Basic Pasta Types

Pasta is usually made from durum wheat semolina, but it can also be made using spelt, corn or rice, making pasta accessible for those who are allergic to wheat. Eggs are sometimes added to the dough to produce pasta all'uovo, a pasta that is rich in taste, with a bright yellow colour.

Pasta may be sold fresh or dried; in Italy, dried pasta was traditionally served for lunch, whilst fresh pasta was served in the evening. However, it's now purely a matter of personal taste and convenience as to which variety is eaten when.

Dried Pasta

In general, dried pasta is factory-made before being fully dried and packaged. The drying process means that it may be stored for a long period of time - almost indefinitely if kept in a cool, dry, dark place. It is usually only made with water, salt and flour - eggs are rarely added as this would decrease the amount of time it could be stored.

Dried pasta requires a longer cooking time than fresh pasta and it will swell almost 60% when cooked. You will therefore need to take this into account when using dried pasta in a recipe that calls for fresh pasta or vice versa. In general, 100 g of dried pasta will yield about the same amount as 150 g of fresh.

Once cooked, dried pasta holds its shape better than fresh pasta, making it ideal for baked or stuffed dishes and for salads. It also works well with heavy and chunky sauces.

Fresh Pasta

Fresh pasta is available in a fairly limited array of shapes and sizes; it is most often found as ribbon type pastas, such as lasagne, fettuccine, linguine, pappardelle and tagliatelle, as well as a variety of stuffed pastas, including ravioli, capelletti and tortellini.

Although it is not available in all of the vast range of shapes and sizes of dried pasta, it does have a wider variety of colour and flavours. Many varieties are made with egg, giving it a fresh yellow colour, whilst others may have other ingredients added such as squid ink (to give a black colour and seafood taste), lemon (for a fresh citrus flavour and a light yellow colour) and chilli pepper (for biting, spicy flavour). However, the high water content and the inclusion of eggs means that fresh pasta is highly perishable, lasting for only 4 days or so in the fridge, or up to 2 months if frozen.

Fresh pasta has a softer texture than dried pasta and requires only a short cooking time. Its delicate, yet chewy texture works well with lighter sauces, such as simple oil or butter-based sauces, cream sauces and thin tomato sauces.