By Becki Sanders
FoodConnect San Francisco
becki.sanders@foodconnect.com

The Essential Pasta Cookbook

I have been on a roll with some delicious pastas recently, including a recent one with bowtie pasta, pesto, feta cheese and sun dried tomatoes. I threw this together for “Debate Night” at my house last week and it took a whole 5 minutes to dump all the ingredients in a bowl once the pasta was cooked.

Anyway, that was a dish inspired by my all-time favorite pasta cookbook, The Essential Pasta Cookbook by Whitecap Books. I have the one in the picture, which is from 1998 but there is a newer version… why, I don’t know, this one is amazing, plus you can get it for just a couple dollars at Amazon or Half.com.

This is an excellent reference book for pasta and beyond. You’ll find everything, including tips, making fresh pasta, sauces, soups, pasta salads, gnocchi, pasta desserts and how to make tapenade, a fantastic kalamata olive spread.

I bought it because I’m a sucker for those big, glossy, full color pages. Careful though, it will make your mouth water and tummy grumble before you even start cooking!