In "Historically yours" on Europe 1, the gastronomic columnist Olivier Poels looks back on the history of coquillettes, pasta that has nothing Italian about it, and suggests you sublimate the famous ham and cheese coquillettes from our childhood with milk and the mimolette. 

Every day of the week, from Monday to Friday in

Historically yours

, our culinary columnist Olivier Poels tells us the story of an emblematic dish.

On Wednesday, he was looking at coquillettes, pasta invented by the famous Panzani brand, and which has become very popular in France thanks to the recipe for ham and cheese coquillettes, emblem of our childhood dishes.

For the nostalgic (and gourmets!), Olivier Poels also delivers the recipe for a variant with milk and mimolette.

Pasta, yes, but pasta!

Spaghetti, linguine, farfalle ... in front of a shelf of pasta, there is generally no shortage of models.

But there is one with a very French sound: the coquillettes.

And for good reason, this pasta has never crossed the Alps to reach our plates.

Panzani, a French brand created in the 1950s with an Italian name, is generally presented as the inventor of coquillettes, served to generations of schoolchildren in canteens, usually topped with ham and grated cheese.

In short, a dish from our region, which you will therefore have no chance of finding in Italy.

The recipe for mimolette shells

Ingredients for 4 persons :

  • 300 gr of shellfish

  • 1.5 liters of milk

  • 400 gr of mimolette

  • 400 gr thick sliced ​​Paris ham

  • Salt pepper

1 - Cook your pasta.

A little tip: do not cook your shellfish in water, but in milk.

It takes four volumes of milk for one volume of pasta.

The pasta will absorb almost all of the milk.

Cooking takes a little longer than for pasta with water because the boiling temperature of milk is lower than that of water.

As milk can be saved, watch the cooking closely.

2 - Add ham cut into thick cubes.

Take a real Paris ham, without salt and nitrite, like "Prince de Paris", bought from a butcher who knows how to work it. 

3 - Add your mimolette, which will give this dish more depth than grated Gruyère or Comté.

Salt and pepper.

Treat yourself !