# What should I do with this radiatore pasta? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-this-radiatore-pasta/615482 "2012-03-11T20:12:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-this-radiatore-pasta/615482/1 "2012-03-11T20:12:18Z")
I have a cellophane package of BIG radiatore pasta straight from Italy, I mean 1" wide and 1-1/2" long. Anything special I can put on it? I was thinking chunks of broccoli and sweet red peppers, and maybe alfredo sauce, but I’ve made that before several times. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-this-radiatore-pasta/615482/2 "2012-03-13T21:28:11Z")
Pasta salad!!! At least, that’s what I did with my box of \ radiatore that I found hiding in the cupboard last week. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-this-radiatore-pasta/615482/3 "2012-03-13T21:38:06Z")
I read that as “What should I do with this radioactive pasta?” Which would result in a completely different answer… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-this-radiatore-pasta/615482/4 "2012-03-13T22:34:14Z")
Well, thank you to **salinqmind** for posting this, because going to Wikipedia to see what radiatore looked like (we didn’t really have that shape often when I was a child), I happened to see, down in the “Italian pastas” sidebar, _acini de pepe_, what my mother and aunts (3rd-generation Americans, originally from Calabria) called “bustine”, a linguistic connection that I never could figure out. Until now. Acini de pepe (“peppercorn”) are basically little cubes of pasta. Tiny, even. As Wiki tells me, it’s also called _ **pastine** _. Which, in my great-grandparents’ Calabrese accent turned into “bustine”! So, one of the great if trivial mysteries in my life has been solved by a well-timed and completely coincidental thread on the Dope! ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-this-radiatore-pasta/615482/5 "2012-03-14T16:02:59Z")
What you have there is a nice chuncky, toothy pasta. It will go well with a nice chuncky, toothy sauce. Personally I’d grab a bunch of fresh veggies (zuccini, onion, bell pepper, carrot, celery, mushroom) cut 'em into bite size chuncks and oven roast them w/ olive oil salt & pepper till they start to brown. Then mix the veggies with just enough marinara and heavy cream to keep it all together and toss w/ the pasta. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-this-radiatore-pasta/615482/6 "2012-03-14T22:20:21Z")
That sounds good, thank you, zoid. These are really big rigatoni, almost ‘stuffing’ size. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-this-radiatore-pasta/615482/7 "2012-03-14T23:17:42Z")
Glad to help, just make sure the veg gets roasted through, you don’t want too much crunch in the carrot. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-this-radiatore-pasta/615482/8 "2012-03-14T23:31:45Z")
Father’s Day is in June. Make FD card with a macaroni Maserati, and use the Radiatore for the wheels.