Mafalde

[DonRocks]

I've noticed the appearance of Mafalde on several menus in town lately. Last night, for example, I had it at Hank's Pasta Bar (where it's on the menu as "Malfalde," and I don't think that's a regional spelling variant; I think it's a simple misspelling that would have remained on the menu forever - Pasta Guide.pdf - that will be five dollars) - it cost $19, and was made with a generous amount of fennel sausage (enough for a piece in every bite), spinach, and cream - it's not a "liquidy" dish; it's more of a "glazed" dish, as odd as that may sound. The portion size was perfectly reasonable for what I paid (I never did get any bread, but I didn't ask), and I would recommend this dish for someone not concerned with calories.

The appearance of Mafalde could also be due to the increasing number of upscale Italian restaurants in DC - the past 2-3 years have been an Italian Renaissance (sorry). I've had this pasta more than once recently, but I don't remember where else I've had it. My dish looked *exactly* like the picture below, except mine didn't have as much liquid (which you can see on the right side of the bowl). Mafalde is essentially a Lasagna noodle, except that it's about one centimeter wide and much shorter in length, so it comes in little strips instead of big sheets.

[Pat]

Years ago, I used to be able to buy this at the grocery store, San Giorgio brand. Then it became impossible to find--for years.  Last year I located it at Trader Joe's at Baileys--in a yard or so long package, straight from Italy.  I found it a little tricky to break the pieces up, but I did.  I finally used it all, but it was much more difficult than the stuff that was processed to be the little pieces.  Within the past couple of months I saw dried mafalda again (San Giorgio) and bought it.  Haven't used it yet.

It's interesting that it's showing up in restaurants so much.

[DonRocks]

17 minutes ago, Pat said:

Years ago, I used to be able to buy this at the grocery store, San Giorgio brand. Then it became impossible to find--for years.  Last year I located it at Trader Joe's at Baileys--in a yard or so long package, straight from Italy.  I found it a little tricky to break the pieces up, but I did.  I finally used it all, but it was much more difficult than the stuff that was processed to be the little pieces.  Within the past couple of months I saw dried mafalda again (San Giorgio) and bought it.  Haven't used it yet.

It's interesting that it's showing up in restaurants so much.

If you click on that Pasta Guide, it implies the long pasta you bought was "Mafaldine," which seems to be the same, but longer. I'm no pasta-shape expert, so don't rely on my guess, but instinctively, it seems like the diminutive would be the shorter of the two, but apparently not (of course that Pasta Guide might be incorrect also). 

In general, it seems like the suffix "oni" means "bigger" and the suffix "ini" means "smaller" (e.g. tortellini < tortelli < tortelloni).

Maybe what you bought is called "Mafaldone?"

Any fluent Italian speakers out there?

PS - I haven't seen it *that* many times; just two or three, but I don't ever recall seeing it in a DC restaurant before recently (which means little).