To celebrate A Toast to Travel’s Cooking Under the Tuscan Sun, our latest experience, we will explore the different types of pasta and what type of sauce is best paired with it. We will divide this into a series of posts so be sure to check back often.
There are many different types of pasta to choose from, and this post will discuss the long and thin pastas. The most common are Spaghetti, linguine, and vermicelli. Spaghetti a long round pasta and is probably the most common pasta. Linguine is long and flat while vermicelli is round and thinner than spaghetti also known as spaghettini. These types of pastas are best suited for light sauces such as seafood, cream or oil based. Linguine and a clam sauce is a very typical Italian pairing that is delicious. Pasta should be paired with the correct sauce because of the taste and texture as well as the ability for the sauce to adhere to the pasta for the best result. Obviously, you can be as creative as you want but we are just discussing the classic preparations.
When cooking pasta you should use a pot large enough for the pasta to move around. If the pot is too small, the pasta will stick to each other and not turn out well. You should salt to taste, there are several schools of thought but salt taste. Remember to reserve some of the water that you cooked your pasta in so that you can use it in your sauce if needed.
Remember to experiment with different ingredients, and when creating your sauce do not skimp on the ingredients. One of the most important things to remember, and what we spend a lot of time with in our Cooking Under the Tuscan Sun Experience is the quality and freshness of your ingredients. Use fresh vegetables, herbs and meat. It isn’t always possible to pick your own oregano, but try to use fresh as much as possible.
Check back for our next discussion, and be sure to check out our Experience Tuscany – Live Like a Local Experiences.
Ciao!