Selecting the wheat
Selecting excellent primary materials is the first step, the most important one in fact, in creating unique pasta.
Mezzi Pennoni Lisci n° 138
Mezzi Pennoni Lisci are a bigger version of the classic Mezze Penne Lisce and thanks to their size, can hold a lot of sauce.
The lack of ridges is compensated for by a surprising softness which makes it exceptionally delicate on the palate. It is a delicate and sophisticated pasta which brings out the best in aromas, flavours and fragrance.
In Italian, the term "Penne" refers to the goose feather which was used historically to write with and was cut on a diagonal to achieve a really thin tip. The shape, obtained from a pasta tube, can be smooth or ridged, of varying length and has the typical diagonal cut of a quill.
Penne are one of the few types of pasta for which there is an exact date when it was created. Indeed, in 1865, a pasta-maker from San Martino d'Albaro (Genoa), Giovanni Battista Capurro, requested and obtained a patent for a diagonal cutting machine. The patent was important because it meant the fresh pasta could be cut like a quill without crushing it and in different lengths from 3 to 5 centimetres (mezze "half" penne or penne). The document preserved in the Central Archive of the State of Rome reads: "Up until now, a diagonal cut could only be made by hand with a pair of scissors which, in addition to being slow and time-consuming, also resulted in an irregular cut which flattened the pasta".
The smaller-sized Mezzi Pennoni Lisci are perfect for stirring up together with creamy sauces, both red ones made with tomatoes or white ones made with cheese, or with classic vegetable soups to be eaten with a spoon.
Available in 500g pack.s
- Cooking time: 12 min - Al dente: 10 min
play
Our method
Attention, care, experience, quality at every stage: from our mill to your table.
The milling
We have been millers for almost two centuries: way back in 1831, Don Nicola De Cecco was already producing “the best flour in the county” in his mill. To this day, we grind all the wheat in our own mill next to the pasta factory, floating with intense and delicious aromas.
The dough
Cold water and dough at a temperature of less than 15 degrees: two details allowing us to produce pasta that fully respects the primary material.
Drawing
While it is the drawing process that gives the pasta its shape, it is the rough die that make our pasta uniquely porous, so it captures all the sauce. Hence, this is one of the special procedures we have chosen to preserve and protect. With great pride.
Drying
Another of the secrets behind our pasta is slow drying at low temperature. It is our way of keeping the sensory properties of the wheat intact.
You may also be interested in
Mafaldine n° 2
Mafaldine are part of the long, curled, dried pasta family due to their ribbon shape with curled edges on both sides.
They are also known as "Reginette" or "Reginelle" and come from the Naples area where they were once called "Fettuccelle Ricce". They were dedicated by the people of Naples to Princess Mafalda of Savoy and renamed Reginette (from the Italian word "regina" meaning queen) or Mafaldine in her honour.
Once curled pasta, like Mafaldine, have been cooked, they have a distinctive, uneven consistency which differs on the smooth and curled parts.
Another characteristic of this type of pasta is that the curled part can retain more sauce that the smooth part.
It is a fairly versatile type of pasta, so the sauces recommended for Mafaldine are: Neapolitan ragù with ricotta, game sauces, fish sauces made from shellfish and seafood or white sauces made from soft cheeses with the addition of curry, saffron, horseradish or ginger.
Available in 500g pack.s
