Spaghetti Gragnano Pasta PGI 500gr

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For those who don’t know it, paccheri, also called schiaffoni, is an iconic Neapolitan pasta shape popular in Campania and other parts of Southern Italy. Neapolitans serve it with seafood, vegetable-based sauces and meat ragu. Plus, it can also be stuffed and baked or just filled. So, a versatile pasta you can use in many recipes. Below are 7 of my favourite Italian paccheri recipes that are so worth making! I’m sure that once you have tried one or two, you’ll love paccheri pasta as much as the Neapolitans do! What does paccheri (schiaffoni) look like? Pasta with potatoes is a combination that originated in what the Italians call ‘la cucina povera’, meaning the peasant kitchen. The combination of pasta with potatoes or legumes made for a filling cheap meal for the poorer population who couldn’t afford meat on a regular basis. Fresh pasta, a simple blend of wheat flour and water bound together by eggs, is more common in the regions of Piedmont, Lombardy and Veneto, where the dough is pressed through rollers to form tagliatelle or tortellini. Dry pasta, meanwhile, only requires two ingredients: water and durum wheat semolina, which is extruded through traditional bronze dies that provide a coarse texture to the final product, giving the pasta the capacity to soak up more sauce. Finally, the pasta I used was organic mezzi paccheri from a small pasta maker in Gragnano, near Naples called Pastificio Sorrentino. Pastificio means pasta maker in Italian. This company produces 2 ranges of pasta. Found in kitchens up and down the country, both at home and in restaurants, there are few ingredients more ubiquitous than pasta. Whether it’s twirls of fusilli, nests of tagliatelle or strands of spaghetti, chances are that most people will always have some form of pasta at the ready. Yet as it’s thrown into a pan of boiling water for cooking, few of us will actually stop to think about the work that has already gone into creating these perfectly-formed shapes. Garofalo is one of Italy’s oldest brands, having produced high-quality pasta for over 200 years in Gragnano, the town known to be the spiritual home of pasta. Today, Garofalo is one of the leading manufacturers of quality pasta in Italy, with many of its shapes having the guaranteed quality seal of ‘Pasta di Gragnano PGI’, and that’s thanks to its meticulous production process and commitment to excellence.

Lemon: The lemon I grated for the zest was from Sorrento. Obviously not everyone can find Sorrento lemons. Just be sure that you use an organic lemon with edible peel. Last, but certainly not least, in this ideal tour around Gragnano is the city of Napoli, the capital of the region and one of the best example of the Italian “ dolce vita.” After discovering pasta in Gragnano, Napoli takes you deeper into the Italian cuisine for at least three mouth-watering reasons: it remains the homeland and world capital of pizza, is the epicenter of coffee culture, and produces the best gelato in Italy! The Italian hill town of Gragnano sits on the southern slopes of Mount Vesuvius just north of the Amalfi coast. But it’s not just the views that put Gragnano on the map. The town is home to some of Italy’s finest dried pasta – in fact Gragnano’s pasta is the only dried pasta in Italy that has protected IGP status. By the mid-19th Century, the city's dry pasta was so popular that the municipality of Gragnano started tearing down old buildings to make way for dozens of family-run factories that dried pasta on river reeds dangling like weeping willow branches outside their front door.The strategic position of Gragnano is ideal for tourists who want to visit Campania’s top destinations. In fact, just a few miles away is the Amalfi Coast, one the most popular tourist destinations in Italy – a picturesque stretch of coast that has been enchanting visitors for hundreds of years for its astonishing beauty. An exclusive sunset tour of this area seems the best thing to do after visiting Gragnano during the day.

This article was guest-written by Pietro Marco Fraccalvieri of Select Italy, an agency specializing in Italian travel. These monthly encounters, called #indovinachivieneacena, have become eagerly anticipated events enjoyed by chefs, producers and diners alike. If you’re looking for a unique and delicious pasta experience, Pasta di Gragnano is definitely worth trying. Not just maccheroni but a total of 35 shapes from spaghettoni, ziti and spaghetti alla chitarra to paccheri, candles, rigatoni and 'Vesuvio'. Another path winding its way between bridges and banks allows a visit to the remains of a dozen or so ancient mills which the Consortium is now restoring.

The Garofalo World

It is a very rare example of industrial ecologyand appreciated by tourists who seek to immerse themselves in history and nature in lesser way than the travellers who came here in the 18th and 19th centuries during the Grand Tour. Modern pasta production in Gragnano - image provided to Delicious Italy by the Consorzio di Tutela della Pasta di Gragnano IGP Making Pasta of Gragnano Today Indeed, the geographical location of the town has been key to its role in dry pasta production: facing the sea, it is protected on the remaining three sides by mountains, guaranteeing the precious marino wind doesn’t get dispersed. The town itself was, in fact, cleverly built to “channel” the breeze through buildings and maintain ventilation constant in its streets, especially in Via Roma, where most of pastifici are set. Yes, because the wind is a key ingredient here, as it is needed to make of local pasta, dry pasta, the “white gold” Gragnano is known for. Dry pasta is made with durum wheat semolina and water. Photo: Dreamstime

So much so, there was a slow abandonment of the coast as people relocated to carry out an activity which is still active today. This is the natural characteristic that made of Gragnano the city of pasta.The reason is well explained to BBC Travel by Giuseppe Di Martino, head of Pastificio Di Martino and member of a family that has been producing pasta for three generations: “ You could produce and dry pasta every day ( in Gragnano) because of the predictability of this wind blowing inside the village into the valley.” It is as simple as that. Both types of pasta can be dried, and the recipe made with eggs will produce a rich yellow pasta thanks to the yolks. Egg pasta is traditionally a more decadent recipe, whereas pasta made simply with water and flour forms part of t he country's cucina povera heritage – using scant resources to make beautifully simple dishes. E così la gente emigrò negli Stati Uniti, esportando il proprio know-how di pastai dall’altra parte dell’Atlantico, cosa che si rivelò molto utile durante la prima guerra mondiale, quando l’Italia smise di esportare. Finally, the dough must be extruded through rough bronze forms and, once it has taken shape, dry at low temperatures in the mountain air. The result of this long and traditional process is one of the finest kinds of pasta in the world.The pasta is made with a traditional bronze dye, which gives it a rough surface that helps to hold onto the sauce. The latest addition is Pastificio Artigianale Ducato d'Amalfi Gragnano - www.pastificioducatodamalfi.it- which came into existence only in October 2019. The Gragnano pasta manufacturer and Playstation® join forces. This is how the new Play Your Pasta product came to life.

From the 360-degree vantage point on the top of the Pastificio Di Martino building, where semolina dust slips up from the vents forming the dust devils darting across the floor, it’s easy to see how Gragnano is positioned to be a natural pasta-making factory. The city is encased by mountains on three sides and the sea on the other, creating a rain shadow effect ideal for drying pasta slowly in the street over days as marine breezes blow in from the coast. The buildings are staggered in a way so that the moist wind, which blows in several times a day, provides natural ventilation by forming a tunnel along the town’s ancient main thoroughfare, Via Roma, where the majority of factories were built. If it wasn’t for the faint semolina powder rising into the air, you wouldn’t guess this sleepy coastal town was once one of the richest in the region in terms of pasta production. You can read all about Gragnano and what Pasta di Gragnano IGP means in my post about my visit. But in short, Gragnano is a town located close to Naples. It’s been a centre of dried pasta production for 500 years and pasta carrying the Pasta di Gragnano IGP certification is made under strict production and ingredient quality regulations. It’s like saying DOC for wine! What is paccheri pasta? The municipality allowed pasta factories to occupy the space out front with the spasa (pasta on the reeds), and, playing their part, pasta factories guaranteed the street’s cleanliness, since they didn’t want their pasta to be contaminated by dust,” Di Massa explained. “The way Gragnano pasta was dried was a real art, improved over centuries and passed down as a family secret generation after generation. Since no preservatives or antibacterials existed at that time, the conservation [of pasta] depended upon slow drying.” Putting this fine pasta well and truly in the spotlight Pastificio dei Campi are engaging in a number of exciting activities based on the exclusive 'grangnano pasta.' Each month one of the association’s chefs visits the Gragnano-based company, enters the production plant, discovers the product’s secrets and, at the end of the day, creates a set of recipes for a few fortunate diners. Fresh tuna has been part of the Sicilian diet since Phoenician times and possible longer. This is because Atlantic Bluefin tuna migrate past Sicily every year in May and June to reach their spawning grounds in the Eastern Mediterranean and then return again after spawning. Tuna fishing has, therefore, been an important seasonal economic activity on the island for hundreds of years. Recipes for pasta with fresh tuna.If I had to choose a favourite out of these 7 Italian paccheri recipes, I guess this would be it. But then I love seafood and the tender slow-cooked octopus in this Genovese sauce is fabulous! I actually was given this mezzi paccheri by Pastificio Sorrentino when I was in Gagnano last month at the invitation of another pasta company called Pastificio dei Campi. Gragnano is home of some of the best dried pasta in Italy. [4] In 2013, Gragnano pasta was designated a Protected Geographical Indication by the European Union. [5] In addition to enjoying Pasta Di Gragnano with your favorite sauce, you can also enjoy it with a salad or some bread.