Five Colored Shells

The term "Five-Colored" brings Chinese to mind somehow, though these are quite Italian. The colors are given to the pasta by saffron, beet juice, squid ink, and spinach (pale is uncolored).

They're about an inch long and half an inch deep.
Cooking time: 8 minutes.
Substitutions:Uncolored shells, fusilli, cavatelli, penne, ziti.

A recipe? Here's a Sicilian eggplant sauce with tomatoes and olives. To serve 4-5:

• 1 1/8 pounds (500 g) shells (several colors if possible)
• 2 eggplant, diced
• 1/2 a red onion, sliced
• 2-3 plum tomatoes, blanched, peeled, drained and chopped
• 5-8 leaves basil, shredded
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 ounce (30 g) pitted black olives
• 2 salted anchovy filets, rinsed and boned

Set pasta water to boil, and when it begins to boil salt it and cook the pasta.

In the meantime, sauté the onion in the olive oil until it is translucent. Add the eggplant, olives, anchovies, basil, and tomato; mix well and cook for a few minutes. Keep the sauce warm until the pasta is fone, spoon it over the pasta, and serve.

More About Pasta Shapes