By Laura Rancie.
Although I am French and every year we make the migration back to Marseille and Provence, via Paris, in the last few years it hasn’t been here that my heart longs for but to la dolce vita in Italia. Today we explore foodie regions of Italy, but to be specific, we sightsee Italian pasta regions.
If the following sounds interesting, then jump aboard. We're going to Italy!
Veneto: Potato gnocchi.
Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont: Truffle tagliatelle.
Tuscany: Pappardelle.
Campania: Paccheri.
Lazio: Bucatini.
Puglia: Orecchiette.
Sardinia: Fregola.
Sicily: Casarecce.
Potato Gnocchi in the North:
Some of you may hesitate calling gnocchi a pasta dish but to avid connoisseurs, it is a traditional type of Italian pasta dating back to Roman times. Hailing from Northern Italy where the cooler climates assisted the popularity of the dish, potatoes were King and led to the original bite-sized morsels of deliciousness we know today. These days, depending on where you visit in Italy, you may eat gnocchi made from flour, cornmeal, ricotta or vegetables.
Truffle Tagliatelle in Piedmont:
Tagliatelle is a particular shaped pasta from the Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont region of Italy, that are flat and long but limited to 6 mm wide. The Italians knew that because of its wide flat shape, it would be the perfect conduit for a thicker, heavier sauce. The area is also abundant in truffles, with the first white truffle originating from the city of Alba, in the pockets of Piedmont.
Pappardelle in Tuscany:
Tuscany, known as the birthplace of the Renaissance and undulating green hills with dreamy stone villas is also home to an egg-based pasta, called pappardelle. While fresh pappardelle may have fluted sides, the dried form always has straight sides. When paired with the region’s wild boar for a ragu di cinghiale, they become an outstanding gastronomic Italian experience.
Pachheri in Campania (pronounced pak-eri):
The home of pizza and known for high-quality dried pasta, Campania has an abundance of cheese, Italian liqueurs and traditional salumi (cured meats made from a whole cut of an animal, such as prosciutto). However, Campania is also the place of origin for these cylinder-shaped pasta tubes, in Italy's South. Also known as schiaffoni, ‘schiaffo’ means to slap – as does ‘una pacca’. The story goes that the noise made when pouring sauce into the tubed pasta makes a slap! Italians typically use a heavier, richer sauce with paccheri such as a seafood or ricotta, to stuff inside.
Bucatini in Lazio (pronounced, buck-a-tini):
While you may not immediately know where Lazio is, you’ll know its capital – Rome! It’s from here that bucatini came to be - a hollow but thick-ish long spaghetti. Just like any pasta, however, which sauce you pair it with is crucial, especially to the Romans who declare it the most delicious of all pastas. Traditionally, a carbonara or a Bolognese would go well.
Orecchiette in Puglia:
Puglia, famous for its excellent olive oil production and supplying 40% of the country, is also known as a gorgeous holiday destination with crystal-clear waters and fine sandy beaches. It’s not just olive oil that hails from the region, orecchiette does too. Meaning ‘little ears’, this Southern Italian pasta shape goes very well with vegetables like broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes. Jamie Oliver is quoted as saying: "It’s one of my favourite pasta shapes, but weirdly tricky to master. I don’t want that to put you off – I’ve seen both 5-year-olds and 100-year-olds rattling it out in Italy very easily!”
Fregola in Sardinia:
The tiny island of Sardinia off the coastline of Italy is a sophisticated Mediterranean destination South of Corsica. You may find inscriptions on caves and tagged on walls ‘'Sardigna no est Italia' – 'Sardinia is not Italy' - but that’s a topic for another article. Today we are looking at Sardinia’s fregola, a curious little pasta shaped like a tiny pearl and often confused for a grain. Rest assured it is a pasta made from durum wheat flour, rolled, sun-dried and toasted to beautiful shades of brown, golden and yellow. It tastes somewhat nutty but catches sauces well. From classic red sauces to pesto and soups, fregola is extremely versatile, in a ‘different pasta’ type of way.
Casarecce in Sicily (pronounced, kasa-rech-ey):
An island full of vineyards, historical architecture and cathedrals as well as secluded beaches, Sicily is responsible for casarecce. Due to its unique location in the Mediterranean, Sicily’s casarecce has been deeply influenced by the Arab dish busiate, which uses plant cane to twist dough around. These short twists of Italian pasta, pair well with all sorts of sauces including cheese, meat, seafood, pesto and vegetable. That’s because its unique twisted ‘S’ shape with its narrow grooves down the middle of the pasta, make it perfect for capturing sauces, any type of sauce!
Now it's over to you - what is your favourite pasta shape and which Italian regions have you visited that are home to one of the 350 shape varieties?
