I'm not a great cook. I have a small number of meals that I make pretty well though. It's just me an my partner usually and we share the cooking. Fortunately, she is an excellent cook.

Anyhoo, one of my favourites is pasta with bolognese sauce. It I don't mind saying so, it's pretty damned good. Usually, I just buy the cheapest pasta at the supermarket, figuring that it's just semolina anyway. After watching one of the current affairs shows, I noted a test they did on pastas and the brand Vetta came out head and shoulders above the rest. I figured "what the Hell?". It cost a lot more than the cheap stuff, but, in the big scheme of things, the total meal cost rose by less than $0.30. I purchased a pack and served the meal to my partner (she had no knowledge that I had changed the pasta). She exclaimed: "What have you done with the pasta, it's very good indeed?"

Yikes. A single blind test, I know, but I'm convinced.

Buy Vetta pasta.

BTW: I have cooked with pasta made by an older Italian lady (she's in her early 70s) and I reckon the Vetta is as good, or better.

I've been a Barilla man for years. I love the blue boxes :nana

Will give the Vetta a whirl though Trev. Thanks!

I would say try making your own, but I'll give Vetta a whirl and see how we go

Bit of a pasta freak myself ZB , and make a mean Bolognese , I've been putting the L'abruzzese brand to good use with excellent results.

I pester it after it goes into the pot of salted water to ensure it cooks evenly , I'm not a fan of rinsing the pasta after cooking.

I'll get some Vetta and give that a whirl.

ZB,

To take it to another level with spousal approval ....Try some Pasta all uovo (egg noodles) by La Triestina or La Tosca. I think the La Triestina is better. You won't (usually) find it in typical supermarkets, most European Food Wholesalers/Importers will have it or similar. I prefer it well cooked. The tagliatelle or smaller would be good with a Bolognese sauce. A good test of the quality of the pasta is to first taste the pasta without any sauce.

Best

JA

Edited December 21, 201015 yr by JA

Sorry Zaphod, i've known about that for years :nana Life is too short to eat cheap pasta. If you take a little bit of care, every meal will be something to be enjoyed, rather than something which merely provides sustenance.

I used to go for the Barilla pasta for years until I discovered all the Italian stuff which is sold in paper wrapping here in Melbourne. What you want is a pasta that picks up the sauce - i.e. if you pick up the pasta, the sauce should go with it, with very little left on the plate. If you examine the surface of the Italian stuff closely, you will see that it is a bit rough. Barilla, Vetta, and others are smooth. The difference comes from the way the pasta is extruded before it is dried. The roughness helps the pasta pick up the sauce.

Of course, the other thing that helps is the shape of the pasta and the texture of your sauce. Thinner pastas (spaghetti, capelli, vermicelli) are better for thinner sauces, while thicker pastas like linguine and penne suit heavier sauces. I'll bet you have never thought of adjusting the consistency of your sauce to match the pasta

There are more considerations when it comes to choosing pasta. "Real" Italians like to taste the pasta, so their sauces are much simpler than the ones we tend to make. If you drown out your pasta in bolognese, you won't be able to taste the beautiful pasta. The pasta gets reduced to providing texture. If you have an awesome pasta, it would be a crime to eat it with bolognese. If I have very good pasta, the sauce I use is even simpler - "Olio e aglio" (olive oil and garlic), or a white wine reduction with white fish or vongole.

I have always preferred the texture of dried pasta to freshly made, but prefer the taste of freshly made to dried. An Italian friend told me that the textures will always be different, but you can get closer to the texture of dried pasta by drying your fresh pasta for a longer period.

One more thing - when cooking pasta, make sure you cook it in PLENTY of boiling, salted water. If you use a small volume of water, the pasta might be too starchy. The traditional Italian ratio is 1:10:100 - i.e. 10g of salt, for 100g of pasta, for 1000g of water.

zb, my mother is an italian lady in her mid seventies and makes the nicest home made pasta this side of little italy! however im a bit more slack and i agree with you on the vetta it is one of the better ones around and i generally use it myself. i also like the barilla and labruzze one with egg noodles. i use a combo of pork/chicken or turkey and beef mince for the meat as well as fresh basil from the garden and a bit of red wine and plenty of garlic which my wife complains about but it is so nice. chillies or hot peppers are my side dishes and also some really nice just cooked wood oven bread, to clean up of course!

Sorry Zaphod, i've known about that for years :nana Life is too short to eat cheap pasta. If you take a little bit of care, every meal will be something to be enjoyed, rather than something which merely provides sustenance.

I used to go for the Barilla pasta for years until I discovered all the Italian stuff which is sold in paper wrapping here in Melbourne. What you want is a pasta that picks up the sauce - i.e. if you pick up the pasta, the sauce should go with it, with very little left on the plate. If you examine the surface of the Italian stuff closely, you will see that it is a bit rough. Barilla, Vetta, and others are smooth. The difference comes from the way the pasta is extruded before it is dried. The roughness helps the pasta pick up the sauce.

Of course, the other thing that helps is the shape of the pasta and the texture of your sauce. Thinner pastas (spaghetti, capelli, vermicelli) are better for thinner sauces, while thicker pastas like linguine and penne suit heavier sauces. I'll bet you have never thought of adjusting the consistency of your sauce to match the pasta

There are more considerations when it comes to choosing pasta. "Real" Italians like to taste the pasta, so their sauces are much simpler than the ones we tend to make. If you drown out your pasta in bolognese, you won't be able to taste the beautiful pasta. The pasta gets reduced to providing texture. If you have an awesome pasta, it would be a crime to eat it with bolognese. If I have very good pasta, the sauce I use is even simpler - "Olio e aglio" (olive oil and garlic), or a white wine reduction with white fish or vongole.

I have always preferred the texture of dried pasta to freshly made, but prefer the taste of freshly made to dried. An Italian friend told me that the textures will always be different, but you can get closer to the texture of dried pasta by drying your fresh pasta for a longer period.

One more thing - when cooking pasta, make sure you cook it in PLENTY of boiling, salted water. If you use a small volume of water, the pasta might be too starchy. The traditional Italian ratio is 1:10:100 - i.e. 10g of salt, for 100g of pasta, for 1000g of water.

...excellent write-up So hungry now....all I can think about is making a large platter of linguine vongole

Signed

Guess What'll Be Having For Lunch Now....

Keith, is it true that the only reason al dente pasta came about is for a restaurant to prove to it's customers that the past is dried?

In other words, by serving it al dente they are not pretending to be serving up fresh pasta (which could never be al dente). That's what I've read somewhere anyhoo.

Thanks everyone for the responses. I will adopt ALL the suggestions. Promise. And Keith, I know where you are coming from. I once had a meal at a restaurant in the backstreets of Ultimo (Sydney) called 'The Restaurant'. The place was almost impossible to find, but it was always full of patrons. For my entre' I ordered the pasta. It was plain pasta, some oil, garlic and some parmesan. It was simply extraordinary. I asked the chef and he confirmed that it was all home made pasta. Vastly superior to any pasta I've had before or since. Maybe I'll try making some, one day.

I use Barilla for cheap and cheerful pasta where I'm after carbs - things like tuna pasta bake - but normally only the short cut pastas.

For my 'good' pasta meals (and I include ragu in that) I use Martelli - its in a yellow paper packet.

I agree with Keith that most Italian fresh pasta dishes emphasise the pasta, but its not just the type of sauce, its the quantity (and the fact its not meant to be a main meal). Go to a good reataurant in Italy and spag bol is a portion of pasta with two tablespoons of sauce.

Edit: oh, and the reason for the vast amounts of water isn't the starch, its the temperature drop. The water needs to stay boiling. If you go to a top end Italian restaurant, the same water is used all night and they take from this water to thicken sauces.

Thanks Trev, had no idea, thought they were all the same. Will give Vetta a go.

Do you reckon they add something or is it freshness ?

I make up big pasta meals to put in containers in the freezer to take to work. One thing i tried recently was changing from Coles premium minced beef to their pork and veal mince combined. That's a nice little change.

I haven't tested Keith on Pasta, but I can say he makes a mean pizza!

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Which brand of pasta do you cook with these days ZB?

I don't know anything much about the history of pasta, but during my cooking course in Firenza (Florence) fresh pasta was always said to be the best. Of course it doesn't keep well because of the eggs. Cooking time is 2 minutes maximum in plenty of well-salted water. We used a pot that was at least 350mm in diameter and 400mm in height just on half-full.

Lello

https://lellopasta.com.au/

< Leonardo & Linda Gelsomino own and operate Melbourne’s Lello Artisan pasta.After permanently closing their Flinders Lane Restaurant due to Covid the pair “did not get stuck in the weeds” and began to distribute their handmade fresh, dry pasta and sugo to specialty retail stores across Australia. Leonardo Gelsomino is the sole Australian custodian (only chef in Australian) of “Su Filindeu” or “thread of god pasta” the worlds rarest pasta after being chosen in 2019 two travel to Sardinia and be taught by La Cucina delle Matriarche. Lello Artisan Pasta uses Australian durum wheat semolina and a production method which retains all nutritional properties. Working in small batches all our pastas go through Bonze Die Extruders, giving the pasta a rough texture that hold sauces perfectly. >

https://lellopasta.com.au/where-to-buy/

3 hours ago, Ian McP said:

Lello

https://lellopasta.com.au/

< Leonardo & Linda Gelsomino own and operate Melbourne’s Lello Artisan pasta.After permanently closing their Flinders Lane Restaurant due to Covid the pair “did not get stuck in the weeds” and began to distribute their handmade fresh, dry pasta and sugo to specialty retail stores across Australia. Leonardo Gelsomino is the sole Australian custodian (only chef in Australian) of “Su Filindeu” or “thread of god pasta” the worlds rarest pasta after being chosen in 2019 two travel to Sardinia and be taught by La Cucina delle Matriarche. Lello Artisan Pasta uses Australian durum wheat semolina and a production method which retains all nutritional properties. Working in small batches all our pastas go through Bonze Die Extruders, giving the pasta a rough texture that hold sauces perfectly. >

https://lellopasta.com.au/where-to-buy/

We generally go with the local stuff if we're looking for good pasta - https://www.islandpasta.com.au/ or https://www.morningtonpeninsulapastacompany.com.au/.