By Niveditha Kalyanaraman
September 30th, 2023
Image Credit: Unsplash
Pasta goes back to the 13th century when it was first mentioned. Today, it's one of the most popular Italian foods that has found its roots in all corners of the world. It can be confusing to understand how different types of pasta look and taste. Cut the confusion by learning about different types of pasta! Here are 7 different types of pasta!
Image Credit: Shutterstock
Most popular Star of pasta, it consists of long, thin noodles which can be paired with a wide variety of sauces. Possibly the most well known dish is Spaghetti Bolognese, where pasta is paired with meat in a marinara sauce.
Image Credit: Unsplash
Hands down, the easiest pasta to eat. Penne has a round, tube like structure, with diagonal cuts at either end. That’s why it’s best served in dishes that have a relatively thick, creamy sauce as it penetrates the tube and holds the sauce well, such as Penne Arrabbiata.
Image Credit: Unsplash
Reality check: lasagne is the name of the thin sheets of pasta that make up a dish, rather than the dish itself. Surprising? Lasagne is used in oven-baked dishes with the most well known dish being lasagne al forno, which likely comprises a beef or pork ragu, layered between layers of lasagne and béchamel sauce, topped with cheese.
Image Credit: Unsplash
Now we're talking about a versatile pasta base. Ravioli are pillow shaped squares of dough that can pretty much do anything. They can be filled with cheese, seafood, meat or veggies and topped with sauce, served in soups or simply drizzled with olive oil.
Image Credit: Unsplash
This pasta has a spiralled, corkscrew like shape that pair 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.
Image Credit: Unsplash
Macaroni are small tubes of pasta that are cut into short lengths and often curved. Often they’re found floating in a minestrone or cheese sauce, ready to be thrown into the oven for a good old Mac ‘n Cheese.
Image Credit: Unsplash
This pasta is so formal, it's literally a bow-tie. Known as ‘bow-tie’ pasta and translating to ‘butterfly’ from Italian, this pasta is shaped like exactly that. It’s a relatively small pasta, with a large surface area which is why it best pairs with a cheese, or rich tomato sauce as the ‘wings’ hold the sauce perfectly.
Image Credit: Unsplash