WILLITALY'S PASTA AND CUISINE!!

Spaghetti with pesto sauce Ingredients (4 persons): 400 g spaghetti, 1 abundant handful basil leaves, 2 dessertspoons pine-nuts, 1 dessertspoon grated Pecorino cheese, 1 dessertspoon grated Parmesan cheese, extra-virgin olive oil, salt.

Wash and dry the basil leaves and put them in a mortar together with the garlic and the pine-nuts (reduce the basil leaves by pressing them against the sides of the mortar with the pestle, without actually pounding them). Continue grinding the ingredients, then add the grated cheeses and a pinch of salt. As soon as you have a smooth paste, add as much olive oil as required, stirring with the pestle like a spoon, until you have a thick, creamy sauce. Cook spaghetti in salted water and drain when "al dente": put the pesto, making sure you dilute it with a few spoonfuls of the pasta cooking water. If you prefer, this operation can also be successfully made in a blender. Pesto goes perfectly with all types of pasta, rice, gnocchi and minestrone (even cold one), and needs to be stored in the fridge in hermetically-sealed grass jars.

Bucatini "all'amatriciana" Ingredients (4 persons): 400 g bucatini, 200 g streaky bacon, 300 g ripe, firm tomatoes, 1/2 onion, stock, extra-virgin olive oil, grated Pecorino, salt, chilli powder.

Plunge the tomatoes into hot water, skin them, remove the seeds and chop. Chop the bacon and brown it in several spoonfuls of oil. As soon as the fat has melted, remove from the pan and lay aside. Saute' the sliced onion in the same oil. Add the tomatoes and salt and allow the sauce to thicken for about 10 minutes. Replace the cooked bacon and flavour with chilli powder. Use the sauce to flavour the bucatini, cooked in boiling salted water and drained when "al dente". Sprinkle generously with grated pecorino. Another version of this recipe is with little or no tomato.

Orecchiette with broccoli Ingredients (4 persons): 400 g orecchiette, 300 g broccoli, 2 cloves garlic, 2 salted anchovies, grated Pecorino, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, chilli powder.

Wash the broccoli carefully and cook in plentiful salted water. Drain when still firm but reserve the water for cooking the pasta. Heat some olive oil, add the chopped garlic. Clean the salt off the anchovies and blend them into the oil. Add the broccoli and continue to cook the sauce (add a little hot salted water if necessary). Shortly before removing from heat, check the seasoning,  flavour with chilli powder. Cook the orecchiette, drain when "al dente" ,  mix into the sauce and flavour with pecorino which has been grated or cut into little cubes.

A good red wine is highly recommended for all these 3 dishes I like preparing as well as eating :-)

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