Viva la Pasta! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Spaghetti

"Everything I have, I owe to spaghetti" said the magnificent Loren who will, unbelievably, turn seventy next year. Rossini, no stranger to the glories of the table himself, featured spaghetti in "L'Italiana in Algeri". The Sultan Mustafa is in love with the captive Italian girl Isabella, who is herself in love with one of Mustafa's other captive servants, Lindoro, whom she had known back in Italy. To dupe the sultan into allowing Isabella to return to Italy, he is asked by two of the Italians to accept the "honor" of becoming a "papatacci".

He is told that a "papatacci's" duties are to eat large quantities of spaghetti, drink wine, and take long naps. They promptly present him with an enormous plate of spaghetti; while he is eating this, he scarcely takes note of the Italians, with Isabella on board, setting sail to return to Italy.

Answer: Penne

Penne come in a number of sizes and sometimes have ridges.

Answer: Rigatoni

Rigatoni also come in different sizes. They are an ideal choice for thick, chunky sauces, since their wide openings trap chunks of meat or vegetables.

Answer: Orecchiette

Orecchiette are made by taking marble-sized pieces of dough and pressing on them with the thumb to create an indentation.

Answer: Perciatelli

Perciatelli, or bucatini, are rather difficult (but fun) to eat, since their thickness makes it difficult to twirl around a fork.

Answer: Malloreddus

Malloreddus, like Orecchiette, are made by pressing small pieces of dough with the thumb, in this case onto a textured surface such as the bottom of a straw basket or the underside of a cheese grater. The dough for maloreddus often contains saffron. Tortelline, cappellacci, and agnoli are all small stuffed pastas.

Answer: Pasta alla chitarra

The "chitarra" (the name means "guitar") is the implement on which spaghetti was probably first made. It produces somewhat square-shaped spaghetti. Ready-made "pasta alla chitarra" in dry form is now available at many groceries (however its much more fun to make it "a mano").

Answer: Maltagliati

Maltagliati are made by folding the dough into quarters lengthwise and cutting on the bias. Great care need not be taken to cut them to the same exact size since, as the name implies, the are supposed to be "badly cut".

Answer: Vermicelli and linguine

Vermicelli is a very thin spaghetti which is sometimes broken up and added to soups. Linguine is somewhat thicker and flatter and is the ideal choice to be served "alla vongole"- with clams, olive oil, and garlic.

Answer: Pasta Reale

Pasta reale (reale means "regal" or "royal") is made from ground almonds, sugar, and egg whites. Pasta Casalinga means "Home-style pasta", pasta grattata is a type of pasta dough that is grated into hot broth to make soup. Pasta alla chitarra has been discussed in question 7.

Answer: Gnocchi di patate

Gnocchi di patate are made from a lighter dough than the usual pasta dough. They are usually formed by being rolled off the thumb against the tines of a fork to form indentations to hold the sauce. Gnocchi di zucca are made with pumpkin or winter squash (such as Butternut squash). Gnocchi verdi ("green" gnocchi) are made with spinach. Gnocchi di riso is made with rice.

Answer: Tortelloni are larger.

The suffix "-one" indicates a larger size; hence "minestrone" is a big, hearty soup, whereas "minestra" is a lighter, thinner soup. "Panettone", the traditional Milanese sweet bread, is a large, high loaf. "Polpettone" is a meatloaf whereas "polpette" are meatballs. "Tortelloni" are large stuffed pasta circles of the same shape as "tortellini"; they are served much like ravioli.

Answer: Farfalle

Farfalle are made with squares of dough cut with a ravioli-cutter and then pinched in the center to form the "bow" (or "butterfly"). Alternately, they can be made with circles of dough cut with a small, fluted biscuit cutter and pinched the same way.

Answer: Spaghetti con polpette

Italian "polpette" are much smaller than those served in America; about the size of marbles. (Salsicce is sausage, vongole are clams, and melanzane is eggplant.)

Answer: False

The name "ragu" indicates a rich, thick sauce usually containing meat and/or chunks of vegetables. It is derived from the same root as the French "ragout", meaning a thick stew. The commercial pasta sauce "Ragu" took its name from this traditional type of sauce.

Answer: Puttanesca

There is some question as to how this sauce got its name; the most popular explanation is that its quick preparation made it popular among the "working girls" of Italy, who needed something to throw together for dinner between "jobs". However Sophia Loren, in her cookbook, opines that the term "puttana" is not always necessarily a pejorative term; it may also describe a zestful, vivacious, "spicy" woman, which is also a description of the sauce itself.

Answer: Bolognese

Sauce Bolognese is a long-simmered sauce made with ground or chopped meats simmered with tomatoes and aromatics. Toward the end of the cooking time, heavy cream is added. It may be used to make lasagne or tossed with pasta and cheese. The cinnamon used is true cinnamon, which has a different flavor from the kind commonly found in America (this is usually Cassia bark).

The original ragł bolognese served in Bologna contains no cream, little if any tomato and is served rather with tagliatelle than spaghetti.

Answer: Triple butter (triplo burro) and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Triplo burro is a very rich butter, as the name implies, which melts to a creamier consistency than most American-made butter, so that the addition of cream is unnecessary. At "Alfredo's", the freshly cooked fettuccine is tossed with a large quantity of the butter and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano; this is usually done at tableside with great fanfare.

The dish is actually not much eaten in Italy except by tourists, though pasta dishes with butter and cheese are not unknown in Italy, especially in the North.

Answer: Fresh basil, olive oil, fresh garlic, pine nuts, and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

In Genoa, the ingredients (except for the cheese) are ground in a mortar and great care is taken to use only the smaller, tender leaves of the basil. The sauce is then tossed with the cooked pasta and cheese (it is not cooked). It can also be made, far more easily, in the blender. Purists prefer the more painstaking method; however Marcella Hazan, in her groundbreaking "Classic Italian Cooking", points out that, while the traditional method is better, pesto is so good made either way that one should not be discouraged from making it the easier way.

Answer: Hot crushed pepper

"All' Arrabiata" means "in a rage" and derives from the fiery flavor given to the sauce by the peperoncini. (Lobster, in Italian is "aragosta", anchovies are "acciughe", vodka is the same in both languages).

Answer: Hay and straw

In my family, this is traditionally made on Christmas Eve (sans the prosciutto). San Giorgio (and some other pasta companies) sells boxes of the two-color fettuccine to make this dish.

Answer: Linguine alle vongole

The clams from the Adriatic are little larger than a thumbnail; they are generally used and served in the shell for this dish. (Gamberi are shrimp, conchiglie is conch, and capesante are scallops).

Answer: Carbonara

The name "carbone" means coal in Italian; presumably this dish was invented among coal-miners.

Answer: Olive oil and garlic

Aglio means "garlic", olio means "oil"- no true Italian cook would attempt to make this dish with anything but olive oil. Other possible ingredients are peperoncini (hot peppers) and chopped fresh Italian parsley.Traditionally, this dish is not served with grated cheese.

Answer: A meat filling and a bechamel (white) sauce.

While any of these are possible, the dish is traditionally made with a pork or veal filling and baked with a topping of Bechamel sauce and, possibly, cheese.