Pasta comes in so many different shapes. New ones are being invented all the time, so any list of pasta shapes that I post here would probably not be up to date. The smallest shapes are often used in soups, while long strands are tyipcally used with sauces. Tubes and bowties tend to be used in salads. Shells and large tubes are stuffed and baked. With so many different shapes and textures to choose from, it's an easy bet that each person has a favorite.
Some pasta shapes are limited to a particular region or town in Italy, or produced by an individual pasta maker, so these may not be available in the US.
My two favorite pasta shapes are campanelle ("little bells") and orecchiette. I really like the ruffled edges of the campanelle, and find it a very good vessel for sauce. Orecchiette is more of a texture thing for me - I love feeling the little suction cup on my tongue. I also generally prefer linguine and tagliatelle over spaghetti and angel hair - I just like the wide, flat texture. I've never had bucatini, but am interested in trying it - it's hollow spaghetti tubes, which sounds fun!
How about you? What are your favorite pasta shapes and why?
Here are two different lists of pasta shapes:
Pasta shapes, from Food-Info
List of Pasta, from Wikipedia
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Strozzapretti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strozzapreti ,
orecchietti, spaghetti, and trofie
Well it depends on what type of sauce/dish I am making but I often find myself replenishing my box of penne most often but also love orechiette and linguine.
Shells for mac & cheese, of course, and Penne for baked ziti (I like the ridges). I just recently tried campanelle and liked it, too.
Campanelle, linguini, and Cavatapi are my favorite boxed varieties. Campanelle and Cavatapi are great for creamy sauces. Linguini is my go-to pasta for a quick meal.
My grandmother always made stringozzi, homemade using a hand churned pasta machine. I always thought she made the word up- but I guess it really means shoelaces! It has always been a favorite, and I make it for my family when I can.
I love love love cavatappi - I'll eat it with sauce, I'll eat it baked, I'll eat in salads... I could care less.
I also like orechiette, but not as much as cavatappi.
Where is the Kitchenaid attachment that will make these two shapes?!?! haha
Angel hair. I'll mess around with other shapes, particularly for pastas full of meat and veggies, but angel hair/cappelini is my hands-down favorite.
My tastes are not terribly exotic -- fusilli and farfalle are my faves.
Shells for my staple butter-chicken pasta (that is, just a sauce of butter and bouillon), though the shells tend to eat each other up until you have dense, monster shells! I never had that problem with Cavatappi, which I used to use for this dish. To me, Cavatappi was a pasta for the imagination.
Linguine is my number 1. I also like orecchiette, angel hair, and shells.
angel hair and orzo -- that's food made fast Fast FAST!
Oops, forgot rotini. Love that, too.
Linguini, fettuccini, martini, bikini...we're gonna make America skinny again. One slap at a time.
All-time favorite for any tomato-based sauce or sauceless pasta dish has to be angel hair. As far as short pasta, penne all the way!
yes to cavatappi! campanelle is second, angel hair when i'm going long. and i can't leave out pastina, but that's kind of its own special thing.
WOW! This question is like asking me which of my 2 children is my favorite! LOL!
I love so many cuts of pasta, but it really depends on the dish and if it's sauce or no sauce. A nice capellini w/ garlic, extra virgin olive oil and a slight sprinkle of cheese or orecchiette w/fresh tomato sauce is up there, but I am rarely let down with Linguini and clam sauce....I could go on for days, but I won't. :)
Great topic, btw.
Gemelli and orecchiette (though I can never find it!!!!!!)
1. Penne
2. Fettuccini
3. Rigatoni
4. Shells
5. Lasagna
I really just love them all!
I think orzo is one of my favorites because it is SO versatile. And people sometimes mistake it for rice ;)
It's great in cold salads or made into a fake risotto.
Cavatappi! I make a lot of baked pasta dishes and lots of heavy cream sauces, so it's ideal.
Radiatore for getting tomato bits stuck in them and being excellent for a substantial bite.
Cavatappi and farfalle, by far.
ohh, angel hair pasta...
I love bucatini...fun to eat, but hard to cook sometimes - they really have to be done perfectly, they go from al dente to mush very quick. Oh, and hard to twirl, but that's the fun part!
Linguine. I don't know why, but I cannot stand spaghetti or capellini. When I say "spaghetti" is for dinner, I always mean linguine. I swear I can taste the difference.
angel hair
1. Bucatini - Something about the texture just rules.
2. Cavatelli - Growing up, gnocchi were always made in the cavatelli shape. So much better that way IMHO, they get the sauce in the little crevase, and aren't just these big lumps of dough.
3. Taconelle - Imagine thin sheets of pasta, cut into roughly 2"x2" squares. Haven't had it for years. Must get around to doing that.
farfalle- really holds sauce well
shells- perfect for mac and cheese, it really scoops up the "cheeze" sauce
angel hair- especially with a mint walnut pesto (yum!)
thin spaghetti-for bolognese sauce.
@ ziacd - I think I have to agree. I love bucatini... there's almost something crazy about spaghetti w/a hole in it!
I typically reach for a medium shell as my all-purpose pasta, however. And a pipette rigate... sort of like a ridged snail-like-shell-elbow-type.
Tri-Color Rotini. Hands down. For everything. I like the way the swirls pick up sauce or cheese, I like that it is perfectly bite size, I like the little splash of color it adds.
It's such a ho-hum shape, but I just love orzo in brothy soup.
Farfalle or rotelle - for marinara.
Bucatini - for amatriciana.
Conchiglie - for baked pastas (esp. mac & cheese)
Oricheitte, agnolotti and angel hair spaghetti.