If you had to choose just one pasta shape...

[Jenise]

...to live with for the rest of your life, what would it be?

This topic came up during dinner at a friend's house last night, and long ago we had a lot of fun discussing our choice and the reasons we chose it on the old FLDG.

Then, as now, I end up narrowing my options down to one string-type (linguine) and one tube (rigatoni), and rigatoni wins. I just love the thickness of rigatoni, that dense chewiness, plus if I must give up all other options the way it seems to grab both smooth and chunky sauces, and it's ability to do well both in traditional hot pasta preps and cold pasta salads. The only place it doesn't do well is in soups, but then one could always break the noodles into flat sheet shapes.

So, what about all of you? And for anyone who participated in that long-ago thread, if you remember what you picked then, has your choice changed?

Rotelle.

Orecchiette.

Easy to eat, sauces cling, works in soups, great in casseroles, kids love the shape, great camping pasta.

Regards, Bob

Orecchiette.

Easy to eat, sauces cling, works in soups, great in casseroles, kids love the shape, great camping pasta.

Regards, Bob

____________________

Bob, you took mine! LOL! I LOVE orecchietti with fresh peas! OK, if I must choose another, I will choose fettucini.

...to live with for the rest of your life, what would it be?

We are supposed to cleave to our spouses. That's enough cleaving for me.

In the world of pasta, I am a philanderer. You can't have pasta fagioli without ditalini or tubettini. Can you imagine fusilli Alfredo? What's a soup without pastina or acini di pepe? Attempt to think lasagne aglio olio!!! No, no, no ...

I have to laugh because I honestly cannot answer this question. It puts my thoughts into an endless loop. But if I had to choose, it would be for something weighty and chewy like uncut fusilli or fettucine or perciatelli or cavatelli or jumbo shells or large rigatoni or ... basta!

Remember the kids' game of, "What would you wish for if you could have only one wish?" The smart-ass answer was, "I'd wish for ten more wishes." I'll be the smartass here and say that I'd pick pasta sheets. That way, I could cut any shape I need.

Hah!

[James Roscoe]

I'm with Stuart, although I'm not spending any time on an island with him. (What kind of wine cellar does he have?)

I've always loved linguine, with most any sauce. Rigatoni was my favorite when I was preparing kids pasta casseroles, and even now, it is my choice.
My love right now is Osem Israeli Couscous. Those little B B size balls, are wonderful and I make so many yummy recipes with them, hot and cold.
With three good Italian restaurants in town, each has a favorite I must have. One is for Linguine and Clams, ONLY.
As many times as we've been there, I've tried nothing else on the menu. Rigatoni holds up to big, bold sauces and meatballs or sausage.

What kind of wine cellar does he have?

I built it myself. Drywall, lots of insulation, and a modified air conditioner.

Just one?

Angel Hair.

[James Roscoe]

What kind of wine cellar does he have?

I built it myself. Drywall, lots of insulation, and a modified air conditioner.

What kind of wine cellar does he have?

I built it myself. Drywall, lots of insulation, and a modified air conditioner.

Thanks a lot folks, you've been a great audience! I'll be here through Saturday, tell your friends! G' night!

For the love of God! Will no one defend gnocchi???

Nope, sorry, can't do it. I'm with Gary. Can't settle for just one. Gotta have that variety. Most often used? Sure, penne.

But if I had a nice rabbit, I couldn't use penne. Wouldn't be right. Have to have pappardelle, right? Of course.

Dal Plin? Gotta be agnolotti, without question.

Farfalle is good. And you might be able to get away with using that in lieu of orrechiette, I suppose. But why would want to?

And what's wrong with the humble elbow macaroni (or, if we're charging more for it in a restaurant, we could call it maccheroni con formaggio)?

Too many delightful choices to consider pasta monogamy.

Man, I read the first post and I thought, "No problem - penne rigate." And then Hoke had the audacity to mention papardelle. And then that made me think of bucatini.

And it all unravelled from there.



Mike

[Robin Garr]

...to live with for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Aw, geez, not this again!

I love variety, and the more of it the better, so I really have a hard time singling out one favorite, of pasta or anything.

But heck, I'll play. For maximum versatility, if I really had to do this, I think I'd go with penne as my short pasta, in a close, difficult match against rigatoni. And after long soul-searching, regular spaghetti over linguine or fettuccine. And! Since we DO get to pick a couple of categories, I'll add orzo as my soup pasta.

Choosing one, it would be shells. Works in salad, with sauce, macaroni & cheese, soup. Pretty much all purpose. Since I don't know the Italian names of all the pasta shapes I Googled pasta shapes and found this link:

Pasta Shapes

From the above link:
conchiglie = pasta shells = pipe rigate = maruzze Pronunciation: con-KEEL-yay Notes: This Italian pasta resembles conch shells. It's often served with tomato or meat sauces, or in pasta salads. A smaller version for soups is called conchigliette, while larger, stuffable shells are called conchiglioni.

It's an impossible question to answer - it's cruel and inhuman to even suggest such a thing.

However, for the sake of this exercise, I'll pick a long, thicker pasta like bucatini, and then when I need short pasta, I'll just break it into thirds.

I won't be happy, though.

It's an impossible question to answer - it's cruel and inhuman to even suggest such a thing.

I agree - but I'd rather have to live with just one style of pasta than have to choose only one wine.

I'll be the smartass here and say that I'd pick pasta sheets. That way, I could cut any shape I need.

Hah!

Stuart, I bow down before your perspicacity.

As for me,,, at present I've got a "thing" going for campanelle. It's like the best of all worlds for a smallish shape. It's open enough to hold chunky ingredients and the "funnel" holds sauces really well.

But I'd have to go along with Jenise in that I'd require a string shape too... and I'll take linguini, thank you very much.

[Jenise]

And! Since we DO get to pick a couple of categories, I'll add orzo as my soup pasta.

You're speed reading again! Nobody said you get to pick a couple of catgegories. You have to pick ONE. So what is it?

Stuart, I bow down before your perspicacity.

Love that vocab, Scott You would make an excellent Scrabble player!

[Robin Garr]

You're speed reading again! Nobody said you get to pick a couple of catgegories. You have to pick ONE. So what is it?

Speed reading, hell! I'm <i>senile</i>!

Okay. I'm with John T. This is cruel and unfair. But if I really, really, really have to take just one pasta to the desert island it's ... ummm ... errrrr ... okay, dammit! It's standard spaghetti. You can't go wrong with the fundamental Roman tradition, and for recipes where long pasta just won't do, you could at least break it into short spoon-size lengths and have <i>something</i>.

Fusilli, since I'm such a screw-up.

cheers,
al

...to live with for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Orzo - I could continue to enjoy it when I no longer had teeth.....(ya gotta plan AHEAD!)