Run out of shop bought pasta or just looking for a bit of challenge? Let’s try this egg noodles and belong to one of the world’s best!

Egg noodle is a type of pasta made with eggs. It may sound like stating the obvious but in the world where there are dishes that’s name not just an utter nonsense (Monkey Bread) but the complete opposite what their name suggests (Egg Rolls), it’s useful to emphasize such blatant details.

Anyway, the fact that pasta contains egg should be obvious for most of those who have grown up eating fresh pasta (e.g., Italians). Others who accustomed to grab dried spaghetti on the bargain and soak it under thick tomato sauce (ketchup) with random meatballs, may rarely see pasta with eggs.

In fact, we can make pasta just by mixing flour and water lazily together then cook it. Sometimes even Italians skip on adding eggs to their pasta, using only water and maybe a bit of oil. Before the times when ‘al dente’ came to be the ‘de facto’ way of making pasta, and even Italians indulged in the sinful way of overcooking it until soft and mushy.

The word noodle itself refers to the long elongated shaped pasta and it comes from the German ‘nudel’ word, where unsurprisingly it means exactly the same thing.

Noodles can be made not only from flour, as we may do it at home, or ground semolina flour as it’s done by those in the know, but from various other ingredients that can hold their shape when pressed and cut into this elongated form.

Buckwheat, millet, corn, durum, or rice have been traditionally employed by various countries’ cuisines for centuries. Recent changes in diet spurred innovations into the pasta space and previously unheard-of ingredients were employed to make noodles.

Quinoa, lentils among others for those on gluten free diet, or even cream cheese for those on keto, is used to make noodles nowadays with varying results but mostly with success.

Egg noodles, as their name implies again, are made with eggs and if we aren’t on a keto diet then in the coziness of our homes generally plain white flour is used to create those charming drawn-out shapes.

Except, of course, if we are one of those bad(l)asses who know how to make su filindeu because they use semolina flour, similarly to most spaghetti, sold in shops.

Probably many of us, who live far from the idyllic scenery of hidden Italian mountain villages, will be happy enough to cut their pasta into stripes. Maybe the more adventurous of us try their hands in the art of hand stretching Chinese noodles, but most of us will be happy watching some awesome guy doing it.

Of course, if someone wants to go on a pilgrimage for years travelling through village after village in search of the secrets of making the 250 threaded pasta, who are we to look down on one’s dream? Life is too short not to have it with the perfect pasta.

The rest of us will have to be content with using pasta making machines for spaghetti or in lack of that a somewhat sharp cutting tool to make our pasta as narrow or wide as much sauce we want them to carry at a mouthful.

Ingredients

5 cups / 600g Flour
6 pieces / 360g Eggs

How to make Egg noodles

Measure flour and eggs. We can make pasta kneading by hand but if we have an electric tool to help us in this tiresome task, all the better.
Knead the dough until it comes together. If we have a hard time kneading with eggs, only add a bit of water by the tablespoon to soften up the dough.
Divide the dough if it is a big batch then roll it out on a slightly floured surface.
When the dough starts to stick to the rolling pin, apply a thin layer of flour onto both sides.
Roll the dough until the pattern of the rolling board becomes visible through the pasta.
Prepare to cut the pasta into the desired shape. Apply a thin layer of flour onto both sides of the pasta again.
Roll it up.
With a sharp knife, slice the rolled up pasta.
Open the pasta rolls and put them in a place where they don’t stick together. We can get a special pasta hanger, simply lightly flour some unused working surface or find any other ingenious solution. Use the pasta up immediately or let it dry in a dark and dry, possibly airy cool place. Dried pasta could be stored in a dry cool place up to one year. If grey or any other colored spots start to appear, discard the pasta and find a less humid place for it next time.

Enjoy!

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