The pasta of Benedetto Cavalieri

The next recipe I will post (probably tomorrow) is a really nice pasta risottata (or pastotto) based on a simple boar (cinghiale for the Italians) sauce ... but what made it special was not only the way we made it (you will see) but it was the pasta itself.

In Italy there is a lot of talking about various types of slowly dried pasta from high quality italian wheat (e.g. from Gragnano or Senatore Capelli). But I think to have discovered one which is absolutely amazingly better than anyone else. Yes, I have to overdo it a bit since it is worth it! And to be honest I did not discover it but it was given to us to try by a friend (thanks Minouche!!!) who imports it for Belgium (see here if you are curious).

So which pasta is it? It is the pasta from Benedetto Cavalieri made in the Otranto, Puglia (the south east of Italy where I happened to grew up). World-wide available (for US check amazon.com), we tried a few shapes, but it was the penne which simply amazed us! Tasty ... really tasty. Perfect in keeping a good bite despite cooking them too long. Fantastic sauce retention property ... it was a very long time since I had a pasta like this.
If you can find it somewhere ... it is worth definitively a try!

PS: The photo is mine .... and I have no affiliation with this pasta maker.

UPDATE: It seems that while penne were great, the spaghetti and fettuccine are rather disappointing. They overcook to quickly. I therefore need to specify ... this post raves only about the penne shape!