Bar snacks.  They’re not great.  Yet we consume so much of them.  Sorry if I’m being bold by saying “we”.  Maybe I just mean “I”.  If there is some mystery snack bowl at the bar I will easily destroy its contents… for no reason.  Half the time I don’t even know what’s in there… besides sesame what is even in a sesame stick?  Do I really want mass quantities of giant hard corn pieces? No, no I don’t.

There is a solution.  Fried orecchiette.  Or fried any pasta (I actually used lumaconi).  I imagined these being tough to bite down on but they are crunchy and light.  You could flavor them however you want… I won’t make you choose.  The below is just an example.

You’ll need:

1 pound orecchiette

1 cup vegetable oil

0.5 cup grated parmesan

Salt and Pep

pasta drying out

Cook the pasta (all the way) in boiling salted water according to the package instruction.  Lay out to dry overnight (wet noodles will not fry).

Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Fry the pasta by the cupful.  Once browned, remove pasta with a scoop colander and lay on a baking sheet lined with paper towels.   Sprinkle with parmesan, black pepper and salt.

Snacks on snacks on snacks.  Note: not just for bar snack use.  These went over particularly well at book club.