I thought I have heard about most types of pasta but this was a new one to me. I’m not even sure how it ended up in our pantry except I must of grabbed it when purchasing a bunch of what I thought were boxes of spaghetti.

We were serving the pasta as a side dish for something I was making and gave it to the girls with butter, peas and freshly grated Parmesan cheese for dinner.  When the girls started twirling in their mouths and sucking up the end of the strands, they noticed there was a whole running the length of the pasta.

When they told me the pasta had a hole in it, I played along and said, “Yeah right. Why don’t you use it like a straw and drink some of your milk?”

Sure enough they did so I checked it out myself and the pasta had a tiny hole running through the middle of it. The perciatelli noodle, pronounced “pear-chuh-TELL-lee” and sometimes called bucatini, looks just like spaghetti but only fatter and the tiny hole.

Great for serving with hearty meat sauces like Bolognese because of thicker texture but also works well in classic Italian soups like minestrone. And I can say from experience, it is great with just butter and grated cheese although be prepared to watch your kids “play” with their food. You just may find yourself playing with it yourself.

Where to Buy It

More than likely you’re not going to find this pasta at your local supermarket but will have to look for it at a specially market or Italian grocer. I found my by accident so I can’t even tell you where I purchased it but I’m sure you can find it on line too. If you have a recipes that calls for perciatelli, you can try substituting linguini or fettucine but what fun would that be.

How to Cook Pasta

Everyone knows how to cook pasta but there are a few hints and tips that will make your even better.
Check out my Pasta Tips page for some helpful hints. And for a listing of some of my favorite pasta recipes, check out my Pasta Recipes page.