Garganelli

Directions

1. DIRECTIONSWhirl the eggs, cheese, and nutmeg together in a food processor until smooth. Gradually add the flour until a ball of dough is formed that leaves the sides of the bowl. Gather up the dough, shape it into a ball, and let it rest, covered, under a bowl for about 1 hour.
2. Alternately, make the dough by hand. Heap the flour onto a work surface and fashion it into a fontana. Crack the eggs into the center of the fontana and break them up with a fork. Beat in the cheese and nutmeg. Form the dough by slowly incorporating the flour into the egg mixture.
3. When ready to roll and form the garganelli, cut the dough into four pieces; work with one piece at a time, keeping the rest covered. Roll out each piece, using a hand-crank pasta machine or by hand using a rolling pin. Trim the sheet to 24 inches long. The sheet should be about 6 inches wide. With a pasta wheel, cut the sheet in half lengthwise, then cut eight 3-inch squares from each half. There should be sixteen 3-inch squares. Save and reroll the scraps. Repeat with the remaining dough.
4. Place a new unsharpened pencil or small 1/4-inch-wide wooden dowel rod diagonally at a point at one end of the pasta and roll the pasta up on the pencil or dowel rod. Create lines on the garganelli by rolling the pasta over a new clean comb, a butter paddle, or a chitarra. Slip the garganelli off the end of the pencil or rod and let them dry on clean kitchen towels for about 30 minutes before cooking.
5. Note: Garganelli are best cooked the day they are made. Drying them for future use makes them too hard to cook uniformly.