Glossary of food terms: P
Pasta
Made from a dough of durum-wheat semolina, water and sometimes eggs, which is kneaded and cut into a wide variety of shapes. There are basically two types - fresh or dried.
Fresh pasta is often made with eggs, giving it a richer flavour and texture than the dried varieties; it has the consistency of a soft dough and only needs to be cooked for a very short time compared with dried pasta.
You need to serve slightly more fresh pasta compared with dry because it doesn't absorb as much water as dried so doesn’t swell up as much. It should be kept in the fridge and used within two days (or check the packet information), but it does freeze well for up to a month. You can buy filled fresh pastas with a variety of meat and vegetable fillings - they make a simple supper served with a home-made sauce. Dried pasta is convenient and widely available.
Choose good quality pasta made only from durum-wheat semolina. It will store unopened for more than a year in a cool dry cupboard and for about a month once opened. The choice of pasta these days is quite overwhelming and it's eaten around the world from Italy to China.
It can be served simply with sauces, stuffed, baked or added to soups for bulk. See individual entries for different types available: farfalle, fettuccine, fusilli, gnocchi, linguine, penne, ravioli, rigatoni, tagliatelle, vermicelli. See also noodles.
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