Store bought or fresh home made pasta
Whether it is fresh home made pasta or store bought, pasta is always tasty. In Italy it is a staple food like potatoes in the Netherlands. The word “pasta” comes from the Latin word pÄstam, which means a combination of flour and water.
The origin of pasta dates back to a long time ago. Some researchers believe that in the thirteenth century it was Marco Polo, who introduced pasta in Italy on his return from one of his trips to China in 1271. Others say that the pasta dates back even further, to the ancient Etruscan civilizations, which produced pasta grinding different cereals and then mixing them with water, a mixture that was later cooked producing a tasty and nutritious food product.
Did you know that by now there are more than 600 different shapes of pasta made all over the world? In Puglia, among the various types, we have the “Orecchiette”. The round and concave shape of this pasta has led to its name, which means “small ears”. In Bari there is a place called “Quartiere delle Orecchiette”. In reality, they are just two narrow streets, where local women are sitting outside preparing the orecchiette by hand, continuing a family tradition.
Challenge yourself
About four years ago I had the pleasure to learn how to make Orecchiette. My teacher was an 80 years young lovely lady. But that wasn’t the first time I made fresh pasta.
In 2015 an Italian friend told me he was able to make a fresh pasta dish within 20 minutes and challenged me to try it too. I accepted the challenge, making the dough was a piece of cake but rolling the dough with a rolling pin took me a lot of time. About 50 minutes later I finally had my pasta on the table. A 30 minute difference. It was a challenge to win! After many doughs, always improving my time, I finally reached the time of 20 minutes đ . At that point, my friend told me he was using a pasta machine, not a rolling pin like I did. From that day on, he called me the queen of pasta đ .Â
Now, I would like to challenge you: try to make fresh pasta , it’s really fun!