Pantry Pasta

I returned from 2 weeks abroad with my family, and shockingly, we had no food. An ATM in Portugal ate all of the money I had allotted myself for the next few weeks, so buying food was out. And this here is the true beauty of pasta.

I did not have eggs, but I did have flour, so orecchiette was the obvious choice. Translating to little ears in Italian, orecchiette is made by nonas in the south that sit around, dutifully stretching out these little ears for hours. It is made with mixture of 00 flour and semolina, bound together using water instead of egg.

I used about 75 grams of both flours, and added warm water as needed, about another 75 grams. I think throughout the needing process I added a little too much flour making it harder than necessary to roll out, but after 2 hours I had completed my task.

By the time I had shaped all of the dough I was famished, so I quickly boiled some water and started to compose my sauce. Over medium heat I sauteed 3 cloves of garlic in a generous amount of olive oil, then added in a whole tine of olive oil packed anchovies. Once the water boiled I added in the orecchiette until they were al dente, then transferred them to my sauce, allowing them to soak up all that infused olive oil goodness. Topped off with some Parmesan, and this dish is worthy of being served at a dinner party. If you are so inclined, some chili flakes would really round out this dish. Never let it be said that you have nothing to eat. You just have to look close enough.