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Introduction to Pasta - Fresh vs Dry, Shapes

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  • Difficulty: easy
  • Video Length: 04:03
  • Course: Pasta WTF?

Dry pasta stores longer than fresh because it is made without eggs, and is a great staple to your pantry. Both types are available in a variety of shapes and can be served with sauce, or shaped pasta may be stuffed with fillings of meat, cheese or vegetables. Couscous and orzo are also part of the pasta family, although they are often mistaken for grains. Remember to cook pasta to the point where it is a little firm to the bite, in Italy, this is "al dente."

Nikki Cascone (Season 4)

Nikki operates 24 Prince Restaurant in New York City as the chef and co-owner. Trained for many years in back of house and in front of house operations with great chefs like Jean-Georges, Shaun Doty and Anne Quatrano, Nikki believes a great chef must understand how to run a business as well as possess outstanding cooking skills. She is also a certified sommelier with extensive wine knowledge. Nikki loves not being restricted to any one particular cuisine and experiments with flavors and ingredients from all over the world. She considers growing up in New York to be the best culinary education one can obtain and says her family and friends constantly tease her about how passionate she is about food. Her future plans are to expand her restaurant group with several new concepts.