Penne


Penne is an extruded type of pasta with cylinder-shaped pieces, their ends cut at a bias. Penne is the plural form of the Italian penna, deriving from Latin penna, and is a cognate of the English word pen. When this format was created, it was intended to imitate the then-ubiquitous fountain pen's steel nibs.

Origins

Penne are one of the few pasta shapes with a certain date of birth: in 1865, Giovanni Battista Capurro, a pasta maker from San Martino d'Albaro, obtained a patent for a diagonal cutting machine. His invention cut the fresh pasta into a pen shape without crushing it, in a size varying between mezze penne and penne.

Description and variations

In Italy, penne are produced in two main variants "penne lisce and "penne rigate, the latter having ridges on each penna. Pennoni is a wider version of penne. A slightly larger version called mostaccioli can also be found, which can also be either smooth or ridged in texture.
Penne is traditionally cooked al dente and its shape makes it particularly adapted for sauces, such as pesto, marinara, or arrabbiata. The latter has been celebrated several times in Italian movies, notably in Marco Ferrari's La Grande Bouffe and Federico Fellini's Roma.
In the Trenton, New Jersey area, penne pasta is called "pencil points" due to its shape.