High Protein Pasta

Tortellini. Tortellini is yet another type of stuffed pasta. They come in half circle pieces that are folded over and stuffed with meat, cheese, sausage, or other ingredients. You can also pour your favorite sauce over the top of this delicious food.

Vermicelli. Vermicelli is a very fine, thin string of pasta. It is also known as "angel hair" pasta. It can be used with a creamy sauce of your choice, or used with other items such as crab, or shrimp. Many times vermicelli is formed together to form a type of nest that will hold the crab, or shrimp on top of it.

Conghiglie. This pasta is shaped like small shells. There are many different sizes of conghiglie. From tiny pasta shells that are good for using in soups, to larger sizes that can be stuffed. This type of pasta is a favorite food in pasta salads.

Farfalle. Farfalle is a pasta that is bow shaped and also used mainly in different pasta salads.

Fusilli. Fusilli is a thin spiral shaped pasta that is good in pasta salads. It is also good with different styles of sauces.

Lasagna. Lasagna is perhaps the best of all the different pastas. These are long, wide strips of pasta that are layered with fillings between them. These fillings can include meat, sausage, cheese, mushrooms and about anything else you can think of. More cheese is piled on top and then baked in the oven.

This list should help you the next time you see a pasta that you're unfamiliar with. No matter what shape or size, pasta is a favorite on everyone's list of great tasting foods!

Alfredo, And Who On Earth Was He?

Yes, Italians make a dish of pasta, fettuccine dressed with nothing else than good aged parmigiano cheese and a lot of butter, but is such a simple preparation that Italians don’t even consider it a “recipe”.

Waverly Root in his famous book “The Food of Italy” (New York, 1971) wrote: “FETTUCCINE AL BURRO is associated in every tourist’s mind with Rome, possibly because the original Alfredo succeeded in making its serving a spectacle reminiscent of grand opera. It is the same ribbon shaped egg pasta tat is called tagliatelle in Bologna; but the al burro preparation is very Roman indeed in its rich simplicity. Nothing is added to the pasta except grated cheese and butter - lots of butter. The recipe calls for doppio burro, double butter, which gives it a golden color.”

Who was Alfredo then? Alfredo di Lelio, this was his full name, was an inspired cook who proposed this new exciting dish in the restaurant he opened in Rome in 1914. It was a high gourmet preparation in the Roman tradition of simplicity. Apparently he created his Fettuccine all’Alfredo when his wife lost her appetite during her pregnancy. To bring back her appetite he prepared for her a nutritious dish of egg fettuccine with parmigiano cheese and butter. That probably gave him the idea for his “triple butter” fettuccine.