So Many Pasta-bilities

Pasta… it seems simple right? As an Italian family, we know that pasta is much more layered. When you want pasta for dinner there are a lot of decisions– what cut, what sauce, anything in the pasta. So let’s break it down

The cuts

Pastina

Pastina is a very,very small type of pasta. You can usually find it in soups, but eaten on its own is like the ultimate comfort food! People love to enjoy pastina with an egg, cheese, and so many other options. Some cuts of pastina include stelline, ditalini, orzo, acini di pepe, and more.

Short cuts

A short cut of pasta is one you can pick up using a fork. There are so many shapes and types that it can be hard to choose! Short cuts are usually hollow or have a shape that makes it great to collect sauce or the add-ins. The great thing about short cuts of pasta is that they are great for collecting sauce! You can choose the classic penne or rigatoni– each cut also has different sizes. There is orecchiette which got its name from the shape and it means little ear (plus it’s a Barese favorite,) this shape is great for collecting sauce and add-ins as one side kind of caves in. Then you also have cavatappi, rotini, shells, farfalle… the options are endless!

Long cuts

A long cut of pasta is one that you usually have to twist with a fork. These are great for smooth sauces or heavier sauces! Twirling the pasta around the fork makes it a great vessel for scooping up sauce. Long cuts range from incredibly thin like angel hair to thicker like laganelle. There’s even bucatini which is round with a hole through the middle.