CP Tank Pasta
CP Tank Pasta
Hinduja College, lane, 331, Raja Rammohan Roy Rd, Charni Road East, Opera House, Girgaon, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400004
093243 49152
When you walk down the pasta aisle in the market how do you choose which pasta to buy and which to use for what purpose? There are flat pastas, round pastas, hollow pastas and twisted pastas. There is pasta that is made to look like rice (Italian orzo) and pasta that resembles gnocchi (potato dumplings). There are shells and tubes and then there is pasta that is made into shapes to fit the season.
Do you want to serve your pasta with tomato sauce, Alfredo Sauce (cream sauce), primavera (with lightly grilled spring vegetables? Do you want stuffed pasta and if so, what do you stuff it with? Do you want pasta that is made from semolina, ordinary flour or gluten free such as corn or rice pasta? Do you want squid ink pasta, spinach pasta or tomato pasta or just plain pasta? The more you learn about pasta, the more there is to know and the more bewildered you can get.
The best quality pasta is made from semolina (hard durum wheat) and eggs with maybe a little salt and some olive oil thrown in. There are all manner of pasta and range in price from one dollar a pound on up to $10 a pound or more for hand-made pasta. Before we go too crazy here and make your mind spin with all the pastas available, let's just get down to basics and explain the differences between the most commonly used pastas, how they are normally used and the types of sauces that go well with them.
We will start out with the flat pastas which include lasagna, linguini, fettuccini and papparadelle. Dried Lasagna noodles are usually about 2-3" wide and can be purchased in boxes either uncooked or precooked. Domestic lasagna noodles are longer than the imported ones; however most of the imported ones are of a better quality. You can usually also purchase fresh pasta which can be used for lasagna from your local Italian deli. Lasagna may either be served simply with a Bolognese (meat) sauce with shredded parmesan or more traditionally as a layered casserole. The sauce for lasagna can vary from marinara (tomato) to Bolognese, mushroom, vegetarian or seafood. There will usually be a layer of pasta, a layer of ricotta cheese, a layer of sauce and a layer of mozzarella. Sometimes the pasta and cheese is layered without the sauce and the sauce is added at serving time.
The narrowest of the flat pasta is linguini; linguini is long narrow pasta (about " wide) which can be served with any number of sauces. A favorite that is served with linguini are clams in either a white wine sauce or a spicy red sauce. The next size up is fettuccini which is usually served with an Alfredo sauce (cream or bchamel) made with butter, heavy cream and parmesan. It is utterly delicious, easy and simple to make and loaded with calories. Not for those who have to watch their cholesterol intake!
Other than lasagna, papparadelle are the widest at about one inch in width. Papparadelle can be served with most any kind of sauce. Papparadelle go especially with vegetables primavera as they provide a nice contrast to the vegetable and are substantive enough to provide contrasting texture and flavor to the vegetables.
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