By LINDA M. LINONIS

By LINDA M. LINONIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
If there ever was a food that could please any palate, it's pasta. Want that with a hearty tomato sauce? Or would you prefer a creamy Alfredo?
How about a sauce simmered for hours or one whipped up from just-picked tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic and olive oil? Do you like it with meat sauce, meatballs, sausage, shrimp or a garden variety of vegetables? Or how about a cold pasta salad for a picnic supper on a summer night?
Pasta, which appeared on the Chinese menu as early as 5000 B.C., has the versatility to appeal to a wide array of cultures. There's evidence that the Etruscans made pasta as early as 400 B.C. because of a bas-relief carving in a cave near Rome that depicts a pastry wheel, flour bin and rolling-out table. But serving pasta with tomato sauce came much later, probably in the 1700s, according to trivia from the National Pasta Association.
Cooks around the world use some 600 shapes of pasta, so there's bound to be a shape that suits your favorite sauce. The general rule is light, thin sauces with angel hair or thin spaghetti and thicker sauces with shapes such as fettucine. Pasta shapes with holes or ridges, such as mostaccioli or radiatore, work best with chunky sauces.
In the United States, residents of the Northeast and West report serving pasta three or more times a week, according to information gathered by the National Pasta Association. Spaghetti was named by one-third of the survey respondents as their favorite pasta dish, followed by lasagna, elbow macaroni, angel hair, fettucine and linguine.
In the area: Locally, pasta is prominent on many restaurant menus, is an appealing dish at many fund-raisers and is featured at local festivals.
Lydia Infante of Niles, who presented a pasta demonstration at the most recent Italian-American Heritage Festival in Warren, said she makes her pasta "from scratch." Infante said she hopes to preserve this cooking tradition by teaching it to others at such events.
Born in Italy, Infante said her family lived in northeast Rome before coming to the United States in 1937. "My mother taught me how to make pasta when I was 10 years old," she said.
Infante said her basic recipe is 2 eggs and 11/2 cups white flour. Sometimes she uses a combination of white flour and semolina.
It's a visual feast to imagine Infante putting the flour on a board and making a well in the center for the eggs, then beating the eggs, gradually pulling in the flour, then rhythmically kneading the dough.
"I knead it about 10 minutes, then let it rest," she said; then she kneads it more and lets it rest again. "I use a big rolling pin to flatten it out and get it nice and thin," she said.
The cutting process demands dexterity and skill. With fingers tucked under and knuckles down, Infante cuts her dough into the shapes she wants. "I usually make spaghetti noodles, or cut it into squares for ravioli or bigger noodles for lasagna."
And from her stepmother she learned how to make spiral noodles shaped on a knitting needle. Infante said she also has incorporated beets and spinach into the pasta dough, which gives it unique flavors and colors.
Topping it off: What goes on top of the pasta is as varied as the pasta itself. White sauce is more common in the northern part of the country; red sauces are popular in the south. "The regions in Italy have different foods," Infante said.
Her favorite sauce is made with half-and-half, butter and Gorgonzola and Parmesan cheeses. And she likes it on gnocchi, a small dumpling-like pasta shape.
And although she has her favorites, Infante said her love of cooking has also resulted in a 100-plus collection of cookbooks. Many focus on regional Italian dishes.
This variety is one reason Infante thinks pasta has become so popular. "You have so many husbands and wives working; it's an easy and quick meal to make, and children love it," she said.
For example, pasta on Monday with a hearty red meat sauce is a lot different from pasta on Thursday served with a creamy white sauce and vegetables.
Infante, the mother of two, now is teaching her 14-year-old granddaughter, Carlye Slaughter, the joy of making a variety of pasta dishes.