Here’s a neat idea for a really quick and savory pasta whenever you happen to be cooking a roast veal, chicken, beef or pork: Save the drippings and use them as a sauce for taglierini pasta—a sugo d’arrosto. It’s that simple. If your roasting pan is flameproof, you can even … Read More
Spaghetti alla puttanesca (“Streetwalker” Spaghetti)
Spaghetti alla puttanesca is another weeknight stand-by in our house. So quick and—for lack of a better word—lusty. Ingredients Makes 4-6 servings 500g (1 lb) spaghetti 2-3 cloves of garlic (or more to taste), peeled and slightly crushed 1-2 dried hot red peppers (peperoncino) Olive oil 250g (8 oz) canned … Read More
Pasta e piselli (Pasta and Peas)
Here’s a when-you-really-don’t-feel-like-cooking dish. It’s a quick and easy combination of pasta and peas, but really satisfying. Pasta e piselli and pasta e lenticchie were my favorite everyday pastas Angelina would make when I was a kid. Here’s the way she made it: Ingredients 1 small onion, finely chopped A sprig or … Read More
Zitoni al forno con le polpettine (Baked Ziti with Tiny Meatballs)
If baked pappardelle with radicchio is a good example of a northern Italian baked pasta dish, baked ziti, as this dish is known in English, typifies the southern Italian approach, and more specifically the Neapolitan approach, so much so, in fact, that this dish is sometimes called pasta al forno … Read More
Pasticcio di pappardelle al radicchio rosso di Treviso (Baked Pappardelle with Treviso Radicchio)
Pappardelle, those extra-wide egg noodles typical of Tuscany, are perhaps my favorite pasta. There’s something about wide noodles—I love Chinese ho fun noodles, too—that are especially enticing. Perhaps the most well-known pappardelle dishes are ‘sulla lepre‘ (with braised hare) and al cinghiale (wild boar)—but pappardelle are quite versatile and, I … Read More
Il ragù della domenica (Sunday Sauce)
The subject of Sunday Sauce always brings me back to my childhood. My passion for food began early, and most of my culinary Ur-memories lead me back to Sunday dinners at nonna Angelina’s place. About noontime, after Sunday Mass, the family would congregate around the enormous table (or so it … Read More
Pasta al tonno (Pasta with Tuna Sauce)
Here’s a quick note on another staple weeknight dinner: pasta al tonno. Very fast and almost as easy as opening a can. Ingredients Serves 2-3 200g (7 oz) spaghetti, linguine, penne or other pasta of your choice For the soffritto: 1 or 2 garlic cloves, slightly crushed and peeled 1 … Read More
Quadrucci in brodo (Pasta Squares in Broth)
The simplest, and perhaps the best, way to use your skills for making fresh pasta and broth at home is to serve a warming bowl of pastina in brodo. It makes a wonderfully light but savory primo piatto, especially apt when you plan on a substantial (but not too assertive) … Read More
