Winner of the International Association of Culinary Association (IACP) Award

The indispensable cookbook for genuine Italian sauces and the traditional pasta shapes that go with them.

Pasta is so universally popular in the United States that it can justifiably be called an American food. This book makes the case for keeping it Italian with recipes for sauces and soups as cooked in Italian homes today. There are authentic versions of such favorites as carbonara, bolognese, marinara, and Alfredo, as well as plenty of unusual but no less traditional sauces, based on roasts, ribs, rabbit, clams, eggplant, arugula, and mushrooms, to name but a few.

Anyone who cooks or eats pasta needs this book. The straightforward recipes are easy enough for the inexperienced, but even professional chefs will grasp the elegance of their simplicity.

Cooking pasta the Italian way means:

• Keep your eye on the pot, not the clock.
• Respect tradition, but don’t be a slave to it.
• Choose a compatible pasta shape for your sauce or soup, but remember they aren’t matched by computer. (And that angel hair goes with broth, not sauce.)
• Use the best ingredients you can find—and you can find plenty on the Internet.
• Resist the urge to embellish, add, or substitute. But minor variations usually enhance a dish.
• How much salt? Don’t ask, taste!