Pasta
For many the word “cheese” is followed in a nanosecond by the word “pasta”. Indeed, the two are the best of friends in the culinary world and one just does not seem comfortable on a plate without the company of the other. Which brings us to a few things you probably did not know about our friend pasta….
- ‘Spaghetto’ is the singular word for spaghetti. Generally speaking, Italian words ending in “o” are singular and words ending in “i” are plural.
- Before machinery, pasta was kneaded by foot. Because pasta dough is tough, workers would walk over batches of dough to work the texture.
- There are about 350 named shapes of pasta. The list includes “little tongues” (lingune), “large tubes” (cannellone), and “big snails” (lumaconi).
- Most dried pastas are made with just two ingredients: semolina flour and water. (Fresh pasta, a few dried types, and egg noodles use eggs).
Trivia aside, pasta has become a world-wide staple and a canvas for simple to complex menus. October 25th is World Pasta Day and January 4th is National Spaghetti Day. I don’t know about you, but there are already ‘special events’ flags on my calendar!!
__________________
I leave you with a quick glimpse of how to stage a beautiful presentation of spaghetti. Just don’t forget the Reggiano 🙂