maltagliati

A little revolution in pastaland. Cooks in Emilia in the 1980s may have been the first to become bored with the constant parade of novel, machine-made pasta shapes. Somewhere, someone decided to strike a blow for anarchy by just chopping the stuff up any which way.

The artistic effect can be striking too. Already, pastafici are selling machine-cut random maltagliati. You can make your own by simply breaking up sheets of lasagna (or try this interesting recipe which rolls in nasturtium blossoms to add colour).

It's used in the classic pasta al mascarpone in Lodi, in Lombardy, tossed with mascarpone cheese, egg yolks, nutmeg and Parmesan.

Also known as strengozzi.