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From the time of the Ancient Romans and Etruscans…

Do you like history?

Pasta. “All’uovo”, dry, long shape, short shape, stuffed one. Done with wheat, rice, barley, buckwheat, rye, maize, as well as chestnut and chickpea flours. It is well known all over the world and eaten almost everywhere. But there is some debate on who invented it. Were the Chinese, Italians or even the Arabs? Marco Polo for sure brought noodles to Italy in 1295 and described it, using terms already familiar to him, when he reported his adventures and experience in Katai (China) on his famous “Il Milione”. But many food historians say that a kind of pasta was already known in Italy for a long time ago. Etruscan tombs (VII century B.C.) and their inscriptions show they used tools significantly similar to the ones used nowadays to make pasta. Furthermore the inhabitants of Rome in the III century and the Roman poet Horace in the I century B.C. refer to “lagana” (lasagne) and other kind of noodles. Apicius as well, the famous Roman gastronome, described dished baked in the oven.

In a cookbook of the XIII century, published in Italy shortly before the return of Marco Polo from China, there are recipes for making different types of pasta, including “ravioli”, “vermicelli” and “tortelli”. So, in one way or another, pasta existed in Italy long before Marco Polo, and Pasta Museum in Rome –very interesting, when in Rome pay a visit there too!- has several manuscripts, paintings and etchings to prove it (http://www.museodellapasta.it/). In its archives and exhibition you have the opportunity of reading important documents dating as far back as 1154, which demonstrate without a shadow of doubt that the method of producing and preserving pasta had been discovered back in the XII century in as many as four different regions of Italy. A very important historical piece of information relating to pasta is a document dating from 1154, in which we read of a settlement with “several mills” by the name of Trabìa (in Sicily) and of the production and trading of pasta, which was transported by ship to “Moslem and Christian” countries.

Collective imagination refers pasta to Italy, and especially to one city: Naples. Nothing can be truer than this. The creativity of the Neapolitans, the humble and cheap price of flour, combined with the soil and climate, adapt for the cultivation of Tricum Durum (“durum wheat”, a particularly gluten rich wheat) and the drying of pasta, as well as the growing of tomatoes, with the best olive oil in the world from the near region of Puglia, made possible the unbelievable tasty marriage of these different ingredients.

Already during the “Renaissance” (XV-XVI century), Italian pasta appeared often on the daily menu. The rich Florentine accompanied it with sugar and expensive spices, but the poor had to make do eat pasta alone or with humble ingredients, such as garlic, vegetables and cheese. At that time the pasta was simple, fresh and homemade (a far cry from the many types and flavours of dried pasta that are on the market today), the invention of which must be recognized to the Neapolitans. It turned out that the Neapolitan fertile soil of the area was the ideal for the cultivation of durum wheat, which is the best flour for pasta produced on a large scale, and that the unique combination of sun and wind in this area of southern Italy was perfect for drying pasta (“pasta secca”). This was an innovation which allows it to be preserved in perfect condition for months and even for years.

The pulp mills multiplied around the city of Naples and at the end of the XVIII century the consumption of pasta in Italy was off. “Macaroni”, “spaghetti”, “tagliatelle” were among the first types of pasta to be produced on a large scale, made only of flour and water. It is to be noted that the idea of using tomato sauce to give pasta its flavour was revolutionary since it was originally eaten plain. It was eaten with the hands as only the wealthy could afford eating utensils.

At that time the pasta was considered as poor food and was usually served with tomato sauce. In the south, the tomatoes grew well as the whole wheat flour and this gave rise to this highly successful marriage. To the north the Italians preferred the “pasta all’uovo” (dough with egg). It was fresh hand-made pasta, usually with the sauce or stuffed with meat, and it was just the rich to eat it. It was only in the XX century that the development of food industry equipment allowed the large-scale industrial production of pasta the same way as with dry pasta. With Italian emigration “pasta secca” and “all’uovo”, served hot or cold, has now widespread all over the world.

Ingredients of pasta

Since the time of Cato, basic pasta dough has been made mostly of wheat flour or semolina, with durum wheat used predominantly in the South of Italy and soft wheat in the North. Regionally other grains have been used, including those from barley, buckwheat, rye, rice and maize, as well as chestnut and chickpea flours. In modern times to meet the demands of both health conscious and coeliac sufferers the use of rice, maize and whole durum wheat has become commercially significant. Grain flours may also be supplemented with cooked potatoes. Beyond hens’ eggs and water, liquids have included duck eggs, milk or cream, olive or walnut oil, wine, ink from octopus, squid or cuttlefish, and even pigs’ blood. Other additions to the basic flour-liquid mixture may include vegetables purees such as spinach or tomato, mushrooms, cheeses, herbs, spices and other seasonings. While pastas are, most typically, made from unleavened dough, the use of yeast-raised dough is also known for at least nine different pasta forms.

Typically pasta is made from an unleavened dough of a durum wheat flour mixed with water and formed into sheets or various shapes, then cooked and served in any number of dishes. It can be made with flour from other cereals or grains, and eggs (for the pasta all’uovo) may be used instead of water. Chicken eggs frequently dominate as the source of the liquid component in fresh pasta. Therefore common pasta is made by flour, salt, water or eggs, and these simple elements make the difference.

Limestone water from south of Italy appear to give minerals and link to the dough as well as during ebullition as the pasta doesn’t release important nutrients in the saturated water.

The ideal grain for flour used in pasta is the “durum wheat” (Triticum durum). This summer wheat (which is produced in southern Italy and imported from North America, the best areas in the world, for the production of Italian pasta) produces a flour rich in gluten, which yields a soft and easy dough to work with. The whole wheat flour, semolina, produces a high quality pasta which can keep the shape it has been given. If cooked “al dente” (just right), it is soft while maintaining a pleasant fragrance to the bite. It is always good to choose 100% durum wheat pasta rather than soft wheat (grano tenero) or percentages of that, because this kind of dough tends to stick during cooking and is often mellow and soft. The addition of the egg in the dough tends to strengthen the dough helping, especially for stuffed pasta, keep the filling into the dough.

The durum wheat flours are slightly yellowish color, more “grainy” to the touch and best for making dry pasta and some kind of bread. The soft wheat flours (in Italy they are selected according to the “ash”: 0.50% is 00flour high gluten type, for pizza or fresh pasta; 0.80% is 0flour type; 1.40% is wholegrain flour type) are white in color, have a consistency almost “dusty” and are more suitable for the preparation of confectionery and bakery.

The most important substances that make up the flour, depending on the wheat, are enzymes, sugars, proteins, mineral salts. The enzymes are divided into amylase and protease. The first attack the starch of the flour and produce the fundamental food for the yeast (especially for pizza, bread and bakery). The second one instead attacks the gluten, making it more elastic. The most important proteins are of two types: soluble and insoluble. The most important from the gastronomy point of view are the “gliandine” and “gluteine”, which form the gluten. Finally, it is important to know that there is also a W value that expresses the “strength” of the flour. The more “tall’ the value W (170W to over 350W), the more these flours must absorb water. The more is the amount of proteins in the flour, the more the “strength” of the flour and the percentage of water required.

The eggs must be fresh and kept at ambient temperature. They add nutritional value of amino acids and proteins. If stored in the fridge, take them out 1hour before preparation.

Nutritional and health value

Rich in proteins, vitamins, fibres and minerals, pasta is composed by complex carbohydrates. It gives the same energy of a steak but with almost no fat. Pasta contains six of the eight essential amino acids for making a complete protein; therefore if you add a bit of cheese, egg, meat or fish (the traditional ingredients you serve with pasta) you can have a complete meal. An average 100gr of dried pasta contain 300kcal, 12.5gr proteins, 1.5gr total fat, 71.7gr carbohydrates (3.5gr sugars), 3gr of fibres and 2mg sodium. The carbohydrates have a low “glycaemic index” for long lasting energy. Pasta cooked “just right” has a glycaemic index of 40, compared to rice, which is 110!

In Italy the incidence of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease is one of the lowest in the world and doctors, nutritionists and scientists agree that Italian cuisine and “Mediterranean diet” plays an essential role, with pasta and its sauce, made from extra virgin virgin olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, onions, olives, red pepper and parsley, fresh fish, vegetables and leaves of salad, fruit, vegetables and lemon juice.

Pasta is economic, fast and easy to cook and incredibly versatile. It is the perfect food “semipronto”: the time it takes to boil water and cook the pasta is enough to prepare most of the sauces. Pasta is especially nutritious and suitable for children. And is also the perfect food for athletes because it gives a lot of energy, is easy to digest and fully satisfying.

The secret to eating well is to eat the pasta as we Italians do, with only a small amount of extra ingredient, served as a first course. Accompanied by a little sauce and a sprinkling of grated cheese, nothing can’ be more ‘balanced and healthy from a nutritional standpoint. Therefore, the pasta should be included in the diet daily. For whom is under a calorie-controlled regime a portion of pasta of 75gr, accompanied by a light sauce, can contain only 200 calories.

Therefore, please try these easy recipes fused with some Asian simple spices and herbs and invite your friends for a yummy pasta enjoyment!

1. SPAGHETTI WITH CLAMS (“Spaghetti alle Vongole”)

Serves 4 Prep 10 min Cook 30 min

EASY

Easy to prepare, yet flavourful and with some tips regarding spices and final Asian fusion.

300 g Italian pasta (better spaghetti for their long shape form, matching with the sauce and clams)

250 g clams (can be frozen, if fresh and in shells, wash them carefully)

4 chili padi (better Italian “peperoncino secco”, from South of Italy; its flavour is hot, yet not burning your mouth)

2 roots of Chinese celery (coriander)

4 gloves of garlic (chopped)

Olive Extra Virgin Oil

Salt, Water for boiling pasta

White wine, ground black pepper (optional)

1. Prepare 300 g spaghetti, or other long shape pasta. Spaghetti usually need 8 to 10 minutes for boiling. If you want them just right, just take them out one minute before it. Choose Italian pasta, you will taste the difference.

2. Wash the clams carefully, especially if in shells. After washing, put them in a small bowl and cover them with water and one full tablespoon of salt. Keep for 10 minutes. This will disinfect and enhance the sea-taste.

3. Put one pot with 3-4 litres of water at high fire.

4. Fry the chopped garlic at medium fire on a pan with olive extra virgin oil. Don’t fry at high temperature. Clean it from seeds, which are unhealthy, and add the chopped chili padi. Be careful, use gloves and don’t touch your lips or eyes after chopping the chili padi!

5. Add the clams with some of the salty water and keep frying. Add white wine and black pepper.

6. When water is boiling, add half tablespoon of salt and then the spaghetti. Reduce the fire heat and stir regularly. If the sauce is getting too dry, add one scoop of water from the pot of the boiling pasta. Check the cooking temperature written on the box and take it out one minute before that.

7. Keep some water from the boiled pasta apart, then filter pasta from water and put inside the pan with the clams, together with the water you kept apart.

8. Cook them for one minute and mix. Turn off the fire and serve with chopped Chinese celery on top.

Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

2. Penne with mushrooms and tomatoes (“Penne ai funghi e pomodoro”)

Serves 4 Prep 15 min Cook 30 min

EASY

Just to show you how to make it a delicious delicate vegetarian dish from the simplest natural ingredients.

300 g Italian pasta (better penne for their short shape form, matching with the sauce and the vegetables)

250 g mushrooms (white button will be perfect)

5 fresh tomatoes

2 roots of Chinese celery (coriander)

4 gloves of garlic (chopped)

Olive Extra Virgin Oil

Salt, Water for boiling pasta

Ground black pepper, dried basil or Italian herbs (optional)

1. Prepare 300 g penne, or other short shape pasta. Penne usually need 10 minutes for boiling. If you want them just right, just take them out one minute before it. Choose Italian pasta, you will taste the difference.

2. Wash the tomatoes for 10 minutes soaked in water. Wash the mushrooms. Chop them. If you chop them in small pieces the sauce will be a balance mix of flavours, if you prefer in bigger pieces it will enhance more the taste of the single pieces.

3. Put one pot with 3-4 litres of water at high fire.

4. Fry the chopped garlic at medium fire on a pan with olive extra virgin oil. Don’t fry at high temperature. Add then the mushrooms first and keep them frying for 10 minutes. Add then the tomatoes and keep frying for another 10 minutes. Add then black pepper.

5. When water is boiling, add half tablespoon of salt and then the penne. Reduce the fire heat and stir regularly. If the sauce is getting too dry, add one scoop of water from the pot of the boiling pasta. Check the cooking temperature written on the box and take it out one minute before that.

6. Keep some water –a couple of scoops- from the boiled pasta apart, then filter pasta from water and put inside the pan with the sauce of mushrooms and tomatoes, together with the water you kept apart.

7. Cook them for one minute and mix. Turn off the fire and serve with chopped Chinese celery on top.

Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

3. Spaghetti “alla Carbonara” (Roman original recipe)

Serves 4 Prep 10 min Cook 30 min

EASY

One of the best and most imitated, yet wrongly made Italian pasta in the world! Avoid amateurs’ mistakes like

cream, wrong type of cheese and pasta, select the right options and make this Roman wonderfully indulgent dish your best culinary choice!

300 g Italian pasta (better spaghetti)

200 g streaked bacon (the best would be the original Roman “guanciale”)

50 g grated Parmigiano Reggiano (the original Italian cheese)

50 g grated Pecorino Romano (the original Italian cheese)

4 gloves of garlic (chopped)

Olive Extra Virgin Oil

2 eggs, room temperature

White or Red wine, according to the personal liking

Salt, Water for boiling pasta

Ground black pepper

1. Prepare 300 g spaghetti. Spaghetti usually need 8 minutes for boiling. If you want them just right, just take them out one minute before it. Choose Italian pasta, you will taste the difference.

2. Put one pot with 3-4 litres of water at high fire. Prepare two eggs in a bowl and mix the yolks and albumens. You can add 2 tablespoons of water.

3. Fry the chopped garlic at medium fire on a pan with olive extra virgin oil. Don’t fry at high temperature. Add then the bacon and keep frying for 10 minutes. Add wine.

4. When the water is boiling, add half tablespoon of salt and then the spaghetti. Reduce the fire heat and stir regularly. Check the cooking temperature written on the box and take it out one minute before that.

5. Filter pasta from water and put inside the pan with the bacon and cook for one more minute.

6. Turn off the fire. Add the eggs sauce and mix fast, being careful that the eggs form a film cover on spaghetti and not an omelette!

7. Add back pepper, Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino, stir and serve warm. Fantastic!

Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

Fabrizio Righi is an Italian manager who settled down in Singapore and worked for International Organization Caritas Network in Humanitarian Emergency Field in Eastern Europe for many years in the Emergency, Social, Health (including Nutrition), Education, and Development fields. He worked 16 years all over Europe and knows 9 languages and the cuisines of his Continent. His favourite forte is Italian Cuisine, which he learned from his grandmother Maria Stella and which loves to share with his Community, enriched by the sound and deep background of European culinary traditions where he worked abroad and by the Asian spices and herbs from the region where he settled down last. He is also a passionate of ancient recipes from the Ancient Romans and Greeks, and of cultural gastronomy with a lot of information that you will hardly find everywhere else. He participated in the “Singapore Culinary Journey” 2013. You can find Fabrizio with his languages, culture and cuisine posts on https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/groups/124257721050152/

Different kinds of pasta

Pastas may be divided into two broad categories, dried (pasta secca) and fresh (pasta fresca). It can be divided also in durum wheat flour or pasta all’uovo which does not expand in size after cooking and is faster to cook. In contrast to fresh pasta, dried pasta needs to be dried at a low temperature for several days to evaporate all the moisture allowing it to be stored for a longer period. Once it is cooked, the dried pasta will usually increase in size by double of its original proportion.

Both dried and fresh pasta come in a number of shapes and varieties, with 310 specific forms known variably by over 1300 names having been recently documented in Italy. In Italy the names of specific pasta shapes or types often vary with locale. For example the form “cavatelli” is known by 28 different names depending on region and town. Common forms of pasta include long shapes, short shapes, tubes, flat shapes and sheets, miniature soup shapes, filled or stuffed, and specialty or decorative shapes. There are also many regional shapes.

The long shape, whose lenght and width may vary, includes the famous spaghetti, bavette, bucatini, capelli d’angelo, chitarra, fusilli lunghi, lasagnette, linguine, maccheroni, tagliatelle, vermicelli, ziti, fettuccine, pappardelle, trenette, etc…. The best sauces are the soft and light ones, with ingredients chopped in small size. It matches perfectly with olive oil, butter, cream, eggs, grated cheese, and fresh aromas.

The short shape, which is easier to cook and to eat than the long one, matches with all of the sauces. Its shapes might vary from mm –for the ones used in the soups- to some cm. The most famous forms are the benfatti, chifferini, conchiglie, eliche, farfalle, fusilli, lumache, maccheroni, penne, pipe, rigatoni, rotelle, orecchiette, gnocchetti, etc… as regarding the little size, mostly for soups, there are alfabetini, risoni, tubettini, quadretti, anellini, stelline, farfalline, ditalini, funghetti, etc…

The puff pastry, or flat shapes and sheets, include the lasagne, festonelle, pantacce, etc… they are mostly used for layers of pasta and other ingredients.

The stuffed pasta is flat sheets which contain different fillings, cut and shaped in many forms, like dumplings. The pasta is usually all’uovo, as it retains the filling much better than the dry pasta. The most famous are tortellini, ravioli, agnolotti, cappelletti and can match both with sauces and soups and meat broth. The filling can be meat, fish, seafood, vegetables, spices, cheese.

The pasta al forno are those kinds of pasta which match better incorporated into a dish that is subsequently baked. It usually includes the above lasagne, cannelloni, but also many other kinds.

The phantasy pasta like “pasta tricolore” (three different kinds of colours, red, white and green like the Italian flag, mostly given by tomato, grain and spinach) is the above pasta with dough containing pepper, chili pepper, asparagus, spinach, salmon, beans, squid ink, tomatoes, chestnuts, mushrooms, garlic, aromatic herbs, etc… Better match it with simple light sauces. There is no limit to the possibility of different kinds of pasta, therefore if you can make pasta your own, you and your stomach will feel very satisfied by your skills and creativity!

Storage and keeping

Usually pasta is already packed in plastic or cardboard packages, which protect the product from humidity. The storage of pasta depends on how far along it is processed. If you buy fresh pasta in a pasta store, especially egg pasta, use it in the same day or two and keep it in the fridge. Uncooked pasta is kept dry and can sit in the cupboard for a year. The dry pasta must be airtight and stored in a dry area. Make sure it is kept in a cool dry place. Cooked pasta is stored in the refrigerator for a maximum of five days in an airtight container. Adding a couple teaspoons of oil helps keep the food from sticking to each other and the container. If the cooked pasta is not used in the five days it may be frozen for up to two or three months. The pasta will start to dry after a period of time, but it varies with the type of pasta. Should the pasta be dried completely, place it back into the cupboard.