Pasta seems to be the go-to dish when we’re slammed and busy. Every parent I know right now is scurrying around shopping for notebooks and uniforms, waving a tattered equipment list as they zip along the back to school aisle of the local megamart.

First of all, take a moment, take a breath, and realize it’s all going to be okay. Soon.

Pasta for dinner is a great standby. It cooks in less than 10 minutes and all some people do is heat up a jar of sauce. Yes, that’s fast, but is it good?

Quick and good are not mutually exclusive.

If your question is “what to serve for dinner”, then your textbook needs to be Thirty Minute Pasta by Giuliano Hazan.

A couple of years ago I cooked for a fancy fundraising dinner in Vero Beach, Florida. It was held in an amazing, enormous, very posh house overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The house was over the top elaborate. The kitchen was astonishing, one of those designer kitchens with 8 burners and a wall of ovens, crisply accessorized in white marble and stainless steel. The part that I enjoyed the most was that I was paired to cook with Giuliano Hazan. It was fabulous, we had a great time, tasted incredible wine, and laughed the kitchen would never be used again. (The folks that live in those kinds of houses make reservations, not dinner.)

But it wasn’t so rosy just days prior. Several months before they called to let me know I was partnered with Giuliano; I was beyond thrilled. The organizers set up a time to discuss the menu; we were each allotted courses and it seemed set. I was so honored and excited. I mean, me? With Giuliano Hazan? Wow. Forget the famous part – I’ve worked with plenty of famous, and sometimes, well, anyway…. Let me put it this way, he knows what he is talking about.

Giuliano Hazan is one of the foremost authorities on Italian cooking. He’s received the coveted Cooking Teacher of the Year Award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals. The New York Times has called his food genius and said of his first book, The Classic Pasta Cookbook, “just about everything you want to know about pasta and how to prepare it from the Italian perspective.”

At the last minute they wanted to add a course for a specific wine.

They asked ME to cook pasta. Plain pasta with red sauce.

That’s pretty ridiculous. Seriously, really? I mean, really? My friend drolly inquired if he had been asked to fry chicken.

Not one to shirk from a challenge, I ordered my pasta and had it fedexed overnight from artisan pasta maker Elisa Gambino, (who no longer sells pasta, but has an incredible line of sauces.) My own sauce recipe is actually one I learned from reading Marcella Hazan, but that makes it a double whammy. Not only am I cooking pasta in the kitchen with a master chef of pasta, I am trying to replicate his mother’s recipe.

Reproduce, duplicate, replicate, imitate, I don’t care what you call it, but copying anybody’s mama, much less the lady who wrote The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, is a pretty tall order.

In a fancy house where people were paying buckets of money to attend.

Guess what? It was fabulous — once the oxygen masks fell from the ceiling and I was able to breathe. I can cook, you know? So, I cooked. I did ask him to taste my sauce to make sure it was okay. He teased me about that, but the sauce passed muster, which was all I cared about.

So, now in the continued exercise of spreading the love and the tenets of The Pork Chop Theory, I am sharing some recipes from my friend and colleague Giuliano Hazan.

His book, Thirty Minute Pasta is excellent. It’s a great addition to your culinary library. Simple, well-written, and delicious, and best of all they are 30 minute recipes, very family friendly, and perfect for this busy back to school time of year.

Many thanks to Lael and Giuliano.

Buon Appetito, Y’all!
VA

BUCATINI ALL’AMATRICIANA
Serves 4 people

This dish is named after the small town of Amatrice, about 100 miles northwest of Rome, though most people think of it as a classic Roman dish. In Rome it acquired onions and sometimes olive oil and it is usually always made with guanciale (cured pork jowl) rather than pancetta. In the following recipe I use onions, as in Rome, butter, because I like the creaminess it gives the dish, and pancetta because guanciale just too difficult to find in States, at least at the time I am writing this. Regardless, it is a heavenly combination of spiciness, rich creaminess, and savoriness. It’s a sauce I will never tire of and which makes my mouth water just thinking of it. The classic pairing is with bucatini, the thick, hollow spaghetti. Though not as authentic, it is also very good with penne or maccheroni.

1/2 medium yellow onion
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 ounces pancetta, sliced 1/8 inch thick
2 pounds fresh tomatoes
Salt
1 pound bucatini (penne or maccheroni are also good
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino Romano

1. Fill a pot for the pasta with about 6 quarts of water, place over high heat, and bring to a boil.
2. Peel and finely chop the onion. Put 2 tablespoons of the butter and the crushed red pepper in a 12-inch skillet, add the chopped onions, and place over medium high heat. Sauté until the onion turns to a rich golden color, about 5 minutes.
3. While the onion is sautéing, unravel the pancetta and cut it into 1/8-inch wide strips. When the onion is done, add the pancetta and cook until it begins the brown, 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Peel the tomatoes and coarsely chop them. Add them to the pan and season with salt. Cook until the liquid they release has evaporated, 10 to 12 minutes.
5. When the tomatoes are about halfway done, add about 2 tablespoons salt to the boiling pasta water, add the bucatini, and stir until all the strands are submerged. Cook until al dente.
6. While the pasta is cooking, grate the two cheeses.
7. When the pasta is done, drain well and put it in a serving bowl with the two grated cheeses and the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Stir vigorously until the sauce is creamy and thoroughly coats the pasta. Serve at once.

PENNE WITH PEPPERS, FRESH TOMATO AND BASIL
Serves 4 people

I often make a risotto with red and yellow peppers, tomatoes, and basil whose enticing colors and aroma make it one of my family’s favorites. The fresh and fragrant combination of flavors makes this dish a great light summer meal.

1/2 medium yellow onion
3 tablespoons butter
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
Salt
1 1/2 pounds fresh, ripe tomatoes
1 pound penne (also good with fusilli or a wide egg noodle such as pappardelle or tagliatelle)
8-10 fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1. Fill a pot for the pasta with about 6 quarts of water, place over high heat, and bring to a boil.
2. Peel and finely chop the onion. Put it with the butter in a 12” skillet and place over medium heat. Sauté until the onion turns to a rich golden color, about 5 minutes.
3. While the onion is sautéing, peel the peppers, core, and seed them. Cut away any white pith inside the peppers and cut into 1” squares. When the onion is ready, add the peppers and season lightly with salt. Raise the heat to medium high and sauté until they are mostly tender and begin to brown lightly, about 10 minutes.
4. While the peppers are cooking, peel the tomatoes and coarsely chop them. When the peppers are ready, add the tomatoes and season lightly with salt. Cook until the tomatoes have reduced and the liquid they release has evaporated, about 10 more minutes.
5. After the tomatoes have cooked for about 5 minutes, coarsely chop the basil and add it to the pan. Add about 2 tablespoons salt to the boiling pasta water, put in the penne, and stir well. Cook until al dente.
6. When the pasta is done, drain it well, toss it with the sauce and the freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, and serve at once.

From Giuliano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta by Giuliano Hazan, Stewart, Tabori & Chang
Photos by Joseph De Leo

Copyright © Virginia Willis Culinary Productions, LLC 2010

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