The Friday Five

Macaroni, that's what we called pasta in my Italian home, is near and dear to my heart. I could eat macaroni every night of the week and not get tired of it unless it was Mac Cheese or in macaroni salad. Mac cheese for me is lasagna, manicotti, or stuffed shells, made with ricotta cheese and cold macaroni is nasty. But I digress.

One shape of macaroni I love is fusilli, long (like 18 inch long) strands of macaroni that look like old-fashioned telephone cords. I haven't seen the long stuff in decades. Seems manufacturers got cheap and cut the strands into bitty pieces. But my neighbor, Prissy, found it on her shopping trip to the Mahket, and she gifted me with a package. So five macaroni shapes I adore.

1. Nothing really holds a candle to my grandma's home-made macaroni. She made little hats, cappellini., by hand. She never used a pasta machine. There is nothing in the world better than fresh, home-made macaroni, and nothing better than my grandma's. I blogged about it here.

2. Fussili, curly spaghetti. I'm so glad to be able to enjoy the real stuff again. It's not cheap. You won't find this on sale, but it's worth it.

3. Fiori, a flower shape, but we called them wagon wheels.

4. Farfalle, butterflies or bow ties.

5. Rigatoni, large tubes.

Do you have a favorite macaroni shape?