(photo: penne lisce with tomato sauce, photo taken with iPhone hence grainy picture) Say it slowly, almost in a whisper: “L-I-S-C-E” (doesn’t it sound sexy).  OK, come back to reality now and specifically the Scordo Pasta Challenge.  The word lisce is translated as smooth and part of the exquisite and versatile pasta shape known as penne lisce.  Penne lisce differs […]

See Below for Contest and Book Give Away! contest closed You have to admire any book that documents well over 110 authentic Italian pasta sauces and the hundreds of pasta shapes that marry best to a given sauce.  If a book goes further and contains beautifully rendered graphic shapes for each pasta then you have a timeless cookbook that should be […]

Spiral pasta gets a bad rap in the United States as the pasta shape is often used in generic, and deli type, “pasta salad” dishes.  Generally, the pasta is overcooked, mushy, and devoid of flavor.

Wow, wow, and even more wow!  I was blown away by a dry pasta from the Italian pasta company Pastificio Vicidomini, specifically the Tagliatelle. The Tagliatelle shape has been around for a long period of time and originally comes from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.  The word Tagliatelle is derived from tagliare, meaning “to cut.”  Tagliatelle is similar to fettucine in shape and often made […]

I like to refer to Lasagna as the “secret weapon” pasta; that is to say, it’s easy to prepare, freezes well, and seems to be a perennial favorite (thus you can make and consume it often!).  And as Wisegeek.com suggests, the history of the name lasagna is also very interesting.  The word lasagna is derived from the Greek lasanon, which […]

(photo: closeup of tortellini, broth, and chicken) Tortellini in Brodo represents everything Italian food ought to be; that is to say, simple, satisfying, and elegant. (photo: closeup of pasta and chicken) Here, then, is my recipe made with, mostly, chicken brodo and spinach tortellini.  Tortellini is also a pasta so this counts towards the Scordo Pasta Challenge – shape #145) (photo: […]

(photo: linguine fine tossed with tomato sauce and grilled calamari) I bet you thought the Scordo Pasta Challenge lost a bit of steam during the late summer!  You shouldn’t, however, fear because we’re back with shape #72A, the extraordinary linguine fine (a variation of the standard linguine shape that’s quick cooking <4 minutes!> and wonderful with delicate sauces such as […]

This week’s Scordo Pasta Challenge was special to me, you see the Scordo family canned tomatoes this past weekend and the penne lisce we consumed included the first tomato sauce made from 2010 tomatoes! “Penne Lisce”, or smooth penne, is essentially the standard penne you can find in any supermarket and on most menus at restaurants.  The second, standard, penne […]

  (photo: prior to breaking the pasta into smaller pieces, notice the length!) I love impromptu meals; that is to say, one of the biggest thrills I experience in the kitchen is when one dish I have in mind turns into something completely different or helps inform a second dish.  For example, when starring at a few chicken legs in my refrigerator this evening […]

  Think of Pappardelle as fettuccine (see our guide to dry pasta) on steroids (basically very broad fettuccine).  Pappardelle derives from the word “pappare” which means “to gobble up.”  The pappardelle I consumed was egg based and made by Rustichella.   I always associate Pappardelle with meat sauces, specifically a ragu made out of rabbit(it was a favorite of mine growing up […]