For Spaghetti dough [Pasta all Uovo -- Pasta with Eggs]

3 large eggs
about 2 cups flour


For Cacio e Uova (or Cace e Ova) Cheese Rolls

4 medium eggs
2 cups grated Parmigiano Reggiano*
1 cup home-made breadcrumbs **
2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon pepper (optional)

* The majority of first-generation Italian-Canadians now living in Montreal (including the contributors' mother) use Parmigiano Reggiano to do this recipe even though when they were living in Italy (in particular, Molise) they used home-made sheep cheese to do it which is more like Pecorino than Parmesan.

** It seems prior to World War II cooks in well-to-do households did not thicken the cheese rolls with breadcrumbs. However, nowadays, many cooks, regardless of their economic situation, do add breadcrumbs as they tend to make the taste of the cheese rolls less sharp.


For Tossing Sauce**

** See recipe entitled "Basic Red Pasta Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes" or use any other Italian tomato sauce of one's choice


For cooking pasta

Large pot of water
1 tablespoon salt

To make Pasta all Uovo



1. Beat eggs.

2. Slowly add the flour and work into a fine firm dough, kneading for about 8 minutes.

3. Shape the dough into a ball.

4. Wrap the dough in clear plastic.

5. Place the dough in a container.

6. Let the dough rest for about two hours at room temperature.

7. Remove the plastic from the dough and cut a piece of dough -- about 2 inches by 2 inches. Flour the piece of dough and then pass it through a pasta maker until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick.

8. Place the resulting pasta sheet on a lightly floured wooden board.

9. Continue doing so until all the dough is processed.

10. Cut the pasta sheets so that they measure 12 inches long. Flour the pasta sheets and then pass them through the spaghetti pasta-maker.

11. Place the resulting spaghetti strands on a floured wooden board.

12. Either let the spaghetti air-dry for an hour or two prior to cooking them, or place the spaghetti on a large cookie sheet and freeze until needed.



To make Breadcrumbs needed for Cace e Ova [Cacio e Uova]



1. Place Italian-style country bread in a paper bag.

2. Let it dry for about 3 to 4 days.

3. Remove crust and discard it.

4. Grate the bread, using a grater with large holes.





To make the cheese rolls



1. Chop fresh parsley.

2. Beat eggs.

3. Add grated cheese and breadcrumbs to the eggs. Mix well.

4. Add chopped parsley. Mix well.

5. The mixture should be thick enough so that it can easily be molded. If the mixture is too soft, add more cheese. If the mixture is too hard, add a touch more beaten egg.

6. Take a handful of the mixture and shape it into a roll -- about 3 inches long and 1 inch thick.

7. Cook the cheese rolls for about 20 minutes in a tomato-based sauce.



To cook the home-made spaghetti



1. Bring large pot of water to boil.

2. Add about a tablespoon of salt.

3. Place the spaghetti in the water and cook until the desired tenderness (about 6 minutes).

4. Drain.

5. In a large bowl toss the spaghetti with about 1/4 of the tomato sauce.

6. Place the spaghetti in individual bowls and add more sauce. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese. Add a cheese roll or two.

7. Serve warm.

Perhaps the whole world knew (except me!) that in Molise, prior to World War II, a dish of spaghetti was considered a special delicacy. Very few cooks could make spaghetti very well. It required a certain dexterity with the knife that few could master. Also, making spaghetti took a great deal of time. Back then there were no pasta makers so the strands were cut individually. While cooks rolled out their dough and folded their pastry sheets several times to make tagliatelle and sagnatelle, this was not done for spaghetti. For spaghetti each strand was cut individually. Most cooks did not end up with strands that were uniform in size (Those who could were revered!). In any case, the amount of dough made would depend on the amount of people at the dinner table. Cooks generally went with "1 egg" per person. So if one had 6 people for dinner a cook would use 6 eggs and whatever flour was "needed" to make a firm dough. Because eggs were expensive at that time one can well understand why this type of pasta was reserved for special occasions like Christmas, Easter, weddings and baptisms. Even those farmers who raised chickens avoided doing this type of pasta, as they often sold (or bartered) their eggs for other essentials. "Cacio e uova," cheese rolls, were also rare treats. Even though they were perceived as being a cheaper alternative to meat, they nonetheless cost a far amount to make. In upper middle class households "spaghetti with caio e uova" might have been served on Sundays, but in poorer households the dish would have only been made for Easter Sunday! Nowadays most Italians associate spaghetti with everyday meals. I know I did. But that was a big mistake! Oddly enough, even now that I know better, I find it hard to believe that spaghetti (prior to World War II) ranked as high on the pasta hierarchy as lasagna and cannelloni (Silly me!). Of course, some cooks did make spaghetti dough without eggs, but not many (Spaghetti were far too labour-intensive to be worth the effort). In fact, in most poorer households even egg-free pasta was only served 2 times a week (So it was at my maternal grandmother's house!). The rest of the week cooks served pizza con figiole, pizza con rapini, and pizza with something or other. Of course, the pizza that was then served was not the now famous Italian American wheat-based tomato pizza but rather corn pizza. Actually, it wasn't a pizza at all, or even a corn bread, it was a simple mixture of cornmeal and water that was cooked over a slow fire. The resulting corn mixture did not have much taste. I suppose it played the same role as that of unflavored Chinese white rice, meaning that the flavor of the food did not depend on it. The flavor came from what one topped the corn pizza with. Anything and everything ended up on the corn pizza -- from tomato sauce to vegetable stews. Because the vegetables grown in the countryside were fresh and wholesome, I suppose, those who lived on a farm ate well enough back then, though, of course, my mother would disagree. She was (and is) not fond of corn pizza. Actually, neither am I. On the other hand home-made spaghetti with cacio e uova is very good. Thankfully, nowadays, one does not have to wait for Easter Sunday to enjoy it..... Photo: Mary Melfi.

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