For pasta dough

4 cups flour
about 1 cup water

For sauce

5 tablespoons olive oil
10 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper (optional)
1/2 tablespoon chillies (optional)

For the pasta dough:



Make "everyday pasta" with flour and water [See directions in former entry].

Cut the pasta into small squares about 2 inches by 2 inches (A square-shaped cookie cutter can be used to help make the shapes uniform, though it is not essential that they are of equal size).



For the sauce:



Chop the garlic and fry till it is golden in olive oil.

Add salt, pepper and chillies.



Boil a large pot of water. Cook the pasta squares. Drain.

Toss the drained pasta squares with the seasoned olive oil.

Taccozze tossed with olive oil and fried garlic cloves were seen as the food of the poor, but having made them myself and having had the pleasure of eating them I have to say that they are quite delicious.... In Italy quite a few people added the water that the pasta was cooked in to the sauce. Personally I don't find this necessary. I suspect this was done to decrease the amount of oil used. Adding water to the sauce dilutes the taste of the garlic, but that's just my opinion. This simple meal (Can't get more simple than this) has an incredible flavor. In fact, one doesn't feel that one is eating a pasta dish but more of a dessert dish. Home-made "everyday" pasta dough has a rather sweet taste, so it's easy to over-indulge. If one wants to avoid over-eating this is not the dish to do. Photo: Mary Melfi.

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