The Pasta Guide
Pasta is a traditional Italian dish typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs and formed into sheets or other shapes before being boiled or baked. Rice flour or legumes such as beans or lentils are sometimes substituted for wheat flour to produce a different flavour and texture, or as a gluten-free alternative. Pasta is classified into two types: dried (pasta secca) and fresh (pasta fresca). Long and short shapes, tubes, flat shapes or sheets, miniature soup shapes, filled or stuffed shapes, and specialty or decorative shapes are all common types of pasta.
My Top 5 Types of Pasta
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Penne
The structure of penne is round and tube-like, with diagonal cuts at either end. As a result, it works best in dishes with a relatively thick, creamy sauce, such as Penne Arrabbiata, because it penetrates the tube and holds the sauce well.
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Fusilli
The spiralled, corkscrew-like shape of this pasta pairs perfectly with rich meat sauces or chunky vegetables, as the chunks get caught in the crevices of the twirls, giving the dish a lovely texture.
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Tagliatelle
Tagliatelle is a ribbon-like egg-based pasta that is traditionally paired with bolognese but also goes well with a variety of chunky sauces.
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Spaghetti
Spaghetti is made up of long, thin noodles that can be paired with a variety of sauces. Spaghetti Bolognese, in which pasta is paired with meat in a marinara sauce, is perhaps the most well-known dish.
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Lasagne
Lasagne refers to the thin sheets of pasta that make up a dish, not the dish itself. The most well-known oven-baked dish is lasagne al forno, which likely consists of a beef ragu layered between layers of lasagne and béchamel sauce, topped with cheese.