Personally I like alle vongole - with clams in a white cream sauce
I didn't realise that Polenta, Gnocchi, Risotto or Pizza were types of Pasta.
I love carbonara when eating out, that's something I don't cook at home. But when I cook pasta at home, my favourite is Japanese style spaghetti!
Got to say none of the above 'cos pasta in restaurants is never as good as the pasta my better half makes at home where it's roast vegetable pasta at number 1.
I should be on a promise after that .
I kinda assumed they were ..
It would have to have a dire menu to tempt me to order pasta out as I love my own best.
But I will admit to being tempted by some very unusual sauces ocasionally. Tried one years ago that I have since improved on, but in the restaurant was sold as walnut and blue cheese, but looked far too like Weetabix to be appealing, was bland and tasteless despite the wonderful ingredients... It's all in the proportions and the blend of herbs spices.
On the other hand pasta is great with just some crushed garlic, black pepper a drizzle of extra virgen olive oil and a touch of parsley and parmesan if you want to get all fancy!
Have you tried squid ink sauce? It's nicer than it looks, surprisingly!
Had chicken pesto 10 days ago in UK Zizzi's - and spent the next 10 days with campylobacter + antibiotics. Ouch.
I like my spaghetti or penne with butter and parmesan cheese. Very simple.
Apfelsaft, I agree it looks awful, squid allergy saves me from having to try it!
Love it with butter and Parmesan too.
Penne alla vodka with some italian sausage on the side!!!!
I'll just sidetrack this post one second: have ever noticed that pasta does taste differently according to its shape? The same sauce will definitely taste different on "pasta lunga" (that is spaghetti and similar) or "pasta corta" (penne, rigatoni, fusilli, etc).
But back to the orginal Q...
Jeez - I'd really want to see something "sexy"... we pretty much cover all the bases (puttanesca, pomodoro & basilico, tuna, siciliana, aglio olio & peperoncino, lasagne, etc) here @ home.
In Genoa at Rina's we had homemade "tagliolini ai gianchetti" (these being newborn fish, about 2 cm long), that were incredible.
And in Rapallo Mrs. GroOve and I had the most incredible "pansotti" (ravioli filled with ricotta and boiled greens) with a very simple walnut, butter and sage sauce.... high "wow" factor there
Any kind of tagliolini, linguine, spaghetti, if possible alla chitarra (i.e. square section) "allo scoglio" (prawns, mussles, vongole, etc) will usually catch my eye.
Pappardelle al cinghiale (wild boar)...
In Panarea (aeolian islands, just north of Sicily) I once had some gnocchi at a place called Da Pina which just melted away in my mouth. I'd be willing to take a red eye flight and hydrofoil ride just to be able to have them for lunch tomorrow.
This morning I stacked up on some stuff which looks delicious: gnocchetti (small gnocchi) made w/ nettles, with smoked speck, then some ravioli with mascarpone and some northern italian alp cheese, and others with a nut and cheese filling....*
Damn - I'M HUNGRY NOW!!!!!!
Buon appetito....
Paul
*The brand is "Pastificio Ossolano" - the owner of the place won one Italy's first editions of Big Brother. He then donated his win to charities and returned to do what he obviously loves to do. BTW his pasta used to be served at the Caffé Olympia in Piazza Riforma, Lugano, and maybe still is.
Hey common! Why on earth do I need to go to the restaurant? Pasta is the easiest meal to be made at home (ask any student ). Take right combination of ingridients, variety of spices plus certain cooking time and voilà. I like pasta al dente but when it comes to sauces I experiment with my own mixture. This way you never get bored and it is always slightly different
It appears that Gnocchi is sometimes classified as pasta but I don't see that the others are.
Doesn't the Wiki entry read as 'alternatives to pasta'?
Gnocchi can in part be assimilated to pasta as it is prepared with flour (in addition to potatoes, eventually eggs, etc).
Gnocchi very often are served with "pasta" sauces (bolognese, pomodoro, gorgonzola) and appear, as per a previous post, along with pasta dishes in the entrée part of a menu.
Technically we can divide pasta into the following categories:
Pasta all'uovo - egg is added to the flour mixture. it can be "fresca" (i.e. still damp) or "secca", i.e. dried, such as tagliatelle, garganelli, lasagne, cannelloni (I'm talking about the ingredient, not the dish)
Pasta - the obvious dried variety made with durum wheat...spaghetti, bucatini, linguine, penne, rigatoni, fusilli, paccheri, farfalle, etc
Other: pasta can be made with spelt or other grains (i.e. in gluten-free applications).
Dishes:
Pasta ripiena: any form of filled pasta, be it ravioli, tortellini, pansotti, cannelloni, lasagne. Usually this kind of dish is prepared with an egg-based pasta (see above)
Pasta: any other recipe where the sauce is added to plain pasta after it has been cooked
Gnocchi, gnocchetti: dumplings, usually served with the same kind of sauces as pasta.
Polenta does not qualify as a "pasta" because it is usually a side dish to accompany meats or cheese plates, but is also served as a main course dish (eggs, milk, cheese).
Rice (risotto), technically is a different category, even though it's in the entrées, as the rice is cooked in its "natural state" ...
Paul
Do it on your outdoor gas grill with a pizza stone, or direct on the grill. It's the only way to get the necessary heat.
I have had this in Rapallo!!!
Yup, I've done it on a granite (or some sort of igneous slab) in a weber coal bbq with the lid on. You can hit 450 - 500 C with a good flame under the stone. Or you can chuck dough from 00 flour onto the bare grill to make a taste focaccia.
Speaking of which (Focaccia)... did you have the focaccia at Manuelina's in Recco...?
Srrry folks - now back to the regular past thread :-)
P.
the most interesting pasta was what I discovered in Alexandria /Egypt. I knew that King Farouk had a loving for Spaghetti and that his cooks developed that sauce right for him. But had never got it anywhere. I only a few years ago got it in the Salamlek Restaurant in one of the former royal palaces, right in the Montaza Compound. Just some 200 meters south of the Palestine Hotel where you can combine an excellent Sheesha with the best Vodka in the world