The world of pasta: everything you need to know

Dry pasta and fresh pasta are two very different types of pasta. Both are flour-based and both are boiled in salted water, but the similarities stop there. Dry pasta involves a dough made from flour and water, which is then shaped, cut and left to dry; it is hard to the touch and only becomes soft after cooking. Fresh pasta, on the other hand, often involves the use of egg, though not always, and often found in the refrigerated counter, is soft and has a much shorter cooking time. Some examples of dry pasta are spaghetti, penne, paccheri and rigatoni, while in fresh pasta we have tagliatelle, tortellini and trofie, the latter often without egg

Stuffed pasta is a very special pasta format, in fact it involves a filling inside a fresh sheet of pasta, often egg pasta. In this case you can play with both the texture of the pasta, more or less thin, and the ingredients for the filling. In this type of pasta we can find very famous examples such as tortellini and ravioli, but also regional variants that colour the Italian gastronomic landscape even more, such as Tuscan tordelli, Piedmontese agnolotti del plin or Sardinian culurgiones. Even among the fillings we can quite a good amount of variety, the most famous being: ricotta and spinach, meat and sausage, pumpkin or fish, although there are many variations according to personal taste or the recipe you want to create

The formats of dry pasta are mainly short or long. Short pasta, such as penne, rigatoni or fusilli, are characterised by their more or less smaller shape and often have a hole, their shape allows them to go perfectly with full-bodied sauces, for example meat-based sauces (as in the case of guanciale for carbonara, traditionally made with mezze maniche). Long pasta, on the other hand, some examples of which are spaghetti, linguine or tagliatelle, has an elongated appearance whereby the pasta is rolled on the fork, which goes better with lighter, creamier sauces. Both of these types of pasta can be combined with different sauces and dressings for flavourful results.

There are different pasta textures, given both by their shape, e.g. smooth or ribbed pasta, and by the type of processing. Traditionally, bronze-worked pasta has a slightly more rustic and rough texture that allows the sauce to take hold more easily, as in the case of meat or cheese-based sauces

Not only wheat flour: there are many flours and ingredients that can form the dough for pasta. Among the most popular are wholemeal flour or corn flour, used in gluten-free pasta, but we don’t stop there. Chestnut flour, other cereals such as spelt or legume flour are also good alternatives, thus expanding the variety of flavours and textures in your dishes. Another option is to use ingredients such as pumpkin, beetroot or spirulina algae for colourful and tasty fresh pasta.
Another, more special type of pasta is protein pasta, made with flours with a high protein content and particularly suitable for those doing sports or following a low-calorie diet – a pure wellness meal for everyone.

Another type of pasta that is traditionally prepared by hand is gnocchi, made with flour, potatoes and, if preferred, eggs. Among the gnocchi we also have some regional variants such as gnocchi alla romana, gnocchi alla sorrentina and spatzle from Alto Adige, each of which differs in shape, ingredients for the dough, types of cooking and seasonings.

Then there are the Valtellina pizzoccheri, typical of northern Italy and made with buckwheat and traditionally prepared with potatoes, cheese and cabbage.
Last but not least are lasagna sheets, a type of fresh pasta with a special cut, wider than common pasta. This type of pasta is used to make dishes such as lasagne, when the sheets are left open and alternated with layers of sauce, cheese and béchamel, or cannelloni, closed and filled with fillings