Orecchiette is a delicate little noodle that translates to “Little Ear.”  This recipe is influenced and informed by the sonic pasta – but purists will see many deviations.  This is just darn yummy small noodles made with eggs, flour (red fife and white), and roasted garlic.

The main advantage of these little darlings is that you can make them with very little equipment (I used a food processor and a spoon but you could knead by hand).

See the photos – the recipe will follow:

Ingredients

• 9 ounces of flour. We used 3 ounces of red Fife, 6 ounces of white flour.  You could replace the 3 ounces with any whole grain that you’d like.
• 6 ounces of eggs
• 1 Roasted bulb of garlic (you could use far less – I love my garlic and the flavor is pronounced).
• 0.5 teaspon of salt

This produces enough for 2-4 servings depending on hunger.  Don’t be fooled by the apparent small amount of noodles – they are filling and wonderful.

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in the blender with a rubber dough hook (if kneading by hand, make a ‘bowl’ of flour on the cutting board, pour other ingredients in center and knead until complete, described in next step).
2. Mix until the dough forms a ball (it will ‘run around’ the outside of your food processor).  Examine for texture – if it’s dry, you’re perfect!  If it’s overly tacky (which is likely), add a generous pinch of flour, mix and check again).  If you add too much flour, it will crumble and you can bring together by pressing gently with your hands or adding a TOUCH of water.
3. Toss a small bit of flour in a clean bowl.  Place dough inside and roll to coat with the flour.  This will prevent it from sticking to the pan.
4. Cover with a damp cloth.  Allow it to sit for 30-60 minutes.
5. Form dough into a roll, cut into 8 pieces.  If you want to make them even, continuously cut the roll in half (i.e. I cut the roll into two equal halves, cut those in half and then one more cut in the middle of each piece).
6. Roll into a tube – it’s easiest between your hands.  If things are sticky, touch with a bit of flour.  The final tubes should be about the width of a pencil (mine were thicker, a lesson learned).
7. Once you have a series of pasta snakes, use a butter knife to cut off small pieces.  Add flour as you go (any ‘fresh cut’ pieces without a layer of flour will stick together).
8. Flatten the pieces with a small spoon.  I keep extra flour on the board to loosely toss them with.  I touch the spoon to the flour when dough starts sticking to it.
9. Place in a bowl (they can store in the fridge like this).
10. Cook in well-salted boiling water until al dente (4-8 minutes, depending on the thickness).
11. Consume.  Smile. Repeat if desired.

That’s all there is to it!  Fresh, easy, savory pasta.