Pasta - The long and the short of it

Pastas - The long and the short of it.

It only takes a quick walk down an italian supermarket aisle to realise how little you understand about pasta. The shapes in their multitudes, can leave you feeling decidedly dizzy, confused, admittedly harrowed, but mostly -  hungry. Italy alone is said to have somewhere around 350 different shapes of pastas, and it is only once the headache has subsided from trying to figure out the difference in diameter of a simple spaghetti - that you realise while the Italians are quick to brag that they have mastered the art of simplicity in their cooking - they sure have spent as much time showing off their skills in making pasta too!

Each pasta shape has its own contours, ridges, diameters and lengths which in general tend to lend itself well to specific pasta sauces.The typical lasagna speaks for itself, fettuccine alfredo is not the same served with penne and can you imagine a lamb ragu served with anything other than a pappardelle? 

When one applies cooking intuition, it makes sense that a large, flat pasta would be best with a heavy and meaty sauce, a miniature shell saped pasta for a soup base and a delicate pasta to cradle something of value for a special occasion - like seafood. 

Penne

There are two types of penne: smooth (lisce) and ridged (rigate). Thanks to its ridges, the rigate version is a bit sturdier and tends to soak up more sauce than smooth penne. penne lische is perhaps best known for penne alla vodka as it’s the perfect pasta for a smooth and creamy vodka sauce while Penne rigate is not to be overlooked for a bolognaise.

 Ziti is both shorter and thicker than penne, and typically has a smooth exterior—though there are “rigate” variations on ziti. A medium-sized, tubed pasta, ziti goes best with chunky sauces and meat dishes that can get trapped in the hollow centers. It’s also well known as the go-to pasta for baked ziti, a pasta casserole dish with lots of cheese and sauce. 

Rigatoni is a ridged pasta. It’s deep ridges and broad surface make rigatoni different to both penne and ziti. Sauces love to cling to rigatoni, making this pasta delicious with meat sauces, thin tomato sauces, and everything in between. The thick, hearty shape holds up well  to the al-dente shape.

Bucatini might easily be mistaken for spaghetti. On closer inspection one finds it’s a bit thicker,with a thin hole in the centre. The hole is what elevates bucatini, as it enables the pasta to be coated as well as filled. Bucatini works best with a butter-infused tomato sauce or amatriciana.

Casarecce  is a short, wide band pasta loosely twisted to resemble a scroll with narrow grooves down the middle of the pasta. The curves of this lightly twisted shape make it perfect for capturing sauces. It is well suited to most type of pasta sauces, and is our personal favourite served with Pasta all norma.

Farfalle pasta is best suited to creamy or tomato sauces.Farfalle are a very popular pasta shape, especially in Northern Italy. They are usually served with creamy sauces, in pasta salad, with seafood, with tomato sauce and, sometimes, with heavy meat sauces. Some typical recipes include farfalle cremasca from Lombardy, made with amaretti biscuits, butter and sage and farfalle with rocket and small calamari, also from Lombardy. In Emilia-Romagna, they often serve strichetti or farfalle in a chicken broth, with Bolognese or a liver ragu.

Truthfully, the list of possible pastas is constantly evolving. With the culinary world taking notice of eaters with ailments such as gluten intolerance, traditional molds are constantly being recast, and new, innovative creations born.