Passatelli

Directions

1. 1
   To mix, beat the egg lightly, then stir in the bread crumbs, salt, and cheese.
2. 2
   Blend thoroughly to form a dense and somewhat sticky paste (see illustrations).
3. 3
   Cover the dough and refrigerate now if you want, for up to 2 days.
4. 4
   To make the passatelli, flatten the dough on a floured board and roll into a rough rectangular shape, 1/4 inch thick or a bit less, if it will stretch without breaking.
5. 5
   Cut the dough lengthwise every 1/4 inch into long sticks; cut these into 3-inch pieces (on the bias for a decorative touch).
6. 6
   Toss lightly in flour, then lay out on a tray or baking sheet, covered with a towel, until youre ready to cook them.
7. 7
   They can be frozen at this point and dropped into the boiling soup to cook frozen.
8. 8
   Cook about 1/2 cup of cut pieces per serving.
9. 9
   Bring seasoned broth to an active boil, drop in the passatelli, and boil for 4 to 5 minutes (or a bit longer if they are thick), until they are soft but still hold their shape.
10. 10
    In Italy, traditional round strands of passatelli are shaped with a special tool somewhat like a potato masher, with a heavy-duty perforated sheet that is pressed into the dough.
11. 11
    With enough pressure, the dough is forced up through the holes, forming spaghetti-like pieces.
12. 12
    I have one of these, a handheld cylindrical extruder, at home and it works well most of the time.
13. 13
    But you have to be careful about the density of the dough; it must be neither too hard nor too soft.
14. 14
    A good alternativeand one that I hope many of you can tryis to use an electric meat grinder or the meat grinder attachment for a food processor.
15. 15
    You set it up as usual with a disk of medium or large holes, but without the rotary cutting blade.
16. 16
    The machine will now act as an extruder rather than a grinder: you drop the dough into the hopper and the auger will do the work, pushing it out the holes in a continuous stream of perfect passatelli.
17. 17
    Let them fall onto a tray or plate and break naturally into pieces (or cut them shorter).
18. 18
    Cook them as in the recipe below.