Pasta shaped like Christmas trees and stars, in the three colours of a festive table: red, green and cream. Those colours don't come out of a bottle but from dehydrated tomato, spinach and beetroot. Made by Antico Pastificio Morelli, who have been making pasta in Tuscany since 1860 — and you notice it the moment you open the bag.

Why bronze-drawn matters

Italian durum wheat, milled in Italy, pushed through bronze dies instead of teflon. It sounds like a detail for enthusiasts, but you can taste it: bronze leaves a rough, matt surface that sauce clings to instead of sliding off. The flavour stays that of good durum pasta. The vegetables are in there for colour, in small amounts — this does not taste of tomato or spinach.

How I cook it

Five minutes in plenty of salted water, no more. Keep it slightly al dente: the shapes are thin and carry on cooking in the sauce. A few directions:

• Butter and sage with a generous handful of Parmesan — the shapes stay visible.
• A creamy pumpkin or parsnip sauce; that orange sits well next to the red and green.
• As soup pasta in a clear broth, with finely diced winter carrot.
• Cold, in a pasta salad with mozzarella and basil.

What to do with it

This pasta does the job you'd otherwise hand to a table decoration. Children eat more of it than of penne, and on a festive table a plate of little trees simply looks better. It works in a hamper too: with a bottle of olive oil and a jar of pesto you're giving something that actually gets eaten.

Ingredients

Durum wheat semolina, water, dehydrated tomato (1.75%), dehydrated spinach (0.27% – origin EU), dehydrated beetroot.

May contain eggs, fish, molluscs, mustard and soy.

Nutritional values per 100 g

Origin and facts

• Durum wheat semolina pasta with tomato, spinach and beetroot
• Net weight 250 g
• Shapes: Christmas trees and stars (alberi e stelle)
• Wheat grown in Italy, milled in Italy
• Bronze-drawn — trafilata al bronzo
• Cooking time 5 minutes
• Producer: Antico Pastificio Morelli 1860 s.r.l., Montopoli in Val d'Arno (PI), Tuscany, Italy
• Store in a cool, dry place