Radiatore is my favorite. It really holds sauce well. Fusilli too. I like fusilli better for pesto and radiatore for a thinner sauce like marinara.
The only shapes I dislike are the flat ones that are supposed to look like cartoon outlines of hearts, flowerpots, cat faces, whatever. They are always gummy. Gumminess is the kiss of death for pasta!
My favorite shape for pasta is rigatoni (or they make a mezi rigatoni also) I also like the fettucini that come in those nests. I mostly use Barrila pasta. By me the only orecchiti you can get is DeCecco and those nests I like only come from colavita.
As others have mentioned the shape depends on the meal - ears for sausage and brocolli rabe, shells for peas, spaghetti for pesto or aioli, tri color rotini for pasta salad, penne or ziti for baked pasta, green fettuccine for the dish I make with shredded carrots, linguini for shrimp, bow ties for primavera, etc.
Different pasta for different sauces. I got the Philips pasta maker a couple of years ago and it gets plenty of use. Best kitchen appliance I ever bought.
Call me stupid, but I have no idea what you do with the pasta nests - do the nests stay intact and how do you serve them??
I do not have a preference, but this question’s appearance on a forum about colleges made me remember my own college days. Weirdly, there was a club at Williams back then called the Fusilli Club, dedicated entirely to convincing the dining hall to serve fusilli more often.
the nests open up as they cook and become regular long pasta
^^Thank you - so what is the point or flavor advantage of buying the nests??
My favorite pasta is, without a doubt Lasagna. When I was young, my great aunt invited me over early one Christmas Eve to help her make the three huge Lasagna pans - one vegetarian, and two loaded pans. She taught me the words “labor of love”, because there truly is a lot of prep work involved in a seven-layer lasagna. But getting all of the ingredients ready ahead of time makes a huge difference in the assembly process. My own mom was never a great cook, but even as an octogenarian, Aunt Claire was a legend in the kitchen.
I also have to mention one of my favorite video recordings of DD, when she turned four, she said her favorite pasta is elbows (and pointed to her elbow) 'cuz that’s what makes mac-n-cheese…