When I was a young hippie, I seriously considered writing a book called “Man shall live by bread alone”. That was in my most rebellious time as a teenager, and today I have a totally different view on the differences between bread and spirit. But one thing has not changed; my deep love of all kinds of pasta. I love pasta!

In this book, I have collected a number of pasta recipes. They are the result of almost forty years of pasta cooking, including the regional cuisines of Italy and new recipes from my private collection.

Pasta is a cheap and nourishing food. It is easy to cook. And it’s the best thing in the world next to love, poetry and music.

H.W. Gade

Copenhagen 20^th July 2003

1. Introduction

In 1987, I wrote the first version of this pasta book. Due to various reasons, it was never released, but remained in the archives of NORDISC. When the publishing house started its new health branch, “Mental Aid”, it was obvious to finally finish the old book and release it in digital format.

The original version was actually the publishing house’s first attempt of producing a “digital” book. It was a program running in DOS with the ability of calculating an exact shopping list based on the number of guests. The digital concept, though, was much ahead of its time and we gave up. It should last 12 years until the time was ripe for digital books in 1999.

In the new version, we dropped the old idea of the automatic shopping list – the old cookbook system with a fixed number of guests, usually 4 persons, is still the best way. But the new version does have a sort of shopping list, as the ingredients are provided with a check box. You simply print out the recipe and tick the ingredients you don’t have in the your kitchen.

The book has been remodelled to comprise typical pasta dishes from all the Italian regions. Besides the Italian recipes, I have included a chapter with my own “inventions”.

You have all the necessary information on cooking techniques, pasta shapes, vegetables and spices. And the cookbook ends with a convenient list of pasta recipes suiting the basic ingredients, you already have in the kitchen.

I hope you will enjoy the 103 recipes. They span hundreds of years of Italian pasta history. Some are famous classics like Pasta Bolognese, others are exciting and different alternatives using the local vegetables in Southern Italy or the whole-wheat pasta in the Northern regions. The Southern Italian recipes are very old, but were new to me. So you have the best of the known and the unknown cuisines. Try to eat like a Sicilian; it’s healthy – and mostly vegetarian!

Most of the recipes in this book are for 4 persons

2. The History of Pasta

The first cooked food was soup with vegetables and meat. But when the humans discovered agriculture, they also invented bread – and pasta! Actually, pasta is a kind of “bread” made by flour and water. Opposite bread, pasta is flat strips or small squares. These are the simple pasta forms found in most countries all over the world probably dating back 7-8,000 years.

The popular myth that the Venetian explorer Marco Polo brought pasta with him from China is only a myth; pasta was mentioned in writing already in old Rome where Horace and Cicero mentioned “lagane” and in the early 1100-ies by an Arab geographer Al-Idrisi living in Arab ruled Sicily.

During the next centuries, pasta spread to Northern Italy as well, and in the Renaissance, it had become very popular. As pasta is rich in carbohydrates, fats and proteins, it soon became the favourite food of the poor. In the 1500-ies, dry pasta manufacturers were founded all over Italy. The dough was mixed by foot and compressed (“kneaded”) by 3-4 workers sitting on a long wooden pool. The dough was pressed into bronze plates as vermicelli, trenette, lasagnette, farfalle, pennette, conchiglie and other pasta forms, still known today. The short forms were kept in drawers while the long forms were dried in the open.

Fresh pasta was made with common flour and eggs, while the new dry pasta was made with durum wheat.

In the 1600-ies, an economical crisis in Italy led to a widespread merging of small farms into fewer but larger ones, producing durum wheat. The invention of the kneading machine expanded the production of dry pasta drastically, and soon pasta became a basic food in all of Italy.

The pasta industry of today is based on advanced dough mixers and drying chambers, and the long production times of the old factories are reduced to hours. The manufacturer doesn’t even have to be situated in Italy’s hot climate to produce pasta.

But despite the new technology, the durum wheat is still the heart of quality pasta production. A high protein contents and gluten is still essential for the perfect cooking of pasta.

Italian pasta is now one of the important basic foods of the Western world besides potatoes and rice. Dry pasta is cheap, nourishing and easy to prepare. It is healthy and extremely popular, and spaghetti with meatballs has been a worldwide favourite since the 1930-ies.

3. Pasta Shapes

General Advice

Almost all types of dry Italian pasta contain durum wheat and water. One might thus conclude that all pasta shapes taste the same, but this is totally wrong. Almost identically looking penne variants or spaghetti compared to Spaghettini, taste noticeably different when used with the sauce they are meant for.

Pasta Shape	Recommended Types of Sauce
Angel Hair or spaghettini	Thin sauce, cheese or peas
Spaghetti, farfalle	Tomato based vegetable or meat sauces
fettuccine, tagliatelle, penne, bucatini, fusilli	Heavy tomato or cream sauces
Pappardelle	Heavy meat sauces, game
Conchiglie, lumache	Heavy meat or cream sauces
Radiatori, ruote di carro	Rich tomato sauces with meat and cheese
Rigatoni	Heavy tomato sauce with sausages
Ravioli, cannelloni	Baked pasta are served with minced filling and a tomato or cream sauce

TIP: Short Pasta

Short pasta shapes like penne or farfalle are easier to keep al dente when serving a lot of guests or children. They are also perfect with pasta salads.

Pasta Lunga / Long Round Pasta

Capelli d’angelo / Capellini

[Angel Hair] Use with thin sauces or broken in halves in soups.

Vermicelli

[Small Worms] A very old spaghetti type, still in use. A little thinner than spaghetti.

Other Variants: Vermicellini, thinner size

Spaghettini

Spaghetti’s finer cousin;

Spaghetti

Spaghetti is the most versatile pasta shape and can be used with light, heavy or ultra heavy sauces. It is the most popular pasta in the world, and especially good with tomato sauces.

Other variants: Coloured with tomato, spinach and a lot of other colours / tastes.

Linguine

[Little Tongues] A Ligurian speciality pasta used with the famous pesto sauce of Liguria.

Bucatini / Perciatelli

In the old days, bucatini / perciatelli was called macaroni and still is in a number of countries. It is larger in diameter the spaghetti and hollow inside.

Other variants: Bucatoni (slightly thicker)

Fusilli lunghi
(Fusilli col buco / Fusilli bucati Lunghi)

Here is another hollow spaghetti shape. It is a long variant of the fusilli (screws). It is the only pasta that must never be forced down in the boiling water, as this will make it crack.

Fettucce / Band Pasta

Tagliatelle

The classic band pasta. Often used with cream or tomato sauces.

Other variants: Taglioni (slighty broader), coloured with spinach.

Pappardelle

The rustic cousin of tagliatelle, but much broader. Used with hare sauce and other regional special recipes.

Other variants: Coloured with spinach

Pizzoccheri

Whole-wheat noodles from the Lombardy region.

Paglia e fieno

[Straw and hay] Very thin egg based pasta in green and yellow, thus the name. Often used with peas or mushroom sauces.

Fettuccine

[Small Ribbons] The Roman variant of tagliatelle, most famous for Fettuccine all’Alfredo.

Other variants: Coloured with spinach

Mafaldine

[Named after a princess from Naples] Broad pasta band with ruffled edges. Works well with thin sauces and seafood.

Tubi / Tubes

Penne rigate

Tube with grooves. Use with Penne Arrabiate and other spicy tomato sauces, or in creamy northern Italian sauces.

Other variants: Penne Lisce (smooth surface), coloured with spinach.

Penne ziti rigate

A variant of penne.

Other variants: Penne ziti lisce (smooth surface), penne zitoni rigate (small size)

Trennette

A triangular penne variant used with meat sauces.

Other variants: Trenne (thicker)

Elicoidali

A large penne variant with grooves. Suited for very heavy types of sauce.

Cavatappi

Small spirals used for rustic mushroom and meat sauces

Maccheroni rigati

In spite of its name, maccheroni are small tubes, not bucatini, which for historical reasons is called macaroni in many countries. Use it with meat and cream based sauces.

Other variants: Maccheroni lisci (smooth surface)

Denti d’elefante

[Elephant Teeth] A giant penne variant often stuffed and baked.

Chifferi rigati

Small curled pasta suited for mushroom sauces and recipes without sauce (meat and/or vegetables only).

Other variants: Chifferi lisci (smooth surface)

Rigatoni

[Large Grooved] Looks like a giant grooved penne. Suited for any kind of sauce. Use it instead of penne, if the meat sauce is very heavy with lots of meat.

Millerighe

Another large, grooved penne to be stuffed and baked.

Forme speciali / Special Shapes

Conchiglie

[Shells] Very good with any tomato sauce and mushroom dishes (the small mushrooms “hide” inside the hollow shell). A very popular pasta shape.

Other variants: Coloured with spinach, saffron or tomato, king size conchiglie gigante, often stuffed and baked or small size conchiglioni for soups.

Farfalle

[Butterflies] Another very popular pasta shape, both in pasta salads and with tomato sauces (Note: Pasta salads are not normal in Italy, it’s an American dish)

Other variants: coloured with spinach, farfalline (small size) used in soups.

Gnocchi

A special pasta shape resembling the potato based gnocchi dumplings. Use with meat sauces or in soups.

Other variants: Gnocchetti (smaller size)

Gnocchetti Sardi (Malloreddus)

The Sardinian gnocchetti look like small beetles!. They are often flavoured with saffron.

Creste di Galli

[Cockscomb] A rarity shape that can be used for tomato or cream sauces. Always remember to cook it al dente, as it tends to end up harder than expected.

Lumache

[Snails] Snails are equivalent to shells and can be used with the same kinds of sauces.

Other variants: Lumaconi (large size) often stuffed and baked and lumachine (small size) used in soups.

Orecchiette

[Small ears] A Puglian speciality, always homemade in its original region.

Radiatori

[Radiators] A rarity shape used for tomato sauces, oven baked pasta dishes or in pasta salads.

Fusilli

[Screws] The screwed pasta shape is very efficient to “consume” the sauce and cheese. Use with tomato or cream sauces, with oven-baked dishes or in pasta salads.

Other variants: Coloured with spinach or tomato.

Eliche

A close relative to the Fusilli pasta shape. Use it with the same kinds of dishes, except pasta salads (it’s a little bit too big to play with the salad leaves and Feta cheese cubes).

Other variants: Coloured with spinach or tomato.

Fusili bucati (Spirali)

This pasta shape is a little thicker than Fusilli and hollow as bucatini. Use with heavy sauces.

Other variants: Spirali (larger size)

Strozzapreti

[Priest strangler] A regional pasta shape from Puglia, resembling a rolled towel. Used like penne.

Troffiette

Small twisted pasta shapes from Liguria, often used with pesto, another Ligurian speciality.

Ruote di carro

[Wagon Wheels] Another rarity pasta shape, popular with the kids and in pasta salads.

Other variants: Ruote di carro tricolore, coloured with spinach or tomato.

Pasta per minestre / Pasta for soups

Orzi

[Barley] Rice-like pasta pieces used with soups or cooked in soup and served with cheese in its own right.

Other variants: Orzi piccoli (small size)

Alfabetici

[Alphabet pasta] Most kids’ first experience of pasta is a soup with the pasta letters. Very popular all over the world.

Stortini

[Small curves] Small curved tubes.

conchigliette

[Small shells] “Baby” shells for moderately thick soup.

Tubetti Rigati

Small grooved tubes mostly used with soup.

Other variants: Tubetti lisce (smooth surface).

Ditali Rigati

Small grooved tubes, a little lager than tubetti rigiati.

Other Variants, Ditali Lisce (smooth surface), Ditalini (small size)

Maltagliati

[Badly Cut] Large cuts of pasta scraps used in soups.

Anelli rigati / Anelletti

Small flat grooved tubes.

Other variants: Anelli lisce (smooth surface), anelli siciliani (large size, handmade).

Funghetti

[Small mushrooms] Pasta shaped as mushrooms.

Stelline

«««

Star shaped pasta for soup; the most popular pasta for soup in the world.

Pasta Ripiena / Stuffed Pasta

Tortellini / cappelletti

Small “packets” with meat, cheese or other kind of minced filling.

Other variants: Tortelloni (large size)

Cannelloni

Large tubes with thin walls to be filled with meat sauce or spinach / ricotta cheese.

Other variants: Coloured with spinach.

Ravioli

Looks and tastes exactly like tortellini. Two names for the same thing.

Other variants: Raviolini (small size)

Lasagne

[Lasanum: Latin for pot] Lasagne is one of the most popular kinds of baked pasta in the world. But look out! A lasagne can be warmed for 10-12 hours before you order it at a restaurant – so never eat lasagne at a restaurant, unless you know the owner personally. The best lasagne is the one you make yourself.

Other variants: Coloured with spinach

Various Pasta Colours

Tomato (red), spinach (green), saffron (dark yellow), beetroot (red), basil (green dots), champignon (brown), octopus (black).

4. General Handling of Pasta

How to cook pasta

Cook the pasta in a large pan with 5 litres of water for 500gr pasta. Use 2 tablespoons of salt. When the water boils you carefully pour the pasta into the water and immediately stir it for 1min with a wooden spoon. Before you stop stirring, you must make sure that the pasta – especially spaghetti – doesn’t stick in “bundles”. If this happens, you must throw the pasta out and start all over again.

You do not have to add olive oil; it is a myth that oil prevents the pasta from sticking. Plenty of water does the trick much better.

Al Dente

Follow the cooking time on the package. Watch the pasta all the time and stir once in a while to ensure that the pasta doesn’t stick. A couple of minutes before the cooking time expires, you must test whether the pasta has become “al dente” meaning not hard, nor soft but firm. Soft pasta doesn’t taste well and hard pasta is impossible to eat, so you simply have to learn the art of cooking the pasta perfectly al dente.

When the pasta is al dente, immediately drain the pasta and – most often – pour it into the sauce.

WARNING Make sure that your children are not between the sink and the fire – they can get seriously burned if they are hit by boiling water!

If the pasta is to be baked in the oven, you must drain the pasta a couple of minutes before the cooking time expires, as the oven will finish the cooking.

Pasta Tips

Don't Drown the Pasta in the Sauce

When you drain the pasta, make sure that the pasta is dry. Pasta water may dilute the sauce. Make sure that the sauce is thick – the pasta shouldn’t be “drowned” in the sauce. Pasta is the main ingredient and the amount of sauce should be moderate.

Pasta is not always eaten with Cheese!

In Italy, it’s not only regarded inappropriate to use cheese with seafood pasta, but also with certain traditional pasta dishes like Spaghetti with garlic and olive oil or Alla Putanesca.

TIP Wait with the cheese until the pasta has been mixed with the sauce. Otherwise you risk having melted stringy cheese all over the dish.

How to Eat Spaghetti

If you want to eat like an Italian, you must use a fork only.

- Turn the fork in a winding movement using your thumb, forefinger and middle finger.

- Wind up a small roll of spaghetti with sauce. Quickly push the spaghetti into the mouth with the help of the fork.

Homemade Pasta

Homemade pasta is a labour intensive but rewarding experience. The taste and texture of fresh pasta is different to dry pasta and it needs a light sauce to go with it – sometimes you may even replace the sauce with a little olive oil or butter.

Handmade or Machine Aided Pasta Making?

Many homemade pasta enthusiasts use pasta machines, but handmade pasta has its peculiar charm working in close contact with the dough.

Homemade Pasta

q 2 cups of flour

q 1/2 cup flour in reserve

q 3 large eggs

q 1 extra yoke in reserve

q 1 teaspoon of virgin olive oil (optional)

q Salt

NOTE The extra flour, egg and olive oil may be needed for controlling the wetness / dryness of the pasta dough.

1. The Eggs

Break the eggs into a bowl. Make sure there are no egg shells in the egg.

2. Kneading

Use a wooden or marble surface. Pour out the flour and shape it into a “volcano” with a well in the middle.

Pour the eggs into the well.

Use a fork to pull the flour from the wall into the centre mixing the flour and the egg until the dough becomes softer and not very sticky.

Here comes the hard work: Knead the dough into a ball. Then knead the ball until it becomes firm but not sticky at all. This can take up to 8min or more.

Place a bowl over the dough and let it rest for 30min.

3. Rolling

Divide the ball into 6 smaller balls.

Pasta Machine: Start the machine’s rollers. Run the balls through the rollers approx. 10 times shaping it into a long sheet a little narrower that the width of the rollers. Continue rolling the sheets until they have the desired thickness. The finished sheet should be soft and shiny, not sticky.

Manual rolling: Form the balls into 6 wide sheets. Roll them thoroughly with a rolling pin until they have received the desired thickness. The finished sheet should be soft and shiny, not sticky.

4. Drying

Dry the sheets for about 1hour on dishtowels or – as in Italy – on the back of a wooden chair. The dough should feel dry and shouldn’t stick when cut. If it sticks you must repeat the rolling process.

4. Cutting

Run the pasta through the cutting rollers of your choice or cut the sheets manually with a sharp knife into the desired pasta form, lasagne, spaghetti, ravioli etc.

5. Cooking Homemade Pasta

Pour the pasta in plenty of boiling water with 1/2 tablespoon of salt per litre. Cook for 1 to 4min - when the fresh pasta is done it rises to the water surface. Check the pasta – it should be al dente, turn off the heat and immediately drain the pasta.

6. The Final Touch

Pour the warm pasta in a preheated bowl and toss the sauce over the pasta. Stir and serve.

Coloured Pasta

Herb Pasta

Add 1 teaspoon of finely crushed dried basil, marjoram or sage to the flour mixture.

Spinach Pasta

Add 75g finely chopped cooked spinach, well drained, to the egg mixture.

Whole-Wheat Pasta

Use whole-wheat flour instead of durum semolina flour.

Tomato Pasta

Use tomato paste instead of the water.

5. The Necessary Other Ingredients

This short chapter explains the basic handling of the ingredients for the sauces. The chapter also contains recipes for a few classical sauces used in many pasta dishes.

Preparing the Vegetables

Fresh Tomatoes

You can use two methods, either:

- Dip the tomatoes into the boiling water for 5 seconds. The skin is now loose and easy to peel.

- Peel the tomatoes with a special tool, similar to the potato peeler. Ask for the tool in an Italian specialty store.

Onions

- Cut off the ends of the onion and peel it.

- Divide the onion into halves.

- Each half should then be sliced, first in one direction, then across the slices, producing small, rough pieces.

- For finely cut onions, collect the rough pieces and carefully cut them very finely.

Garlic

There are two ways of preparing the garlic cloves – for a mild taste use the following method:

- Cut off the ends of the garlic cloves and peel them.

- Cut off the garlic cloves into fine slices. Cut the slices finely.

For a stronger garlic taste, do like this:

- Cut off the ends of the garlic cloves and peel them.

- Mash the garlic cloves in a garlic press.

FRYING THE GARLIC Be very careful that the garlic doesn’t get burned or black (!) If this happens, you’ll have to throw away the garlic and thoroughly clean the pan. The taste of burned garlic is bitter and downright awful.

Stalk Celery

- Cut off the top and bottom of the stalk celery.

- Cut the celery into slices approx. 5mm thick.

NOTE Be careful to remove any “strings” from the celery. This is a sign of old stalk celery, and the strings taste awful.

- Cut the slices finely.

Carrots

- Cut off the top and bottom of the carrot. Peel it with a potato peeler.

- Slice the carrot into slices approx. 5mm thick.

- Cut the slices into quarters.

- Collect and cut the quarters, either coarsely or finely, depending on the recipe.

Red Pepper

- Red pepper is often peeled in Italy, whereas the skin is kept in most other countries.

- Cut off the top and bottom of the pepper.

- Manually remove the seeds under tap water. Make sure that all seeds have been removed.

- Cut the pepper into halves and remove the white stripes. You may use the eatable fruit flesh of the top and bottom.

- Cut the pepper coarsely.

Zucchini

- Cut off the ends of the zucchini.

- Slice the zucchini into slices approx. 5mm thick.

- Cut the slices into quarters.

Preparing Octopuses and Mussels

Octopus / Squid

- Cut off the tentacles of the octopus / squid.

- Turn the abdomen inside out and remove the entrails.

- Cut off the beak from the tentacles.

- Rinse the abdomen and the tentacles thoroughly under tap water.

- Cut the abdomen into thin slices.

- Divide the tentacles into pairs. The tentacle pairs should not be cut further – they should be visible in the dish.

Mussels

- Carefully clean the mussels in a bowl with cold water. The mussels should all close. Discard any open mussels.

- Cook until the mussels open (5-10min). Discard any mussels that do not open.

WARNING If you don’t follow the above “mussel rules”, you are heading for the worst stomachache of your life.

Spices

To produce an authentic pasta sauce, you will need a number of Mediterranean spices. Here is a list including ingredients that are not really herbs but still used as a sort of spice.

Herbs

- Basil: Dried or fresh. If you use fresh basil, remember to shred the basil leaves by hand – do not use a knife, otherwise you will damage the leaves.

- Oregano: Dried or fresh. The dried version has the strongest taste.

- Sage: Dried or fresh. Both variants are tasty.

- Thyme: Dried or fresh. The dried version has the strongest taste.

- Parsley: Dried or fresh. Use only the broadleaved Italian parsley, if you use fresh parsley.

- Rosemary: Dried or fresh. The fresh version is the best choice for pasta dishes.

- Pepper: Use black pepper with red sauce and white pepper with white sauce. Always use freshly ground pepper.

- Nutmeg: Use a few pinches of nutmeg only – in larger quantities the spice works as a sedative.

Other Spicy Ingredients

- Chilli: Chilli flakes or fresh chilli. If you use fresh chilli: To obtain a mild taste, you cook one whole chilli in the sauce for a few minutes and remove it. For at strong taste, let one or more chillies stay in the sauce.

NOTE Chilli is actually a weak nerve poison. If you chop it into small pieces, be very careful not to touch it with your fingers - you may risk getting the chilli in your eyes, which is not a pleasant experience.

- Capers: Use small capers for pasta sauce.

- Anchovies: The small fish is used in many spicy tomato sauces.

- Lemon Juice: 4 drops is normally sufficient.

- Pesto: Today, you can choose between the original Pesto Genovese, a tomato pesto and a row of new variants. The pesto should be preheated by tossing approx. 3 tablespoons of pesto in a cup and adding 1 tablespoon of boiling pasta water. Never let the pesto cook.

- Tomato paste: Adds extra depth to the tomato sauce; can also be applied to soups.

- Black olives: Cut the olives into halves (tomato sauces) or slice them finely (if used as a main ingredient).

- Soup Cubes: Used a soup cube in the pasta water for a more intense flavour. You may also dissolve a cube in the sauce, but be careful that the sauce doesn’t get too salty.

- Worchester Sauce: Add two teaspoons of Worchester sauce to for example Spaghetti with meatballs to enrich the taste.

- Oyster Mushrooms: These mushrooms have a strange ability to collect the sauce; can be used as a replacement for thickening with flour.

- Wine: Use white or red wine for adding a zest to the sauce. You may also use vino santo or other stronger wines. The wine should always be cooked until it evaporates.

- Vinegar: Use it with spicy sauces or egg dishes. Cook it until it has evaporated similar to wine.

Classical Basic Sauces

To become a good pasta cook, you will need to learn the following sauces by heart. If you do that, the rest of the recipes will be pretty easy to learn.

Béchamel Sauce
Level: Medium	Cooking Time: 40min	Price: Inexpensive
Ingredients q 100g butter q 80g white flour q 1 litre milk q Salt q Nutmeg
Béchamel sauce is primarily used with lasagne and other oven baked dishes.
1. The Sauce Heat the milk in a pan over medium heat. Stir with a wooden spoon all the time. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pan over low heat. Add the flour. Slowly stir in the boiling milk. Let the sauce simmer for 10-15min. Stir with a wooden spoon all the time. When ready, taste with a little nutmeg and salt. Regulate the thickness of the béchamel by using less or more milk than 1 litre.

Tomato Sauce
Level: Easy	Cooking Time: 40min	Price: Inexpensive
Ingredients q 500g fresh tomatoes q 1 onion q 4 garlic cloves q 1/2 cup of basil leaves q Olive oil q Salt
The classic all-purpose pasta sauce.
1. The Sauce Peel the tomatoes (see the previous section of this chapter). Shred the basil leaves by hand, do not use a knife – otherwise you will damage the leaves. Cut the garlic cloves into fine slices. Cut the onion finely. Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the garlic/onion for 2min. Add the tomatoes and cook for 20min over low heat. Stir with a wooden spoon. Taste with a little salt. 5min before the sauce is ready, add the basil leaves.

Ragù di Carne [Meat Sauce]
Level: Moderate	Cooking Time: 50min	Price: Moderate
Ingredients q 300g minced meat q 100g pancetta or bacon q 500g fresh tomatoes q 4 garlic cloves q 1 onion q 1 carrot q 1 stalk celery q 1 glass of red wine q 1 bay leaf q Rosemary q Sage q Nutmeg q Olive oil q 1 tablespoon of butter q Salt and black pepper
The classical North Italian rich meat sauce.
1. The Sauce Peel the tomatoes (see the previous section of this chapter). Shred the basil leaves by hand, do not use a knife – otherwise you will damage the leaves. Cut the garlic cloves into fine slices. Cut the onion finely. Cut the carrot coarsely. Cut the stalk celery finely. Cut the bacon / pancetta into fine cubes. Heat the olive oil and butter in a pan and fry the garlic/onion for 2min. Fry the bacon / pancetta over low heat for 5min. Add the minced meat and let it fry until it turns grey. Add the red wine. Cook until the wine has evaporated. Add tomatoes and spices. Cook the sauce for 10min. Stir with a wooden spoon. If the sauce dries out, refresh it with a little pasta water.

Salsa alle Erbe [Herb Sauce]
Level: Moderate	Cooking Time: 40min	Price: expensive
Ingredients q 100g fat ham q 4 garlic cloves q 2 onions q 1 carrot q Parsley leaves q 1 glass of vinegar q Rosemary q 20g basil leaves q 1 small chilli pepper q Olive oil q 50g butter q Salt and black pepper
An aromatic sauce especially suited for game and pork.
1. The Sauce Cut the garlic cloves into fine slices. Cut the onion finely. Cut the carrot finely. Shred the basil leaves by hand, do not use a knife – otherwise you will damage the leaves. Chop the parsley leaves finely. Chop the chilli pepper finely (do not touch the chilli powder with your fingers!). Cut the ham into small cubes. Heat the olive oil and butter in a pan and fry the garlic/onion for 2min. Fry the ham over low heat for 5min until the fat has melted. Add the spices and cook for another 5min. Add the vinegar. Cook over high heat until the vinegar has evaporated. Add the veal marrow and the chilli powder. Cook the sauce for 10min. Stir with a wooden spoon. Remove the surplus fat and pass the sauce through a sieve. Taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Survival Stock for the Pasta Cook

This is a list of necessities for the serious pasta cook. All the items should be present in the cupboard and refrigerator to survive a day, where you didn’t have time to visit the shops.

Pasta

The following pasta types cover almost any kind of pasta sauce:

- Spaghetti: Moderate tomato sauces and a wide variety of other sauces.

- Bucatini: Heavier tomato sauces and certain traditional dishes.

- Tagliatelle: Sauces from Naples and southern Italy.

- Penne: Good with tomato and cream based sauces.

- Conchiglie: Perfect for heavy sauces with meat and mushrooms.

- Farfalle: Light sauces of any kinds.

- Fusilli: Moderate tomato sauces and cheese based sauces.

- Tortellini: Dried or “fresh” packaged pasta.

- Lasagne: Dried or “fresh” packaged pasta.

Vegetables

These are the most common vegetables used in the Roman kitchen. Outside of Rome, especially on Sicily a range of other vegetables such as zucchini or aubergine are used, but the vegetables listed below are absolutely necessary:

- Tomatoes: In Rome and Naples, the red tomato sauces are prominent. Use canned or fresh tomatoes.

- Onions: Onions are part of almost 60% of all pasta recipes.

- Garlic: Garlic is a wonderful vegetable, not only for its taste, but also for its valuable medical properties. The Mediterranean people know that for sure and use lots of garlic every day.

In Rome, the trinity of tomatoes with finely cut onions and garlic is considered the basic essence of most pasta sauces.

- Stalk celery: The crispy, watery sticks are used for classic dishes like spaghetti Bolognese and spaghetti with meatballs.

- Carrots: Like stalk celery, carrots add richness to meat or vegetarian tomato sauces.

- Red or yellow pepper: A nice supplement to a tomato sauce or on for example spaghetti alla Carbonara

Spices / Taste Enhancers

Spices, fresh or dried

- Basil: Used in tomato sauces and in South Italian sauces.

- Oregano: A specialty of Naples, famous from pizzas, but also common in Neapolitan pasta sauces.

- Sage: A mild spice used with cream based dishes or herb sauces.

- Thyme: Used in Southern Italian sauces.

- Parsley: A typical Roman spice used with seafood sauces, garlic / oil sauce and spaghetti alla Carbonara.

- Rosemary: Also a Roman spice. The fresh version is the best for pasta sauces.

- Black and white peppercorns: Used for tasting almost all pasta sauces.

- Nutmeg: Used in cream or cheese based sauces.

Taste Enhancers

- Chilli, fresh or flakes: Add chilli to tomato or herb based sauces.

- Capers: An important ingredient in the classic spaghetti alla putanesca.

- Pesto: Add green or red pesto to tomato sauces or simply use pesto as a sauce in itself topped with a generous layer of Parmesan cheese.

- Tomato paste: Thickens and smoothens a tomato sauce.

- Black olives: Works well with tomato sauce or – as on Sicily – used as a main ingredient in pasta sauces.

- Soup Cubes: Necessary part of tasting the pasta water. You should have the beef, chicken and vegetable variants (unless, of course, you are a vegetarian).

- Vinegar: Adds a spice zest to any pasta sauce.

- Anchovies: For dishes like spaghetti alla putanesca.

Cheese

Although not all pasta sauces are served with cheese, most of them are. Here are the three most important cheeses:

- Parmesan: The classic pasta cheese.

- Pecorino: Mild sheep cheese. Can be used with Parmesan as in the classic spaghetti alla Carbonara.

- Mozzarella: Soft buffalo cheese known from the combination of basil leaves, tomatoes and mozzarella.

Meat

- Frozen minced beef: For spaghetti Bolognese and other rich sauces.

- Raw ham: Can be used in light tomato based pasta dishes to add taste.

- Pancetta or smoked bacon: Used in many tomato-based sauces.

- Bratwurst: Substitutes the regional Italian sausages well.

6. The Regional Cuisines of Italy

Introduction

The traditions of the Italian cuisine have their origins in ancient times even before the age of the emperors. The Etruscan and Greek kitchen can be traced in Sicilian recipes and North Italian cooking. During the renaissance, Italian food was exported to France and became the basis of the classic French kitchen. Although pasta is the best-known food from Italy, the wine, tomatoes, olive oil, hams, cheeses and pastry have their own success stories with worldwide exports.

12 Classic Pasta Recipes

1. Spaghe tti alla Carrettiera “
[Spaghetti with Tomato and Basil Sauce]

Level: Easy	Cooking Time: 30min	Price: Inexpensive
Pasta q 500g spaghetti or spaghettini	Vegetables/Spices q 400g tomatoes, fresh or canned q 5 garlic cloves q 1/2 cup of basil leaves q Olive oil q Salt and black pepper q A few Chilli flakes
This is the classic pasta sauce with tomato and basil. In Rome, it is called “Spaghetti alla carrettiera”, which means “The Cart Driver’s Spaghetti”. When you master this sauce, you have taken the first step as a “Roman cook”.
1. The Pasta Start heating the pasta water. Add salt. 2. The Vegetables Cut the garlic into fine slices. Shred the basil leaves by hand, do not use a knife – otherwise you will damage the leaves. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and fry the garlic slices for 1min. Add tomatoes, basil leaves, a little salt and black pepper and the chilli flakes. Cook the sauce for 10min. Stir with a wooden spoon. If the sauce dries out, refresh it with a little pasta water. 3. The Pasta Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. You have to check the pasta 2-3min before the cooking time expires – when the pasta is al dente, turn off the heat and immediately drain the pasta. 4. The Final Touch Pour the warm pasta directly into the saucepan and stir for 1-2min.

2. Spaghetti Aglio e Olio con Peperoncino “
[Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil and Chilli Pepper]

Level: Easy	Cooking Time: 30min	Price: Inexpensive
Pasta q 500g Spaghetti	Vegetables/Spices q 5 garlic cloves q 1 handful of flat-leaf parsley q Olive oil q Salt q A few Chilli flakes or more
The combination of garlic and olive oil is widespread in all of the Mediterranean countries. In Spain, it is considered a national dish and used in soup; the garlic pesto of Provence in France is another example. In Italy, the garlic/olive oil can be found in the famous Pesto with basil leaves and pines. In Rome and Naples, the two cities still discuss the ownership of the recipe. Garlic and olive oil make wonderful, pure and sharp pasta sauce. It can be recommend after a long night of celebrating or as a first course followed by seafood or chicken. Keep it simple – this is the Roman kitchen at its best.
1. The Pasta Start heating the pasta water. Add salt. 2. The Vegetables Mince the garlic and cut the parsley into fine slices. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and fry the garlic and chilli flakes for 2min at a very low temperature. Add parsley and a little salt. Turn the heat off. 3. The Pasta Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. You have to check the pasta 2-3min before the cooking time expires – when the pasta is al dente, turn off the heat and immediately drain the pasta. 4. The Final Touch Pour the warm pasta directly into the saucepan with the garlic/olive oil stir thoroughly for 1-2min. Do not use cheese on this dish.

3. Bucatini all’Amatriciana
[Bucatini with Bacon and Tomato Sauce]

Level: Medium	Cooking Time: 40min	Price: Moderate
Pasta q 500g bucatini, penne or spaghetti Meat q Smoked bacon or pancetta	Vegetables/Spices q 400g tomatoes, fresh or canned q 1 onion q 4 garlic cloves q 1/4 cup of pecorino or Parmesan cheese q Olive oil and butter q A few Chilli flakes
Bucatini all'Amatriciana is one of the most popular pasta dishes in Italy. It is a Roman speciality, but on the public holiday 15^th August “Fer Agosto”, the dish is traditionally served all over Italy.
1. The Pasta Start heating the pasta water. Add salt. 2. Vegetables and Meat Chop the garlic and onion finely. Cut the bacon / pancetta into fine cubes. Heat the olive oil and butter in a pan and fry the garlic/onion for 2min.

TIP: Short Pasta

Pasta Lunga / Long Round Pasta

Capelli d’angelo / Capellini

Vermicelli

Spaghettini

Spaghetti

Linguine

Bucatini / Perciatelli

Fusilli lunghi (Fusilli col buco / Fusilli bucati Lunghi)

Fettucce / Band Pasta

Tagliatelle

Pappardelle

Pizzoccheri

Paglia e fieno

Fettuccine

Mafaldine

Tubi / Tubes

Penne rigate

Penne ziti rigate

Trennette

Elicoidali

Cavatappi

Maccheroni rigati

Denti d’elefante

Chifferi rigati

Rigatoni

Millerighe

Forme speciali / Special Shapes

Conchiglie

Farfalle

Gnocchi

Gnocchetti Sardi (Malloreddus)

Creste di Galli

Lumache

Orecchiette

Radiatori

Fusilli

Eliche

Fusili bucati (Spirali)

Strozzapreti

Troffiette

Ruote di carro

Pasta per minestre / Pasta for soups

Orzi

Alfabetici

Stortini

conchigliette

Tubetti Rigati

Ditali Rigati

Maltagliati

Anelli rigati / Anelletti

Funghetti

Stelline

Pasta Ripiena / Stuffed Pasta

Tortellini / cappelletti

Cannelloni

Ravioli

Lasagne

Herb Pasta

Spinach Pasta

Whole-Wheat Pasta

Tomato Pasta

Spices, fresh or dried

Taste Enhancers

1. Spaghetti alla Carrettiera “

2. Spaghetti Aglio e Olio con Peperoncino “

Fusilli lunghi
(Fusilli col buco / Fusilli bucati Lunghi)

1. Spaghe tti alla Carrettiera “