Opting to follow the crowds instead of the guidebooks, my husband and I ended up in a packed working-class lunch spot in Naples a few years ago. After a glance around, we decided to have what everyone else was having: rigatoni in tomato sauce topped with a dollop of snow-white ricotta. Eyeing the other diners, we did what they did, stirring in the fluffy ricotta before diving in. The cheese made the tomato sauce so mellow and creamy. If you’re preparing pasta with tomato sauce in the weeks ahead, please try this technique. If your sauce also has eggplant, zucchini or sweet peppers, so much the better.
Read moreGetting Angry
Penne all’arrabbiata (“angry” pasta) relies on a simple tomato sauce made fiery with dried red chilies. Garlic is permitted; cheese is frowned on. Being a cheese person, I ignore that and reach for the pecorino. When a sample of Laura Chenel’s Spicy Cabecou landed on my doorstep the other day, I thought of another way to make pasta angry. Garden tomatoes and basil, good olive oil, capers, nuggets of cabecou…such an easy no-cook sauce for hot pasta.
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