The busy cook's lament is always this: I never have time to try anything new. We all get into a rut, making the same things over and over again, either because that's easiest, or because it's less expensive, or because it's what our families want. Nothing wrong with that. But if you find yourself itching to change things up just a bit, here's a quick tip.
Try a new pasta shape. This one's called strozzapretti:
It's my new favorite, and not just because its name means "strangle the priest", which seems unnecessarily violent and jarring for... pasta.
These, I used to make "pasta fries", a recipe from The Improvisational Cook, a cookbook that runs through a lot of variations on simple ideas to demonstrate how easy it is to change things up. So it's fitting that the change-it-up-with-pasta tip and the change-it-up-with-variations cookbook are being mentioned together today.
Anyway, strozzapretti is a nice handy short noodle that can be used in place of ziti, penne, gemelli, or other short tubes. Takes about 10 minutes to boil up. And it makes a mean "pasta fry": al dente pasta stirred with butter and olive oil and parmesan, baked in a jelly roll pan at 450 for 30-ish minutes until some of it is brown and crisp.
I wish I had a picture of that. Heck, I wish I had a plate of it. In any case, next time you're in the supermarket or your local Italian store (if you're lucky enough to have one), try a pasta shape you're not familiar with. Can't hurt.
(Unless you're the priest, I guess.)
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