In Italian cuisine, pasta is usually sorted by size. You have short pasta – which is your typical penne and fusilli – and you have long pasta.
Now, most of us will have a go-to long pasta type whenever we’re cooking something. Typically, this is spaghetti, linguine, or maybe even tagliatelle.
Today, you’re going to be introduced to three new types of long pasta that are great to swap in when you want to try something different.
Honestly, you can cook the exact same meal, but swapping the pasta type will give it a new dimension every time.
So, here are the three options:
Pappardelle
Pappardelle has one of the best translations from Italian to English as it comes from the word papparsi, which means to pig out. Basically, this long pasta is like tagliatelli in that it’s flat and thick – only this is much thicker.
It is typically made from an egg-based dough, but you can easily find some great gluten-free pappardelle out there too. This type of pasta is very indulgent and it’s great when you want to treat yourself.
The added thickness means you will definitely feel satisfied after the meal, and it almost tastes like lasagne sheets, only with a bit more bite to it.
You can have pappardelle with any type of sauce, but many Italians choose to have it with white sauces – like a carbonara or some sort of truffle sauce.
Bucatini
This roughly translates to English as hollow straws, which is pretty much exactly what this long pasta is. They look like spaghetti, only they are much thicker and have a hole running all the way through.
This means they have a much more al dente texture to them while cooked, and you also get the benefit of sauce filling the inside of the hole.
As such, every single bite of this pasta gives you a taste explosion in your mouth, and it’s a very good alternative to spaghetti if you want to switch things up now and then.
Typically, bucatini works best with red pasta sauces, but you could make it work with anything, to be honest.
Vermicelli
Perhaps not the nicest translation into English, but vermicelli means little worms. This is a great description of the long pasta as it is basically very long and thin spaghetti.
As a result, it has a different texture when you eat it and it feels almost like you’re eating Asian noodles. Most people have vermicelli with just a simple tomato pasta sauce.
You don’t need a lot with this because the texture and taste of the pasta elevate the sauce to new levels.
So, there you have it, three long pasta types to try instead of your usual favorites.
It’s always fun to mix and match pasta now and then as it will bring new dimensions to your popular weekday meals. Also, opting for a new type of pasta can also force you to look for new recipes that you may have never tried!
You can usually find these pasta at most grocery stores, if not, there are definitely places online and you could find them at a small delicatessen if there is one in your area.