Lanterne pasta is a ridged, lantern-shaped pasta that absorbs sauce well. It is made from wheat flour, eggs, and water and can be dried by machine or traditionally. It pairs well with a variety of sauces, including ricotta savory pasta.
Pasta has been eaten in Italy for many centuries, and in Italian cooking, specific types of pasta are usually paired with specific sauces. There are several regional varieties of pasta that differ mainly in the quality of their grain content; Southern Italian varieties are heavier while Northern Italian varieties are lighter. There are also over one hundred types of pasta shapes or “cuts”. Some of the shapes are traditional, but artisans and food companies come up with new and interesting designs on a regular basis. Pasta that has a short, semi-curved shape resembling the shape of an oil lantern is known as lanterne.
These lantern-shaped cuts of pasta have many ridges. The presence of the ridges on the cuts allows them to absorb more sauce when cooked and thus make for a more memorable meal. Lanterne cuts can be used in combination with a variety of meat, tomato, butter and cream sauces to prepare various delicious vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.
Lanterne pastas, like most types of pasta, are prepared from a dough of wheat flour, eggs and water. The dough is extruded through molds to give the lantern its distinctive shape. Large pasta companies usually use Teflon molds to shape the cuts, while smaller artisans may use traditional bronze pasta molds. The difference between the Teflon and bronze molds is evident in the texture of the lantern cuts. Bronze die cuts have a rougher surface texture and therefore are able to dip in more sauce.
After the lantern has been shaped, it is left to dry for a couple of days. Pasta companies typically speed up the drying process by machine drying the pasta at high temperatures. This also usually ensures that the cuts have a longer shelf life than traditional lanterne pasta.
A popular dish made with lantern cuts is ricotta savory pasta. In addition to the cuts, the ingredients for making this dish include olive oil, garlic cloves, mushrooms, shallots, ricotta cheese, cream, vegetable broth, salt and pepper. The pasta is first boiled in salted water and then cooked in olive oil with the ingredients. It’s easy to make ricotta salata and only takes about 20 minutes to prepare. The sauce used for the dish should be perfect for coating the cuts, not completely overpowering them.
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