Page:Wood - Foods of the Foreign-Born.djvu/53

Rh Take from the fire and add a tablespoon of butter and several tablespoons of grated cheese, also the egg, slightly beaten. Mix well and spread out on a molding board in a sheet about three-quarters inch thick. When it is cold, cut in squares or diamonds. Put a layer of these on a shallow baking dish or platter that has been buttered. Sprinkle with cheese and dot with butter. Make another layer, and so on, until the dish is filled. Bake in the oven until the crust is well browned.

Tagliatelli o Pasta Fatta in Casa (Noodles or Home-Made Paste)

The best and most tender paste is made simply of eggs and flour and salt. Water may be substituted for part of the eggs, for economy, or when a less rich paste is needed. Allow about a cup of flour to an egg. Put the flour on a bread board, make a hole in the middle, and break in the egg. Use any extra whites that are on hand. Work it with a fork until it is firm enough to work with the hands. Knead it thoroughly, adding more flour if necessary, until you have a paste you can roll out. Roll it as thin as a ten-cent piece. If the sheet of paste is too large to handle with an ordinary rolling pin, a broom handle, which has been sawed off, scrubbed, and sandpapered, will serve in lieu of the long, Italian rolling pin.

This paste may be cut in ribbons, to be cooked in soup as Tagliatelli, or cut in squares or circles and filled with various mixtures to make Cappelletti, Ravioli, etc.

Any bits that are left or become too dry to work may be made into a ball and kept for some time to be grated into soup, in which it makes an excellent thickening.