![]() Then there is tortellini which legend says that Venus herself, the goddess of love, served as a model for the beguiling pasta rings. Some of the classic types of pasta have beautiful names such as conchiglie (shells), farfalle (butterflies), orecchiette (little ears), penne (feather or quill) and capelli d'angelo (angel hair) amongst many others. They differ in terms of shape, size and diameter. In Italy, there are more than 600 different types of pasta. The higher gluten content makes pasta dough elastic with a firm consistency which ensures that the pasta retains its shape during cooking. Golden durum wheat has a higher gluten content and a different structure than soft wheat. Pasta is made from semolina, which is produced from coarsely ground durum wheat. As recently as one hundred years ago noodles were hung in long strands on wooden poles in the open air to dry ready to be sold. Pasta was at one time not a staple food but rather a luxury food for the well-to-do, but by the eighteenth century it overcame class barriers and was cooked and sold by street vendors and eaten right on the spot using fingers whilst standing. The earliest surviving recipes date back to the Italian Renaissance times and in the fifteenth century a cookbook by the famous personal chef Maestro Martino da Como includes a recipe describing how to make " Con Siciliani" in which the dough was wrapped around a small metal rod so that the noodles remained hollow inside. ![]() The first recorded pasta production in Sicily on a commercial scale was in Trabia near Palermo in 1150. It is a sight unchanged since the island was described as the granary of Rome, 'the nurse at whose breast the Roman people are fed' as a Roman statesman once wrote. In the Sicilian hinterland you will see fields of wheat that turns the plains and hills into fields of gold. The Arabs also introduced new and highly sophisticated forms of irrigation and so grain cultivation flourished in style on the once dry Sicilian soil. When the Arabs conquered Sicily in the ninth century they brought this technique with them to the island. It is made from simple, but very good ingredients and is cooked with dedication, creativity and love.Ī major contribution to the development of pasta was made in ancient times by the Arabs who invented the process of drying fresh noodles and the production of tubed shaped pasta. Pasta combines all the virtues of an Italian kitchen. Italians devote more time and attention to it than to any other foodstuff and no other food product in the world better represents a countries cuisine. Statistically every Italian enjoys an average of 27kg (60lb) of pasta each year. But in no other country does pasta (meaning "dough") have such significance as in Italy. It is likely that any culture that had mastered the art of baking bread would have also made noodle-like foods from flour and water. She did not often make these, but whenever she did, it brought tears of happiness to his eyes" excerpt from an Inspector Montalbano novel by Andrea CamilleriĮven today, it is not clear who invented pasta. First time round eat it with homemade pesto if you can."Adelina had made him a Pasta 'Ncasciata and, as a second course, Rabbit Cacciatore. So, if you haven’t tried this pasta before, look out for it. In fact, a number of UK and US supermarket chains sell it. casarecce alla peperonata (sweet pepper sauce)ĭried casarecce can be found in many countries outside of Italy. There is also a great recipe for casarecce with peperonata (sweet pepper sauce). To date, I have used casarecce in two pesto recipes here on the Pasta Project pumpkin and orange pesto and roasted red pepper pesto. Both of these are really delicious and made even more so by pairing this pasta with them.
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