De Cecco Penne Rigate No 41. 500gm

Of the short, diagonally cut, ridged pasta family, Penne Rigate are among the best-known and therefore most versatile pasta shapes in the kitchen.

The term Penne refers, in the Italian language, to the goose quill used in ancient times for writing and which was cut on an angle to obtain a tip with a thin line. The format, obtained from a tube of pasta, smooth or lined, of variable length, has the characteristic diagonal cut typical of the writing pen.

Penne are one of the few pasta shapes with a certain birth date: in 1865, in fact, a pasta maker from San Martino d'Albaro (Genoa), Giovanni Battista Capurro, requested and obtained a patent for a diagonal cutting machine. The patent was important because it allowed fresh pasta to be cut into the shape of a pen without squashing it, in a variable size between 3 and 5 centimetres (mezze penne or penne). We read in the document kept at the Central Archives of the State of Rome: " Up until now, the diagonal cut could only be obtained with hand scissors, a method that, in addition to being too slow and expensive, had the drawback of producing an irregular cut and squashing the pasta ."

Penne Rigate are perfect for preparing baked pasta or for dry pasta dishes seasoned with pork or beef sauces. But they are also excellent with vegetable-based sauces and more generally, precisely because of their versatility, for all traditional Mediterranean recipes, such as the classic seasoning with tomato, basil, extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of parmesan. The classic combination is with the Arrabbiata sauce.

De Cecco Penne Rigate No 41 is available in Fiji from Portion Pak, your partner in delicious