Pasta - the versatile food

Pasta has existed since the times of the Roman Empire and remains one of the most flexible cooking ingredients -  no storage cupboard should be without it. It can freshly  prepared with your  pasta maker and then cooked and mixed with beef, fish, vegetables, fruit, or maybe an easy herb sauce to make a mouthwatering and healthy meal inside minutes. 

Most pasta is created from durum wheat flour and contains protein and carbohydrates. It’s a good source of slow-release energy and has the extra advantage of being good value. There are as much as 200 different pasta shapes and about 3 times as many names for them.

New shapes are being designed and named all the time and the same shape could be called a different name in different regions in Italy. Some kinds of pasta are the agnolotti, anelli, bucatini, cannelloni, capalletti, ditali, elicje, farfalle, fettuccine, fusilli, lasagne, linguini, macaroni, penne, ravioli, rigatoni, spaghetti and tagliatelle. Many can be discovered in both dried and fresh forms, but unless you can access to a good, Italian delicatessen, it is not worth purchasing fresh unfilled pasta, even from shops that sell top quality tortellini, capalletti, ravioli, and agnolotti. Best of all is to make fresh pasta at home in a pasta maker. It takes a small amount of time, but is reasonably easy and definitely worth the effort.

You can mix the dough by hand or prepare it in a mixer. Pasta might be coloured and seasoned with additional ingredients that are typically added with the whisked egg. To cook pasta, first bring a large pan of gently salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and one big spoon of olive oil, but don’t cover the pot or the water will boil over.

Quickly bring the water back to a steaming boil and avoid overcooking. When the pasta is tender, but still firm to the bite, drain and toss with butter, olive oil, or your prepared sauce. The cooking times provided here are guidelines only : - Fresh unfilled pasta : 2-3 mins - Fresh filled pasta : 8-10 mins - Dried unfilled pasta : 10-12 mins - Dried filled pasta : 15-20 mins Pasta can be employed to make anything, from soups to more significant pasta-based meals, which are great as a tasty starter, or as a quick and simple lunch or light dinner.