Michael,
One of the great sauces. But dry pasta (and I do make my own fresh pasta--have done for years) is not inferior. There are different recipes for fresh pasta. Italians revere dry pasta and are very picky about which from where for what. These dishes are for dry pasta.
Spaghetti, aglio, olio,--is basic--then add if wanted peperoncino and finally a smidgin merely of freshly chopped parsley. (You can dissolve a couple of anchovy fillets in the oil with the garlic and chili if wished. Many dishes are built upon it, especially seafood pasta sauces. NEVER cheese with this sauce.
Here's a recipe for
spaghetti alla puttanesca (as made by a prostitute) by the great, late Italian chef Luigi Carnacina who ruled Italian food publishing for several decades.
(4 people)
400 grams spaghetti
150 grams pf black olives (stoned and chopped)
50 grams butter (he was corrupted in France-I never use butter)
4 anchovy fillets
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon capers (rinsed under tap and wrung dry and chopped)
1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
200 grams of tomato pulp (NOT concentrate)
olive oil, salt
Lightly colour the sliced garlic and chopped anchovy in the olive oil over low heat. Add the stoned chopped olives, chopped capers, tomato pulp (choppped if fresh) and simmer for about 15 minutes.
Cook and drain the spaghetti and dress it with the sauce. Opla.
Jim, I'll send you the recipe. I use a wok because that way a modern neurotic (all of us) can minimise the oil to maxim effect. A fresh green salad afterwards and crusty bread and some good red and you're in business.
I actually put a book together once but life got in the way and I never tried to publish it. I think the market's changed since then but I've chomped my way though a goodish bit of Italy with Italians who knew their stuff. Too good to waste.
My favourite pasta book is by Vincenzo Buonassissi :
Piccolo Codice della pasta
Janet
Perhaps another thread. I could rave on for hours and so could Michael. And Roger
Sorry David--poets care about the details of life. That's why they're poets. Hell I WROTE a villanelle for the discussion so you are not Robinson Crusoe. We will take this to another thread.
[This message has been edited by Janet Kenny (edited November 20, 2006).]