pitaridia turns out.

Cooking directly in the sauce

Build a light tomato sauce with onion, garlic and tinned tomato, then add the fresh pitaridia directly into the simmering sauce along with a little extra water, and cook for around ten minutes, until the noodles are tender and have absorbed much of the sauce, finishing with grated cheese if you like.

What matters in this dish

Roll the dough genuinely thin

This is what most affects the finished texture. A thick-rolled pitaridia takes considerably longer to cook through and loses the delicate bite that defines the dish.

Rest the dough before rolling

A good thirty minutes lets the gluten relax, making the dough considerably easier to roll thin without springing back.

Cook the noodles directly in the sauce

This is traditional and lets them absorb the sauce properly as they finish cooking, rather than sitting under a ladle of sauce afterwards.

Pitaridia Kalymnou Recipe (Kalymnos Hand-Rolled Pasta)