1, 2, 3, say al dente!
Saturday, January 29, 2011 @ 2:07 AM





People who love Italian food know that pasta is the heart of that cuisine. Pasta is the general term used to refer to the numerous Italian variants of noodles (made of dough and water, with or without eggs). Numerous  means 39 different variants! http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/types-of-pasta-3683.html Some of the famous ones are spaghetti, fettucine, lasagna/e, macaroni, linguini, ravioli, penne, ziti, fusilli, and capellini (angel hair). Whew! How many have you tried? Haha. :)

Pasta has two basic categories. First is the long-form or strand pasta. Long-form pasta is usually thin, long, and cylindrical. You can twist it around your fork. According to Italians, pasta should be twisted around your fork in a counter-clockwise manner for good luck. Examples of this first category are spaghetti, capellini, linguini, and fettucine. The second type is short-form pasta. It is small in size and can be further divided into three types, tubular (penne, macaroni, ziti), shaped (fusilli, alfabeto), and stuffed (ravioli, cannelloni, and gnocchi).

So, which pasta should you use for which sauce?

The general rule of thumb is that delicate pasta goes well with delicate sauces while thicker pasta is best paired with chunkier or meatier sauces. Here are some more tips:


1. Simple tomato sauce (Puttanesca, Homemade Spaghetti): Bucatini, Calamari, Capellini, Farfalle, Fettuccine, Fusilli, Jumbo Shells, Lasagne, Linguine, Macaroni, Manicotti, Penne, Rigatoni, Rotelle, Rotini, Spaghetti, Spaghettini, Ziti, Gnocchi


2. With meat (Osso Bucco, Lasagna, Bolognese, Ragu): Fettucine, Spaghetti, Lasagne, Rigatoni, Penne, Ziti, Fusilli, Canelloni

3. With seafood (With clams, or shrimp, or squid): Capellini, Calamari, Capellini, Farfalle, Fettuccine, Linguine, Spaghetti, Spaghettini

4.Cream/Cheese (Carbonara, Alfredo, Lasagna, Mac and Cheese) : Fettuccine, Linguine, Lasagna, Macaroni, Penne, Ziti, Canelloni, Gnocchi

5. Pesto: Capellini, Farfalle, Fusilli, Linguine, Ravioli, Gnocchi

6. Butter / Oil (Aglio e olio): Spaghetti, Spaghettini, Linguini, Capellini, Fusilli, Penne, Ziti, Ravioli, Gnocchi

7. Black ink from squid: Spaghetti, Spaghetti Neri

8. Aligue: Capellini, Spaghetti, Spaghettini

9. In a soup (Minestrone, Chicken noodle soup): Capellini, Farfalle, Fusilli, Pastina, Rotelle, Stelline, Tubettini, Alfabeto, Gnocchi

10. Best when baked: Lasagna, Spaghetti, Macaroni, Penne, Ziti, Rigatoni

11. Best for a salad (With vegetables or fruits and some dressing): Farfalle, Fusilli, Macaroni, Penne, Rotini, Ziti, Alfabeto, Gnocchi

12. Best with vegetables: Farfalle, Fettuccine, Fusilli, Jumbo Shells, Linguine, Macaroni, Manicotti, Penne, Ziti, Gnocchi


So, the next question is, which cheese to put on top of which pasta dish? Ahh, my love for cheese deserves a different blog entry! ;)

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