The Complete Book of Pasta: An Italian Cookbook

Pasta! The Italian national dish is beloved everywhere in the United States, yet no comprehensive book has ever been published in English on the innumerable ways Italians sauce and service it - until now! A huge variety of spaghettis noodles, macaronis, shells, bows, lasagna, etc., is as available in our markets as it is in Italy. Most Americans are also familiar with a least three or four famous pasta sauces. But there are in fact hundreds of delicious ways to serve pasta 0- and over 500 of them are given in this book. Fully two-thirds of these recipes are for conveniently quick and easy dishes, for simplicity is a virtue of Italian cooking in general and of pasta cookery in particular. Most of the authentic ingredients of sauces for pasta - the vegetables, seafoods, herbs, cheeses, meats, fine olive oil - are as available as the pastas themselves. There are also imposingly elaborate pasta dishes, however, great regional classics to challenge the skill of experts. Pasta cookery is an astonishingly varied subject. Not only is there an uncounted number of sizes and shapes of pastas (over 100 of those found in this country are described in the illustrated glossary). But also, all of the style, tradition, regional flavors, ingredients, techniques of Italian cooking must at least be touched upon to write a complete book of pasta. One must in effect write a major Italian cookbook - which is what Jack Denton Scott has done.