Know your pasta shapes: Capunti Paesani.

Now, yet another pasta: 'capunti paesani' by Squisito turned up in Vinnie's Fresh in Sydney Road. ‘Capunti' resemble pea pods (the name does not translate directly: it refers somehow to fingers pressing the pasta, making the indentations look like peas in a pod). All these varieties are not mere novelty: the different shapes provide texture and taste variables. Perhaps radiatori (resembling automotive radiators) and ruote (wheels) take the concept a bit too far. Or maybe they're made in Turin or Modena for revheads.

I cooked the capunti for little more than ten minutes although the label prescribed thirteen; apparently the type of flour used in their manufacture means they stay al dente and hold their shape longer where softer floured types tend to throw gluten and fall apart.

While the pasta was cooking I fried a chorizo sausage chopped into halved discs along with a chopped red onion and a chopped sweet capsicum (the long conical one). Just before these were done I threw in an avocado chopped into rough cubes to warm through along with a couple of dozen halved grape tomatoes. By now the pasta was draining with the help of a few colander shakes. Any residual fluid would combine with the topping to make a 'sauce' out of what was not strictly a sauce: but these combinations are often a revelation after the usual tomato-based or cream- based clichés.

It had been another hot day. Cooking pasta like this is an easy task in a hot kitchen. Just a lot of chopping and throwing things around. Finally, I topped the pasta with the chorizo and vegetable mixture and blanketed the lot with shaved parmesan. Squisito indeed: went down a treat with the teenagers who had played cricket or been to football training; while the younger one had spent two hours at the local pool. The dish also paired well with their mother's mandatory chilled rosé on ice. Cheers.