Food - Drink
The Pasta Shape Ina Garten Loves For Bolognese
By AMANDA BRETZ
Looking for the right pasta and sauce combo can be challenging, since each shape serves a distinct purpose. When it comes to hearty bolognese sauce, classic spaghetti or hearty noodles like rigatoni are popular choices, but Food Network chef Ina Garten favors a different pasta shape for this rich meat sauce.
In a Food Network YouTube video, The Barefoot Contessa states that she likes using orecchiette pasta for bolognese. Since orecchiette noodles are shaped like little ears with hollow pockets of space inside, they scoop up the sauce with ease, without the bits of meat falling off the noodles before you can take a bite.
Eat This, Not That! has more guidelines on how to pair paste with sauces based on the noodles' shape and other characteristics. Ridge-shaped pasta is great for holding onto extra sauce, especially richer, heavier gravies, while thinner, smoother pasta shapes like linguine work better with lighter sauces and flavors.