Pasta Shapes: so many from which to choose. Quiz

Answer: Linguini

Linguini is Italian for "little tongues". They come in long strands as does spaghetti, but if you look closely at them, they are actually flattened slightly. Linguini is the pasta of choice for Linguini con Vongole - Linguini with Clams - one of the great Italian dishes and one beloved all around the world, but particularly in North America with its large numbers of citizens of Italian descent.

Answer: Conchiglie

Conchiglie means "shell" in Italian. There is also a shape called Conchiglette, which are small shells. You may have seen those in soups, particularly Minestrone.

Ditali, Macaroni and Rigatoni are all short, tubular pastas, which are equally good for holding sauces, but, of course, they are not shells.

Answer: Farfalle

Farfalle is the Italian word for "butterfly". Some cooks call this pasta, bow-ties, but farfalle is the correct translation. Farfalle are normally just tossed with whatever sauce the cook has made and served in the same way that all sauced pastas are served.

Lasagne is usually layered with cheese, white sauce, and either meat, seafood or vegetables to make a great favourite, particularly with home cooks. Both manicotti and cannelloni are tubes which are normally stuffed with various fillings, covered in tomato and/or cheese sauces and oven baked. Yummy.

Answer: It will be ridged

Penne Rigate will be ridged with small grooves to hold heartier sauces such as meat sauces or chunky vegetable sauces. With regular smooth sided Penne, heavy sauces tend not to cling as well.

Penne is Italian for "quills" or "feathers" because of their resemblance to the writing end of an old-fashioned quill pen.

Answer: Stuffed squares or circles

Ravioli are either square or round pillows of pasta stuffed in various ways. In this restaurant, their special filling is spinach mixed with ricotta cheese. However, the variations on ravioli fillings are endless. It is a dish which would suit meat and seafood eaters, as well as vegetarians.

Answer: Yes

The word on the piazza seems to be that this tubular pasta is named for the very important part of males which is essential to a good honeymoon! If you take a closer look at ziti, this does seem like a bit of a stretch if you will pardon the pun!

However, ziti are really good, either in a baked pasta dish, or with a hearty sauce.

Answer: Elbow

The bags of pasta that you purchase to make home-made Mac and Cheese are called elbow macaroni after the small curved elbow they seem to suggest. For those of you who are fans of KD (which is what we call Kraft Dinner in Canada), you are probably astounded that it is possible to make Mac and Cheese from scratch!

Answer: Orzo

Orzo salad is often a great favourite for pot-luck or buffet parties. You can mix it with all types of veggies or small pieces of seafood, and, when tossed with a good dressing it will only increase in flavour if it stands around.

Answer: True

There are various legends surrounding the naming of this wonderful dish. One comes from the fact that it is so delicious that once a priest ate it too quickly and choked to death. No Heimlich back in the day!

Another comes from the fact that women would feed it to their local priests for dinner and their husbands would be so furious that they had to share such a good meal, that they hoped the priest would choke on it!

I am sure quiz fans have other legends they could add to these.

Answer: Twins

If you are familiar with Gemelli and the little twin strands of pasta, you will know how delicious they are either baked or coated in your favourite sauce. If you haven't already, do try this pasta shape which used to be unknown in North America, but which is now becoming more popular on good supermarket shelves.