Is it confusing trying to pick the right type of pasta for your dish from a wall of different pasta shapes at the grocery store? The average American consumes approximately 20 lbs. of pasta annually.

There are dozens of different pasta shapes. But for Dan Pashman, host of The Sporkful podcast and pastaficionado, none of them are perfect. That's why, three years ago, Dan embarked on a journey ...

Finish the hand-cut pasta. The last step is finishing the pasta. Bring that old pasta water back to a boil. Drop in your freshly metamorphosed noodles, and allow them to boil for two minutes.

Pashman's “Anything's Pastable” features dishes using 34 different pasta shapes, but especially features his cascatelli, a graceful, ruffled-edged curved shape that resembles a quotation mark.

Pasta, a food darling of both Italy and America, comes in hundreds of shapes — more than 300 by some counts. There are long strands, round and flat, thin and wide, and twisty, ruffled, tube, and ...

Consider that the type of pasta you'll want to use is one that's on the larger side with a fair amount of surface area to hold a lot of sauce and cheese — like big shells, farfalle, pappardelle ...