Get into shapes

Orzo is used around the Med in soups and stews. Photo / Janna Dixon

There is an ongoing discussion about how pasta got to Italy. Did Marco Polo introduce it by bringing back the noodle from his exploits in China? However it started, this most basic of doughs has evolved into myriad shapes to carry a multitude of sauces. They reflect regional produce and tastes, and even if its origins were Chinese, Italy has claimed pasta as its own.

Orzo salad
Orzo is the Italian word for barley. This rice-shaped pasta (also know as risoni) is used around the Mediterranean in soups and stews. It makes a very good building block for pasta salads.

I found this recipe for a Greek-flavoured orzo salad that would also be good to serve warm as a base or side dish for barbecued lamb.

1 Boil a large pot of salted water.
2 Add 300g of orzo to the boiling water, do not cover and cook vigorously 8-10 minutes until the pasta is cooked but still a little firm. Drain and rinse under cold running water until cool.
3 Toast 1/2 cup of pine nuts to light brown.
4 Chop 3 handfuls of trimmed or baby spinach. Put half of the spinach into a blender and whizz with some olive oil.
5 Mix the orzo, spinach puree and pine nuts together.
6 Add the rest of the spinach, half a red onion finely chopped, about 20 pitted black olives roughly chopped and crumble as much feta cheese as you like over the mix.
7 Mix 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, a pinch of dried basil, pinch of dried tarragon, salt and ground pepper to taste.
8 Pour over the salad and gently mix through. Leave the salad an hour or so before serving for the flavours to marry. Serves 4

Spaghetti Carbonara
Spaghetti Carbonara also has a question mark above it. Claimed as a Roman dish, its beginnings are murky. It has been suggested it was invented by American troops stationed in Italy during World War II, trading their egg powder and bacon rations.

Locals created a dish to American taste, with eggs, bacon and cheese. It then travelled back to America, where cream was added to the recipe and this form is now a fixture on Italian menus in the USA. Italians would make a version for themselves without the cream. Once the spaghetti is cooked, this comforting pasta takes little longer than two-minute noodles, but has a whole lot more food value.

1 Cook 400g of spaghetti (I used fresh but dried is fine) in a large pot of boiling salted water.
2 While the pasta cooks, crisp 200g of diced bacon, drain on a paper towel and keep warm.
3 Whisk together 4 eggs, 1/2 cup of cream, 1/2 cup of grated parmesan and a little olive oil.
4 Drain the pasta and toss with the egg/cream mix, adding in the bacon and lots of chopped parsley. The heat from the pasta forms the mix into a rich soothing sauce. Season to your taste and serve immediately.
Serves 4.

Penne with Vodka
This recipe is another oddity - neither vodka nor cream are typical Italian ingredients and I doubt very much this recipe has a regional home. It is very tasty though and I like the quirkiness of using the vodka to sharpen the creamy tomato sauce.

1 Cook 450g of penne pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water.
2 Saute a finely diced medium onion in olive oil, add 2 sliced red chillies, seeds in or out, depending how fiery you want the dish.
3 Cook for a few more minutes, then increase the heat and add 1 tsp of dried basil and 2 tbsp of vodka. Careful: the alcohol will flame.
4 Add 1 tbsp of tomato puree and 1 can of diced tomatoes. Simmer to thicken.
5 Drain the pasta and mix it into the sauce. Add a cup of cream, 100g of grated parmesan and another 2 tbsp of vodka. Grind in lots of black pepper and serve immediately.
Serves 4.

Spaghetti with Anchovies and Crisp Garlic Crumbs
Don't be put off by the anchovies, they melt into the background and provide a salty contrast to the toasted garlic bread crumbs.

1 Cook 400g of spaghetti (I used dried for this) in a large pot of boiling salted water.
2 Remove the crusts from 9 slices of white toast bread and process into crumbs.
3 Melt 60g of butter in a pan and cook the breadcrumbs with 2 crushed garlic cloves until well browned (keep stirring or they will burn).
4 Drain the pasta and toss in 45g of anchovies (drained and finely chopped), 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tsp lemon zest, 1/2 cup of finely chopped chives and 1/2 cup of olive oil.
5 Toss through the garlic crumbs, season and serve immediately with some lemon wedges.
Serves 4.

Pesto
Pesto means paste. We may think of it having to have pine nuts, parmesan, fresh basil and olive oil, but in fact you can make a pesto in many different ways. I made this with toasted pumpkin seeds, lots of mint and parsley, a few cloves of garlic, and the juice and zest of a lemon.

Pulse it together in the blender and stream in olive oil to get a good consistency. I think it would taste good with a ribbon pasta that had some frozen peas added just before the pasta had cooked. Drain the pasta, put in a serving bowl and add a tablespoon of pasta water back to the dish and mix through some of the pesto. Serve the pesto on the table for more to be added to taste.

Cook's tools
Whisks
Whisks come in all shapes and sizes and various types are used for different purposes. The best known is probably the balloon whisk, which is flexible and bouncy. I think you need to have a few different sizes to suit the size of bowl and volume of liquid you are trying to blend or aerate. Too small and the job will take forever, too big and you will splatter your surroundings.

Rigid whisks are used for sauce making and are elongated, designed to be used in straight-sided pans when beating thick sauces together. There is still a place for the old fashioned hand beater in the kitchen (if you can find one) and of course a hand-held electric beater speeds things up. I once had a lovely whisk made of birch twigs which was remarkably effective, until it started to splinter and shred into what I was making. It felt very rustic but its life span was short.

Grant Allen has been a professional cook for 30 years He works as a caterer in Auckland. www.facebook.com/pages/COOK/129548833745200