English spaghetti

Isn't it interesting that the different shapes work differently well in different dishes.
My MIL is a tad conservative in her tastes. She will eat: spaghetti bolognese (no red peppers mind you) and lasagne. Offer her pasta in any other shape or form and she makes a disgusted face.

Not only the different shapes Jess. DM and 2 aunts were coming to me for lunch years ago and I decided to make something a bit different. Black (dyed with squid ink) spaghetti topped with a seafood sauce and chunks of salmon and prawns. DM and her sister ate it just to be polite but the elder sister who was 80 thought it was delicious and always ready to try new things.

Probably not everyone's taste but I thought I was being quite exotic

It is interesting how "spag bol" has become an English staple. No Italian, especially one from Bologna, would dream of eating a ragú with spaghetti; it's always served with tagliatelle.

The same with spaghetti carbonara absent it's never made covered in sauce in Italy.

I had an italian friend who lived over here and she was really quite horrified. She said we put far too much sauce on our pasta, which was not always the correct shape for the dish. She said that different sauces needed different shapes of pasta to hold the sauces in the right quantities, which affected the overall flavours of the dish. I can't say it has made any difference to my way of doing it but it was interesting.

agus that was a bit mischievous wasn't it?
I once ordered calamari in su tinto in a Basque restaurant. In the evening Spanish restaurants often serve rather... sparse food. 5 matching squidlets, carefully stuffed with their own tentacles, sitting in a bowl of tarry black ink. Nothing else.
My DH sat and watched in horror and awe as I consumed this offering.

Love Lidl & aldi pasta !
No frills, no fuss , suits me to T

And inexpensive.

You saw right through me there Jess [Grin]. My DM was a very traditional cook and not one for experimenting, her not much younger sister, the same but my eldest aunt, now 92 , is a wonderful cook and has made it herself since. She always has been a tear away, possibly who I get it from!

Oh well, at least two of us liked it

I do like calamari but not too sure about stuffed squidlets. I would however be willing to taste most foods just for the experience.

I think the Italians will tell you that it isn't just the flour that matters, the water is important too. The best dried pasta is supposed to come from Campania because of the volcanic water.
Yes people in England tend to use far too much sauce on their pasta. My friend from Verona makes a tiny quantity of sauce in a small pan and expects it to last for several meals as a very thin coating on the pasta.
The best pasta is passed through bronze dies which gives it a "Tooth" which holds the sauce. A cheap pasta will tend to leave some of the sauce in the bottom of the bowl because it's all slid off the smooth surface.
I think British pasta is a great idea, but it needs to be a good one. There's no point doing it just to be cheap.

Deedaa you could try the Marshall's pasta I mentioned.

We are always hearing about our supposed opinions - but no one ever asked me? I've always equated pasta with economy not drama. It,s like when you ask why something is no longer for sale in the supermarket only to be told there is no call for it. Hello? I,m calling!

When broke cheap is great so although it may be great to have a food product grown in certain soils, have certain water etc food that can be afforded is what counts. Grow the stuff her.

Maybe I should send a few supermarkets links to this thread!

I eat anything. Squidlets especially. Any exotic seafood and I am there. But I suspect they would be thought of as a single course in a several-course meal. Baby octopus are my favourite. We spent a lot of time in the mediterranean when I was young, so blame my parents please when I tell you that one of my favourite dishes when we lived in Mallorca was stuffed sparrows and rice.

I just can't do octopussy things .... all too rubbery and blobby!

Haven't I read somewhere that we in Britain export pasta products to Italy?

Really? Excuse me while I google..

I can't find anything about the pasta itself, but I bet we send them some of our sauces.

HP and Tomato Ketchup?

@absent You beat me to it re 'spag bol'! I always use taglietelle - more for the sauce to cling to!

On;y the British could have come up with anything as bland as 'chicken tikka masala', in much the same way.

Spahghetti is spaghetti is spaghetti. It is just the same no matter where it is made. To be honest if I had ever thought about it, and I haven't, I would have assumed that most of the spaghetti sold in Britain was manufactured in this country. It never occurred to me that it all came from Italy - and I am a Waitrose shopper.

I rarely look at country of origin unless I have ethical concerns. I only buy British organic meat, but as far as tinned and packaged good are concerned I really couldn't care less.

I assumed most pasta would be Italian!

Why do we have to eat Italian dishes the way the Italians do? We live in a country quite a distance from Italy and we adapt their dishes to our tastes and our available ingredients. It is what has always happened.

There is a one pot dish with rice, spices and local ingredients that is common from Asia, through Southern Europe to North Africa. Its name has evolved from country to country, as have the precise ingredients whether you call it a pilau, pilaff or paella and make it with Indian spices or Spanish Seafood or North African lamb and nuts. It is essentially the same dish and has a common origin somewhere on the Indo-European land mass, but as people have travelled the recipe, ingredients and name has adapted to the evolving languages and available ingredients. Three cheers for Chicken Tikka Massala. It is the modern version of the same process.

If dishes are not prepared the way the original recipes were ie. they become anglicised, then they become something else. That does not mean they are any less worthy. Presumably they can't be Italian dishes FlicketyB if they are not served as they are in Italy..Italian style maybe but in Italian!
same with pizza... just cheese and tomato on toast really!