Funny Pasta

As we enter into the darker part of the year, a friend invited me to a feast in honor of our ancestors. One part of it was to bring a dish that reminded you of your ancestor. So I decided to try to recreate a dish I had only vague memories of from my childhood that my dad would make with us that we LOVED – funny pasta.

Funny pasta was odd-shaped gummy pasta clumps that I think probably started as a way to avoid the laborious process of making actual noodles – but it was the best.

It’s been ~30 years since I’ve had this dish and all I remembered about it is that we made the clumps in the food processor. My mom remembered the ingredients: just flour and egg. So I tried it, and it worked! Super easy, and pretty fun to make.

If you want to try it, here’s what you do:

Combine (ideally in a food processor)
– 1c flour (I used gf and it was fine! I was a little worried…)
– 1 egg
– Just enough water to where the dough starts to make small clumps – watch it! For me this was about 2tbsp
– Salt and pepper to taste (actually I intended to add these but forgot) You could also add nutmeg if you want a bastardized spaetzle type thing

Boil a pot of salted water

Crumble the dough into the water. When the crumbles rise to the top of the water they’re ready and you can fish them out. It’s super fast.

For this feast I mixed the funny pasta with caramelized onions, lots of garlic, olive oil, and parmesan cheese – a little more adult than how we probably ate it back in the day, although garlic, parmesan, and olive oil were all favorites of my dad’s…

Also – I brought this dish for the nostalgia factor, not because I thought it would actually be good, but people were into it!