Chapter 4 · Pasta Secca e Sughi

Ten sauces, all built on dried pasta rather than the fresh, egg-based kind two chapters from now, and every one of them proof that a short ingredient list is not the same thing as an easy dish. Half of what follows has an official opinion about what belongs in it and what doesn't -- Rome especially has never been shy about this -- and we've tried to say so honestly rather than smoothing every dish into the same agreeable shape.

• Spaghetti Aglio e Olio This is what gets made in this kitchen at midnight, after the last table has left and everyone is too tired to think about anything more complicated than a pot of water…
• Spaghetti alla Carbonara Someone in this family, every single time we travel outside Italy, orders carbonara at some restaurant abroad out of habit, and every single time, they regret it before… ◆ includes a story from the dining room
• Penne all'Arrabbiata Arrabbiata means angry, and the name refers entirely to the chili, not to anyone's mood while making it -- though my father, who finds this dish too mild by half, has…
• Spaghetti alla Puttanesca Every family in Naples has its own story about where this dish gets its name, and none of them are entirely comfortable to repeat at a family dinner, so I will simply… ◆ includes a story from the dining room
• Bucatini all'Amatriciana A famous chef once suggested, publicly, that a clove of garlic sautéed and then removed before serving was his own small secret for this dish, and the town of Amatrice… ◆ includes a story from the dining room
• Pasta alla Norma Named for an opera, not a person -- Bellini's Norma, which premiered not far from here, and which one of the dish's early admirers apparently found so perfect that he…
• Orecchiette alle Cime di Rapa This is a Puglian dish, not one from anywhere near here, and we make no pretense otherwise -- some recipes belong to a place clearly enough that trying to claim them as…
• Pasta al Pesto Genovese You already know, if you've read the tips at the back of this book, how we feel about a mortar and pestle here.
• Chilli Tomato Taglierini Not every dish on this menu has a hundred years of history behind it, and I see no reason to pretend otherwise about this one.
• Penne alla Vodka Nobody actually knows where this dish came from, and everybody who tells you otherwise, with total confidence, is guessing.