Pasta Veloce: Irresistibly Fast Recipes from Under the Tuscan Sun

A thoughtful book about fast pasta recipes, infused with the romance of the Italian way of cooking.

Frances Mayes’s evocative memoir, Under the Tuscan Sun, introduced many Americans to the charm and quirks of living and cooking in Italy. Speed is not always the essence of the Italian approach, but in this book Mayes, working with veteran cookbook author Susan Wyler, provides 100 recipes for pasta meals that are ready in 30 minutes or less.

While a book with the Italian word for fast in the title might get away with plunging straight into business with recipes, Pasta Veloce takes about thirty initial pages to ground you in the Italian respect for good ingredients, particularly olive oil, and to introduce the Italian philosophy of which pasta shapes go with which type of sauce.

And then it’s on to the recipes, which are arranged by the primary component of the sauces: vegetables and cheese; seafood; meat and poultry; and herby pestos. With half-an-hour to spare, you could soon be enjoying:

• Spaghettini with charred carrots and pea shoots
• Cavatappi with shrimp, spicy sausage, and white beans
• Farfalle with ham, mushrooms, and peas in a creamy Fontina sauce
• Rigatoni with fiery rosemary chicken, peppers and onions
• A pesto made with smoked almonds and mint

There are photographs of most dishes, as well as many atmospheric shots of people dining on terraces, shopping in local markets, and enjoying all that Italy has to offer. This is not an essential cookbook, but one that can useful for its very practical ideas.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.