Pasta Shapes A to Ziti

Somewhere in the branches of my family tree has to be an Italian ancestor. My love of pasta scares me at time. My sister practically lives on pasta and she has some of the greatest pasta recipes for a girl who never spend a Sunday cooking with an Italian Grandmother. I think there might been someone on my mother's father's side that was Italian but we will never know with out help from Ancestry.com.

Anyway, I bring this up because I was once told that it was important to pick out a pasta shape based on the sauce ("gravy") you are putting on it. Not having any directed cooking knowledge of this I think I have been selecting the wrong pasta all my life. I was brought up with a mother, who may or may not have had an Italian relative, who only made two shapes of pasta. Elbows for mac and cheese and angel hair if she was cooking spaghetti with meat sauce. Occasionally she made lasagna, but I found out later in life that that recipe was slightly off as well thanks to the fact my mom always put cottage cheese in instead of ricotta.

So I am learning my pasta shape and trying to figure out which goes with what, wish me luck. How many shapes can you name?

The History of Pasta - Thanks to Stancato's Italian Restaurant

Quick Paty Quyn fun fact my - Father's Mother was German and made the best thumb noodles but that will have to be another blog for another time.