Shapes and filling, Top Five Tuscan Pasta Dishes

Wide, narrow, long or short, simple or filled, with or without egg…how do you like it? Have you ever had potato tortelli, pici all’aglione or pappardelle pasta ‘on the hare’ ?

Here are five famous types of  pasta in Tuscany. Which do you prefer?

Pappardelle [Photo credits: louise_using_spoons http://ow.ly/gJuWa]

Large, very broad tagliatelle. A well-loved type of pasta in Tuscany

Dough: flour, olive oil, water

Recommended sauce: porcini sauce, wild boar ragù, hare sauce or, as people say in Florence, ‘on the hare’.

Typical of: the entire region

Pici pasta [Photo credits: Fugzu http://ow.ly/gJyAo]

Pici are similar to spaghetti, although the pieces are stretched by hand and can reach three meters in length

Dough: flour, olive oil, water

Recommended sauce: tomato and garlic sauce (called “pici all’aglione”)

Typical of: Siena

Potato-filled tortello – [Photo credits: Cooperativa Zenzero http://ow.ly/gJDqq]

Soft, square, yellow ravioli, filled with mashed potatoes

Dough: white flour, eggs and salt

Filling: white potatoes, parsley, garlic, parmesan

Recommended sauces: meat sauces or butter and sage

Typical of: the Mugello area

Tordelli versiliesi [Photo credits: Franco Mazzu http://ow.ly/gJBDT]

Tordelli Versiliesi

Semi-circle shaped ravioli, filled with meat, cheese and chard

Dough: flour, eggs, extra virgin oil, a tablespoon of milk, salt to taste

Filling: parmesan cheese, pecorino cheese, minced beef, minced pork; minced chard, extra virgin olive oil, bread crumbs, eggs, salt, pepper, cinnamon

Recommended sauce: ragù or meat sauce

Typical of: the Versilia area

Tortelli maremmani [Photo credits: Mamobi http://ow.ly/gJEPQ]

Ricotta and Spinach Tortelli

Square shaped ravioli, very popular across the region. The ones from Maremma are the biggest in size

Dough: flour, olive oil, water

Filling: spinach, butter, fresh ricotta cheese, eggs, parmesan cheese, nutmeg

Sauces: butter and sage or wild boar sauce

Typical of: Maremma

It’s also possible to cook tortelli pasta without the dough, wrapping the filling in the flour and then boiling them for a few minutes. In this case, they are called  “Gnudi”, which  means ‘naked‘ in Italian.