Types of pasta

There are primarily two types of pasta:

Flat: Made by rolling dough between rollers into thin sheets, which are then cut into various shapes and sizes.

Cylindrical: Made by forcing dough through a pierced plate. The hole through which the dough is forced may be straight, curved or notched, to produce hollow tubes.

Varieties aplenty...

Want to know more about the shapes and sizes of pasta you might encounter? It's a long list. These are various varieties of pasta within the two types we just read about:

~Spaghetti: Long, thin and noodle-like. You also get coloured spaghetti: yellow (natural colour due to the egg), red (by adding tomatoes) and green (by adding spinach).

~Fettuccine: Long, thin and ribbon-shaped.

~Macaroni: A short, stick-shaped pasta, hollow inside.

~Tagletilli: A flat variety, quarter-inch broad and ribbon-shaped.

~Fedelini: A very fine noodle-like pasta.

~Spiral: As the name suggests, a twisted, thin ribbon.

~Penne: One of the hot-selling varieties these days. It is short and cylindrical with grooves. Hollow on the inside and cut into a slant.

~Ragatoni: Similar to penne, but cut into rounds.

~Bozzoli: A hollow short pasta with grooves and ridges. The upper part has an opening.

~Pipe rigate: Curved pasta, hollow and with a smooth outer surface.

~Diamante: Flat variety cut into a diamond shape.

~Routoni: Flat and round, with wavy edges and a small hole in the centre.

~Cappelletti: The same as routoni, but without a hole in the centre.

~Fusilli: A twisted short pasta, spiral in shape.

~Farfalle: Can be described as being bow or butterfly-shaped.

~Stellini: Flat, star-shaped pasta that can generally be found in soups.

~Lasagne: A sheet of pasta, used with stuffing.

~Scalloped lasagne: With a scale-like structure, it has a smooth surface and wavy edges. Generally used for baking.

~Tortillini, Ravioli, Canelloni: All three are used for stuffing purposes. Popular fillings include spinach with béchamel sauce (a thick, rich white sauce), chicken liver, cheese, mushrooms, sausage meat, etc.