• KatieK1 on April 28, 2026

  This book is miscatagorized; it should be listed as Italian, not herbs and spices

• EnolaGRAY on April 02, 2024

  I use this book a lot and the recipes are great. I like the way the pastas are listed by their main ingredient. i.e. Broccoli, Eggplant, Courgette, chickpeas, walnuts etc

• maldenruths on May 25, 2011

  This is a great little cookbook. Oddly organized, but I use it a lot.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Spaghetti with creamed eggplant and walnuts

  • wester on March 15, 2015

    Good vegetarian weekday dish. I liked the crunch of the coarsely chopped walnuts, but the rest of the family asked if they could be chopped finer next time. I prefer much less pasta - we used half and still had pasta left over (and no sauce).

• Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

  • AnnBecker on September 24, 2010

    Very good. An old favorite of mine from SF days.

  • tui on January 03, 2013

    I went back to this with pleasure too. After a lot of holiday food it seemed just right. Capers are not a family favourite so were omitted, and I added some mild fresh red chillies.

  • Hellyloves2cook on March 07, 2013

    This is the recipe I use for Puttanesca- very easy and flavoursome!

• Bucatini with mushrooms

  • JLDuck on June 06, 2019

    Very tasty and very quick. An excellent meal for those times when time is poor. Pretty good any time really. Previously cooked June 2019

• Tagliatelle or spaghetti with tomato sauce

  • Wlow on November 10, 2018

    This became our go-to tomato sauce more than 10 years ago. Consistently good! We use a 28oz can of Muir Glen tomatoes, with or without basil, plum or regular shape. Whole tomatoes or not, since we use a food mill at the end anyway.

• Penne all'Arrabbiata

  • Hellyloves2cook on November 02, 2012

    Made this years and years ago.happened to be my first time at making this sauce. It's a great one too.

• Linguine with spinach

  • JLDuck on May 04, 2020

    The fresh leaves added at the end lift this from tasty to delicious. Easy recipe.

• Tagliatelle with mascarpone and spinach

  • FJT on March 10, 2020

    Subtle flavours and quite rich. Thought it could maybe have benefitted from some nutmeg and will try that next time. My only bugbear was the use of 3 pans for a simple pasta sauce dish!

• Baked pasta shells with a green sauce

  • VineTomato on August 20, 2020

    I think it would be impossible for this to be bad - butter, cheese, spinach, pasta. What is not to like? It wasn't great though! The spinach didn't really come together in a thick creamy sauce but rather a watery cheesy spinach. The spinach then clumped together, I would rather give the pasta and spinach a good mix before baking rather than layer the shells and spinach. The topping was divine, crispy parmesan and breadcrumbs! Won't be making this one again.

• Penne with cauliflower

  • Logan92995 on March 30, 2026

    Aggressively mediocre by itself. Surprisingly, the recipe itself doesn't call for ANY salt or pepper, though this is in dire need of those to be flavorful

• Spaghetti with rocket

  • mjes on September 20, 2021

    A nearly perfect midnight snack spaghetti - quick to make, delicious to eat.

• Tagliatelle with onion sauce

  • JLDuck on July 25, 2020

    Extremely tasty. Reduced the liquid to minimum

• Sweet peppers with pasta stuffing

  • Wlow on December 05, 2022

    Cooked many years ago!

• Linguine with sweet pepper

  • JLDuck on January 31, 2022

    Unbelievably simple and delicious. It takes a few hours for the peppers to cook to the right consistency. Next time I may take the lid off for the final cook as my peppers were a tad watery. I guess it all depends on the pepper!

• Pasta and courgette flowers from Abruzzi

  • Jardimc on July 18, 2024

    Surprisingly delicious! The saffron and courgette blossoms really taste great together. Will definitely make this again. It’s a lovely celebration of summer produce.

• Chick peas and pasta

  • JLDuck on February 09, 2017

    If using canned chickpeas try the vegetables first. It is quicker. Note that this recipes is mainly about chickpeas not so much pasta. The fried pasta works!

• Tagliatelle with tuna

  • JLDuck on August 23, 2019

    Do not stint on the olive oil. Delicious.

  • EyesYoung on September 08, 2024

    Outstanding tuna pasta! Easy pantry and garden ingredients.

• Rigatoni with Norcia sauce

  • Cheri on June 10, 2019

    This dish is quite indulgent and truly delicious. I have been making this one for 20+ years. I’d say that’s a keeper!

• Charcoal-makers' spaghetti

  • abengal on December 27, 2021

    Made to use up Christmas ham, but it only takes 200 g. If making with ham again, could increase it to 300 g or more but if using bacon leave as is. A little dry, doesn’t add in any of the pasta cooking water, but everyone liked the taste and also it had to wait on everyone coming to the table which I think overcooked it. Might try another version next time but then again, maybe not, as it only needs a tweak or better still, dished up straight away as written in the recipe.

• Bucatini Amatrice style

  • mcvl on January 08, 2021

    I'm unsatisfied with the way I made this recipe -- I think I cut back too much on the amount of bacon and then compounded the error by not cutting it fine enough. I'll try again some time soon.