A (Quick?) Guide To Pasta

Pasta is by far my favorite food. It's typical for many cultures and cuisines, but the mother of all pasta is Italy (that's where term pasta  comes from, derived from the latin name for dough or pastry cake). There is a considerable variety of Italian pasta out there, and for those of you who are slightly confused by this bewildering assortment, here's a quick visual aid.

Gnocchi are the thick, dumpling-style pasta made from semolina or wheat flower. They come in smaller versions called gnochetti.

Tortellini are ring shaped and usually stuffed with ingredients such as cheese or spinach.

Agnolotti is a variety of ravioli shaped like a crescent or semi-circle.

Vermicelli are very thin pasta, also called orati, pancardelle, minutelli and fermentini.

Canneloni start out as rectangular sheets rolled into a tube. They're absolutely delish in oven-cooked pasta dishes (try canneloni con spinachi al forno)

Linguine are basically flattened spaghetti, but they're just as raving delicious.

 Pizzocheri are very short tagliatelle made from buckwheat flower.

Bucatini are long, pierced pasta - hence their name, derived from bucato (pierced).

Spaghetti - when somebody says pasta, this is probably what you think of first.

Macaroni are machine made and usually do not contain egg in the dough. The name macaroni only refers to the dough type, so they come in many shapes and sizes.

Tagliatelle are one of my favorite pasta, similar to fettucine but broader - and they're amazing with bolognese.

Farfalle are the well-known bow tie pasta, easy to make and absolutely delicious.

Fettucine is italian for little ribbons and are probably the best choice for a meat ragu. Pappardelle are very
 broad fettucine.

Fussili are the archetypal corkscrew-shaped pasta.

Ravioli are pocket-shaped filled pasta, cousins of the agnolotti.

Lasagna is a classic sheet pasta and one of the best things to stick in an oven.

Mafaldine look like ridged fettucine, named in the honor of Mafalda of Savoy - little queens indeed.

Capellini is one of the thinnest type of pasta, similar to spaghettini or vermicelli.

Penne are cylinder shaped pasta that come in smooth and rigata (ribbed) versions.