It's Not Just Spaghetti Anymore
Which pasta should you use with which sauces?
Let’s talk about pasta. There are a million different types of noodles and a million different ways to dress up these noodles, but here are the basics. The classic spaghetti cannot be your favorite kind of pasta. If it is your favorite, you have not tried enough pasta. Putting spaghetti into a decadent Vodka or Bolognese sauce should be a crime! Spaghetti should be used for simple, light sauces, such as Cacio e Pepe or Shrimp Scampi, and that’s it!
Tagliatelle… The most perfect paste shape to walk the Earth. Tagliatelle is ¼ inch thick in long, flat ribbons that are similar to fettuccine but wider and thicker. It is the perfect pasta for a Classic Bolognese, because its thick noodles are able to hold the meaty, juicy sauce. Tagliatelle is also a prime choice for any Alfredo Cream Sauce. Once again, the creamy sauce is able to latch onto the thick, long noodles, for a perfect pasta-to-sauce ratio.
My second favorite pasta of all time would be the slightly less popular, Rigatoni. The shorter and wider the pasta, the better. Store-bought Rigatoni is an excellent choice for a thick, creamy, Vodka Sauce. Because the pasta is shaped like a tube, it allows for more room for sauce, not just on the outside of the pasta, but the inside as well. Now, fresh Rigatoni might be the best thing you will ever eat, second to fresh Tagliatelle of course. Fresh Rigatoni that collapses but does not break when pierced with a fork and stays full of sauce, is one of the most beautiful things in the realm of pasta.
