Are you more for the Smooth or the Ridged pasta?

Inspired by a post written in the italian blog by Mafaldina dei Campi, about the smooth pasta or the one with ridges, I decided to write this post, because i just realized that here this division is actually not so noticed .

Here I have the impression that the majority of people divide the pasta in long pasta (spaghetti and linguine mainly), fresh pasta filled or not (ravioli and tagliatelle) and then all the short pasta (penne, maccheroni, etc).

I don’t really think anyone really cares about the difference between smooth and ridged pasta or  why we have these two different types of pasta and when to use them.

Anyway if asked the general answer is always: "Ridged pasta maintains better the sauce".

This is basically what we also say when we explain the bronze dying process that make the pasta (smooth or not) rough and so, better to keep the sauce anyway.

What in reality the ridges bring to pasta is just consistency and it’s an easier way to maintain the pasta al dente: if ridged the pasta will be of course thicker and the cooking time between ridges will be different so easier to don’t overcook it.

It will be a surprise for all the people from abroad to discover that the original pasta in Italy is smooth and that the ridged one was created for the norther market, where was missing the good quality of grain and they needed a shape that could help maintaining the form and the cooking time.

So at the present,  in the south, are mainly used the smooth types of pasta, generally long. The short pasta initially was in fact created from the long one, cutting it by hands. The short and ridged pasta instead is mainly used in the oven, for some baked dishes. This in fact will help the sauce to get thick if too liquid and to help the union with the pasta.

But of course I love both of the types and you can see in my recipes  I use both… but of course I will remember this  when cooking in the oven or when I have a sauce not particulary thick.

And what do you prefer?

Rigatoni, millerighe, conchiglioni or ziti tagliati, calle, and paccheri ?

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A great article on pasta, from the origins to the global and the English market.

On tuesday we were glad to see our Pastificio Dei Campi pasta on The Guardian "word of mouth" blog, named by Oliver Thring as the best pasta brand he ever tried.

The article in fact begins speaking about the latest news released by an Oxfam international research this year about the use of the pasta in the world and the fact that pasta is definetly the world's favorite food.

For sure a great result for something that has been invented and produced for years just in one little country like Italy. But is really like this and how this was possible? These are the questions the article wants to answer analyzing the origin of pasta, the steps in the history and its success during the years in Italy like abroad.

Do you know how much pasta the english consume every year? or do you know that especially the english children use to love it? And have you ever come across a student forum and their conversations about pasta and recipes?

Here are all the answers and some interesting and curious information about pasta.

Thanks again @OliverThring for the mention and let's hope to make the english discover and love the good italian pasta always more.

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Pasta from Gragnano: still made in the old way and in your kitchen everyday

Today I want to give you some other learning about pasta and especially about the Pasta from Gragnano. I translated this article published on an italian newspaper and I hope this will give you a better idea of what we mean for high quality pasta when we speak about these product.

"It's easy to say pasta. In fact, is produced everywhere since long time. But if we are talking about the pasta from Gragnano, then we know that we are dealing with more than five hundred years of history and tradition.

It belongs to the category of dry pasta and is made in various shapes - now 340 - many of whom belong to the local tradition: the "candles", about two feet long, the "mafaldine" created in honor of Mafalda di Savoia, the " Tripolini "dedicated to the colonial conquest of the Libyan cities of Tripoli and the pasta Piedigrotta, inspired by the eponymous party in Naples. Anyway the most famous  shape remains the "Paccheri.

The historical texts and literature about the "Pasta from Gragnano PGI,"(deservedly received on the 28th August 2010) show that the production of "Pasta Gragnano" dates back to the XVI - XVII century and is closely linked to historical events that have occurred over the years in the territory of Gragnano. Here is the root of the typical product of our territory, the ancient town famous for the quality of the macaroni, located in the Valley of the Mills in the south of the Gulf of Naples. But what are the requirements before a product may dare the nominee?
In first place the Pasta from Gragnano PGI must be made solely from flour made from durum wheat. The mixture uses water from the springs of Mount Faito. The product must have the following characteristics: a homogeneous appearance with no white or black spots, air bubbles, cracks or cuts, mold, maggots or parasites. The section of fracture should be glassy, and the colour, a pale yellow.

And then a roughness which feature the use of bronze dies. At cooking, the "Pasta Gragnano" PGI has a firm texture and elasticity, homogeneity of cooking: uniform, holding a good and long cooking, a stickiness absent or imperceptible.
 

The production process is, after mixing and kneading, extruding through bronze dies, giving the desired shape. The procedure in bronze gives the pasta - even the smooth one - a rough surface that makes it particularly suitable to hold sauces and condiments.

The next stage of the production is the drying process, which varies depending on the shapes and in any case is at a temperature between 40 and 80 ° C for a period of between 6 and 60 hours in static cells to drain or tunnel where it circulates hot air. Completed the process of drying the paste is allowed to cool and within 24 hours should be wrapped, without being carried, to allow a perfect preservation."

Do you want to know more? Just write a question in the comments and I will involve the real people from Gragnano and from Pastificio dei Campi to answer.

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The twitter tale about pasta is following...

Here i recollected some sunday tweets from Giuseppe dei Campi, speaking this time about what makes Gragnano so special and the city of the pasta in Italy.

In my town the origin of pasta is lost in the centuries really! The name Gragnano come from Gens Grania, grain merchants in the 2' century BC who wanted to protect their businesses. You have to know that Gragnano has a number of unique characteristics respect other places ... tonight I'd like to explain you one, "The Mistral!".
That is the natural clock that tells to the people in Gragnano that's noon. Gragnano is set on a plateau that goes from an altitude of 250 meters on the sea (2 km) and reaches the height of 1250mt. Gragnano is located in the southeast summit of the Gulf of Naples between the mountains Lattari, extends from east to west and it's protected from all sides but open on one side only: the west, and at west of Gragnano there is the sea!

So imagine a whole green valley overlooking the sea on a plateau. Now, when the earth warms, heats the air, the warm air is lighter than the cold and tends to rise, leaving more space to the fresh air more heavy coming from the sea. This enters in Gragnano predictable and constant at noon!

This cools down and brings beneficial moisture from the sea to those who dry pasta each day out on the streets. And because this "fake" wind comes from the northwest in Gragnano we always called it "Mistral" (but is not). This is reversed at night when it takes away the moisture from Gragnano leaving it fresh and dry. When I was a boy, I used to notice it especially at night when I was coming back on a Vespa from dancing with friends. We could all smell the aroma and fragrance of pasta and even more entering in the city.
Especially the summer night breeze, nice and gentle, was carrying to the sea the smell of the work of Gragnano. The day after the same pasta, finally ready, would have take the sea to foreign markets, to the most 'beautiful kitchen and the best restaurants in the world.

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Converting people to the real italian pasta taste!

On Saturday and Sunday I was protagonist of a really interesting tasting session in Harvey Nichols in London. This is the main chain where you can find our products in the UK and we decided to offer to all the visitors in London a little bite of our pasta.

We started our session around 12 o'clock both the days and I have to admit it was all really well organized, the staff nice and the customers happy and interested in the black and red brand.

We placed a little table exposing our products and me, Linguina in person, cooked pasta for everyone. Just simple tomato sauce and Parmesan, but thanks to the good quality of the pasta, it was everything very good and even easy to maintain "al dente".

Everyone could try the Eliche, Lumache and even Calamarata, and all of the visitors discovered the real difference between this pasta and the one they are used to! I was keep on saying that one bite could tell them much more than 2000 words, because until you don't try it, you can't really believe in the difference.

This pasta is naturally tasty, consistent and special, because made by 100% pure italian Durum wheat. It's slow dried, thing that maintains the pasta tasty and reach with the 14% of proteins, while the bronze dye make it rough on top and able to absorb the sauce in a unique way.

I'm not just here to impress you all being particularly auto - celebratory. I'm saying this because I saw it on the face of the people when they were trying the pasta. It's all true and you can taste it!

So next time don't loose this occasion and come to taste it you too! You will be surprised!

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A recipe to celebrate the local producers and the good food.

Today it's for the second time Terra Madre Day, a celebration of food diversity and the right to good, clean and fair food, organized by Slow Food. Last year  more than 1,000 events took place across 120 countries. Lots of different events have been organized this year too and you can find all of them here.

Following the invite by Carlo Petrini, Slow food International President, to highlight today the importance of eating locally, I thought could have been nice to create a recipe with english and italian ingredients made by local, traditional and very careful producers.

It so happens that i have been finally to Taste of Christmas the past weekend and between stands of wines, fudges, bread and cheeses, I found also the english cheese winner of the title of World Champion Cheese 2010: the Cornish Blue, a handmade ArtisanFarmhouse Cheese from Cornwall, right case of english local producer.

I couldn't miss the occasion to buy it and considering the taste, similar to Gorgonzola but much less strong (I'm simplifying just to let all of you understand), I though to put it together with walnuts, a classic seasonal ingredients!

Then Pasta di Gragnano PGI from Pastificio dei Campi with its old history and traditional and careful way to produce the pasta, from the  bronze extraction to the drying process, it's a perfect representative of a local south italian producer.

So here is my "locally sourced" recipe!

Ingredients for 3 people:

300 gr Mezzi Occhi di Lupo from Pastificio dei Campi

120 gr of cheese gorgonzola

60 gr  walnuts

40gr butter

Finely chopped parsley, salt and pepper.

The preparation is not very long so i suggest you to put some  water on the fire as soon as you start. Then add some salt and the pasta when it's boiling. Meanwhile in a saucepan melt the butter then add the chopped cheese and let melt it too over low heat, stir well together until the mixture is as smooth and creamy as possible.

Then take the walnuts and chop them finely,  the more the better. Add them to the pan and stir well, to mix all together. If the cheese tends to stick to the pan just add some water from the pasta.

When this is ready and "al dente", drain it  and pour into the pan with the sauce and toss it. I serve it without Parmesan to don't miss the Cornish blue's taste, but with some chopped parsley.

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For you the Maxi Cube Tasting or the Maxi Cube Custom!

Finally it's the 8th of December. Today in Italy is holiday and the majority of the people will spend their  time decorating the Christmas tree or shopping for the latest presents still in the list.

Have you already bought all your presents or you are just starting to think about them? But especially, are you the one who loves doing and receiving surprises or you prefer to buy or receive something requested?

We could stay here discussing hours about that and I personally prefer people who try to guess your taste and give you something, also little, but with an effort, than who is asking you 'what do you want for Christmas?". This sounds to me a bit lazy and simple. And there is no comparison with the surprise to open a packet and find something you didn't expect!

However for all of you, Pastificio dei Campi has a great solution: you can finally shop for your favorite shape of pasta on the same website, clicking on the e-commerce section.

Here you will find 3 options:

The Maxi Cube Tasting: a perfect pack for those who want to know (and be surprised by) the production of the pasta factory and loves to try many different formats. It consists of five kilograms of pasta Gragnano IGP, bronze drawn and slowly dried at low temperature, given in 10 different sizes selected from among those that best represent our company: paccheri, calamarata, pennoni, candele spezzate, penne ziti lisce, penne mezzani rigate, orecchiette, tubetti, spaghetti, linguine.  A nice gift idea for all lovers of pasta.

The Maxi Cube Custom:  a customizable package, designed for people who already know our Pasta Gragnano IGP or for those that have very decided tastes. Choose the contents of your package: this is left entirely to you. 8 packages of pasta, 500 grams Gragnano IGP in most popular formats.

Then of course, it's almost Christmas and you can also buy the fantastic gourmet gift box,  made in limited edition for Christmas 2010. Here the pasta di Gragnano IGP is accompanied by two other symbols of the south gastronomic tradition, an high quality extra virgin olive oil and tomatoes as explained here. (And the first five to leave a comment on the post will receive a 15% discount to buy this Cube).

So undecided or  ready to choose your  pasta shapes and Maxi Cubes?

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