Now that you know how to make your pasta dough and use your Kitchen Aid, you have to decide what type of pasta you want to make. There are many different shapes and sizes you can make with pasta. Some pastas are better with specific sauces than other pastas. There is a reason macaroni and cheese is made with macaroni instead of spaghetti, and Penne Alla Vodka is made with penne. Together we will address the best dishes to make with each pasta.
With the Kitchen Aid Pasta Press you can make any type of pasta you’d like. The Kitchen Aid Pasta Press kit includes the six different pasta shapes, spaghetti, bucatini, fusilli, rigatoni, small macaroni and large macaroni.
When making a thick or meaty sauce such as Bolognese, it is best to use penne pasta. The hollow noodles hold onto the meat sauce, while fettuccine leaves the sauce behind. Do you every wonder why no one ever makes Spaghetti Alla Vodka? Penne al Vodka, my mom’s favorite, is full of onions, cream, ham/pancetta and chopped tomatoes. My mom’s favorite penne al a vodka recipe comes from the 2001 Special Anniversary issue of Gourmet magazine. She has used this recipe for the past decade and has received countless compliments from friends and family.
Here is the penne attachment for the Pasta Press.
This is a unique recipe that will be passed down through generations.
My father’s favorite pasta dish is Pasta Puttanesca. Pasta Puttanesca includes capers, olives, garlic, anchovies and tomatoes. I recommend using penne or fusilli. The cork screw pasta holds all the sauce and its ingredients.
Here is a great recipe for puttanesca sauce from Food & Wine.
In my next post I will be sharing my favorite Mac n Cheese recipe!
Pasta di Semolina 