Gremelli with Meat Sauce

Pasta comes in so many shapes and sizes it would be hard pressed to find one that does not appeal.  Not only is pasta one of those staples pretty much everyone likes, pasta is extremely versatile.  It can be served plain, with any number of sauces raning from very simple to complex, as or in a casserole, in soups, as a salad as well as hot or cold.  Various pasta shapes have different cooking times to al dente so if in a hurry I choose a quicker cooking pasta like angel hair.  Experimenting with various pasta shapes is fun so I'm always on the look-out for a different shape to try.  I came across gemelli that looked a bit interesting.

Gemelli is the Italian word for twins.    Even though this pasta appears to be twin tubes twisted around each other they are a single s-shaped strand twisted into a spiral.  Gemelli is great with any sauce but can also be used in pasta salads or casseroles.  This pasta cooks to al dente in 9 minutes. 

Rather than top the cooked gemelli with sauce as I often do with pasta, I mixed it with homemade meat sauce then plated.  This gave the gemelli a chance to grab and hold the sauce.  A light sprinkling of fresh ground Parmesan cheese and parsley flakes completed the dish.