My pasta recipe

In Italy almost all products made of flour are called pasta. In the last few years the meaning of pasta has expanded even more – now it includes fried egg-free pastries, as well. Traditionally, however, pasta is made from a mixture of flour and water (or flour, water and eggs), as well as dishes from these products.

Recently various exotic flour types have been used for producing the pasta, such as, buckwheat, barley, as well as wheat, chick-pea, rye and wheat flour with bran. It is interesting to note that various types of oriental noodles are not included in the western concept of pasta, technically speaking, but they are, of course, pasta as well, but in no way culturally.

The quality of pasta can be distinguished by its freshness and dryness, made with eggs and cooked in water, large and small in size, and its color (can be tinted with additional components such as spinach, carrots, saffron, etc.), corrugated and stuffed pasta with various kinds of fillings.

If before the dry pasta was produced industrially only and fresh was made exclusively at home and in small restaurants, since the 70-s the industrial production of fresh pasta was established, as well. Also the progress doesn’t stand still and the so-called pasta makers have appeared on the market as an attachment for food processors and other kitchen appliances with the purpose of manual manufacturing of all kinds of pasta.

There are few well known pasta dishes, as well as a large number of special and individual recipes coming from many small regions of Italy. Some types of regional pasta are a pride of all Italians. Although, it is the cornerstone of all Italian food culture, when they are asked about the actual inventors of pasta, they reluctantly answer: “The Chinese”. Well, that is true – but Italians have turned this simple product into a real artform.

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