Have you ever wondered why pasta comes in so many different shapes? Unless you grew up at Nonna's side, hand-rolling and cutting pasta while listening to her stories, you may well wonder. It has to do with the thickness and texture of the sauce, as well as regional preferences.
Thicker sauces tend to cling easily to even flat pasta shapes like egg pappardelle. Thinner sauces need all of those convolutions, creases, and crevices in order to achieve the proper ratio of sauce to pasta. Choose the right shape of pasta, and you'll enjoy a perfectly balanced bite every time!
In general, larger noodles can stand up to heavier sauces while smaller, more delicate noodles pair well with lighter sauces. That's why you'll usually find large, sturdy pasta, like conchiglioni used in meaty, oven-baked pasta dishes. And the more delicate flavors of butter or cream sauces paired with the equally delicate farfalle pasta.
Of course, you can always tweak things a bit. If you like lots of sauce with your pasta, choose a shape that will hold more of that delicious sauce. A tubular pasta like paccheri is especially good at holding onto rich, hearty meat ragus. So, too, is De Cecco gnocchi. Potato-based gnocchi stands up as well to dense Bolognese sauce as it does to a simple pesto sauce. Now, that's versatility!
Acini di Pepe (or peppercorn pasta) is perfect for soups of all kinds — whether a simple broth or a rich, velvety cream soup.
Long, hollow De Cecco bucatini is versatile enough to enjoy with delicate butter sauces as well as heartier sauces like the famous Bucatini all'Amatriciana. De Cecco spaghetti is another versatile pasta that tastes just as fabulous with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese as it does when topped by the heartiest of sauces. Try spinach spaghetti for a change of taste and an extra dose of nutrition. It's made with 10% spinach!
Don't Forget the Olive Oil!
De Cecco olive oil is mechanically pressed from carefully selected 100% Italian olives, and it has the exquisite color and fruity fragrance to prove it. You don't think the De Cecco family would approve of anything less, do you? After all, the quality of their olive oil has to meet the same exceptional standards as their pasta!
