Easy summer pastas: freshen up a pantry staple with seasonal ingredients - Food & Entertaining - recipes

Sunset, August, 2003 by Marcia Smart

Per serving: 480 cal., 28% (135 cal.) from fat; 33 g protein; 15g fat (2.1 g sat.); 49 g carbo (3g fiber); 399 mg sodium; 36 mg chol.

RELATED ARTICLE: Pairing pastas

Different pastas go better with some sauces than others. Here's a guide.

Strands are best with moderately liquid sauces. Familiar spaghetti is a classic with tomato sauce. Bavette and tagliolini are thin, flattened strands that work well with light cream sauces or fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil, and olive oil. Bucatini (thick strands) can stand up to a chunkier sauce, while fine capellini (often sold as angel hair) goes with thin sauce.

Thick strips, such as fettuccine, tagliatelle, and pappardelle, are generally best for creamy sauces, such as Alfredo, or thick meat sauces like a rich duck ragu.

Cylinder shapes, either ridged or smooth, hold sauce on the inside and outside. Bake penne rigate with tomato sauce or toss it with pesto or a light but chunky sauce. Rigatoni- wider than penne, with blunt-cut ends (as opposed to diagonally cut)-is good with chunky sausage, artichoke, or eggplant sauces.

Specialty shapes can match a variety of sauces. Both farfalle (bow ties) and fusilli (corkscrews) are great in pasta salads; fusilli is also well matched with thin, flavorful sauces that coat the corkscrew linings. Orecchiette (little ears") are round with a slight indentation; toss them with wilted greens or moderately thick sauces.