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Joey Campanaro makes cavatelli

Linda Perney | amNY.com

6:01 PM EDT, October 10, 2006

Joey Campanaro, chef and co-owner of The Little Owl, 90 Bedford Strert, New York City (AMNEw York.com)

The Little Owl, in the West Village has built a following for its friendliness as well as its sophisticated cooking.

Chef/owner Joey Campanaro, who has presided over the stoves at both The Harrison and Pace, says the roots of his cooking go back to his mother and grandmother. "I decided to be a cook when my father told me to get a job," he says, remembering a summer at the Jersey Shore when he wanted to buy a boat to go crabbing. "It was a $60, 10-foot rowboat," he remembers, and, working as a dishwasher, it took him all summer to earn enough to buy it. By the time he had enough, he continues, "The summer was over, and we had to go back to Philly."

That summer job led to others, at the Symphony Cafe, the Bryant Park Grill, and the executive dining room at Universal Studios, in Los Angeles. He had, as he puts it, "fallen in love with the fraternal order of the kitchen."

The recipe that follows goes all the way back, to his grandmother's kitchen -- the recipe for the homemade cavatelli is hers, and, says Campanaro, he has been turning out the pasta since he was about eight years old.

RECIPE

Serves four as a main course or eight as an appetizer NOTE: You can substitute high-quality fresh or frozen cavatelli. Or you can use gnocchi; or, if you prefer dry pasta, you can use orrechiette. You can also substitute sun-dried tomatoes for the oven-roasted tomatoes called for here.

CAVATELLI
2 cups fresh ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
With an electric mixer, whip cheese and eggs together until smooth. Slowly add the flour until the dough pulls together but remains a little sticky. The dough needs to rest at this point for at least 25 minutes, wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator. It is then rolled out on a floured board, cut into 1-inch strips and fed through a Cavatelli cutter (available in specialty import stores for $24-$35) Spread out the pasta on floured sheet pan.

OVEN DRIED ROMA TOMATOES

Three Roma tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 100 degrees

To blanch the tomatoes, drop them in plenty of salted boiling water until the skin breaks then shock them by removing them from the boiling water and plunging them into ice water. Now, the tomato is easily peeled.

Halve the tomatoes and put them in one layer on a baking dish; bake for about eight hours.

BRAISED VEAL CHEEKS
2 lbs veal cheeks (available at specialty meat markets)
1 cup red wine
1 carrot, chopped