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Pasta Recipes
Pasta has always been a top nutrition "player" in our diets, and now, this delicious food provides even more health benefits. Why?
Pasta is fortified with folic acid (the synthetic form of naturally occurring folate), due to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations that require enriched grain products to contain this essential vitamin.
The health benefits of folic acid are important throughout our lives. In a woman's childbearing years, folic acid is a key nutrient before conception because it helps to prevent some birth defects. In addition, there is new evidence that folic acid may protect against heart disease and some types of cancer.
So, it is easy to see that pasta is not only a treat for your taste buds, but also, it is a good source of an extremely important vitamin - one that helps protects our good health and the health of our children.
The National Pasta Association is dedicated to providing good-tasting, convenient, accurate recipes to the public. To ensure that our pasta recipes meet your high standards, each recipe is tested in our test kitchen. You can be assured that each recipe on this site was professionally tested and tastes great!
In 18th century England, macaroni was a synonym for perfection and excellence. That's why, for example, the feather in Yankee Doodle's cap was called "macaroni." In fact, the word "macaroni" means "dearest darlings" in Italian. The Chinese are on record as having eaten pasta as early as 5,000 B.C. In the 13th century, the Pope set quality standards for pasta. There are more than 600 pasta shapes produced worldwide.
Top-quality pasta is made from durum wheat. According to the North Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service, about 73 percent of the durum wheat grown in the U.S. is actually grown in North Dakota. American-grown durum wheat is considered among the best in the world and the pick of the crop is earmarked for domestic use ensuring a finished pasta product second to none in the world.
According to Miss Manners (a.k.a. Judith Martin), a fork is the only utensil that may be used to eat spaghetti while anyone is looking. In Italian, fettucine means ribbons; stelline means little stars; and capelli d'angelo means angel's hair.
Contrary to popular belief, Marco Polo did not discover pasta. The ancient Italians made pasta much like we do today. Although Marco Polo wrote about eating Chinese pasta at the court of Kubla Khan, he probably didn't introduce pasta to Italy. In fact, there's evidence suggesting the Etruscans made pasta as early as 400 B.C. The evidence lies in a bas-relief carving in a cave about 30 miles north of Rome. The carving depicts instruments for making pasta - a rolling-out table, pastry wheel and flour bin. And further proof that Marco Polo didn't "discover" pasta is found in the will of Ponzio Baestone, a Genoan soldier who requested "bariscella peina de macarone" - a small basket of macaroni. His will is dated 1279, 16 years before Marco Polo returned from China.
Legend has it that noodles were first made by 13th century German bakers who fashioned dough into symbolic shapes, such as swords, birds and stars, which were baked and served as bread.
Essentially essentially the same equipment using the same technology makes all pasta. Also, in independent taste tests conducted by Consumer Reports, Cook's Illustrated and The Washington Post, U.S. pasta either was found superior to Italian imports or the judges were unable to discern a difference between them.
Thomas Jefferson is credited with introducing macaroni to the United States. It seems that he fell in love with a certain dish he sampled in Naples while serving as the U.S. Ambassador to France. In fact, he promptly ordered crates of "macaroni," along with a pasta-making machine, sent back to the States.
A Frenchman named Antoine Zerega opened the first American pasta factory in Brooklyn, New York, in 1848. Mr. Zerega managed the entire operation with just one horse in his basement to power the machinery. To dry his spaghetti, he placed strands of the pasta on the roof to dry in the sunshine.
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