Part 4 (1/2)

So we're all agreed, we need carbs. But how many? Before I say another word, for the love of all that is holy, please check with your doctor to see what your daily calorie goal should be based on your age, gender, height, medical history, and all that. (And P.S.-If you blindly follow somebody's 500-calorie-a-day meal plan and go blind, lose your hair, or worse, I will be so brokenhearted. But remember, I told you so.) To maintain a healthy weight or lose weight, nutritionists agree that you should get only about 55 percent of your total daily calories from carbs. One gram of carbs equals 4 calories, so if you eat an average of 1,600 calories a day, that would be 220 grams of carbs a day. If you eat 1,200 calories a day, you could have 165 grams of carbs.

To put this in perspective, one full cup of pasta is 42 grams of carbs. Crazy, isn't it? I bet you thought a plate of spaghetti was like 1,000 grams of carbs, right? My friends and I did too until we crunched the numbers (we're smart chicks here in Jersey) and discovered we really could love our pasta and eat it, too! (Even if you eat more than a cup, relax. If you ate the entire box of spaghetti all by yourself, you're still only eating 1,680 calories and 420 grams of carbs. Not healthy, of course, but not knocking-on-death's-door crazy like some of those starvation diets out there.) So, we've established that a normal serving of pasta doesn't have too many carbs. Let's kick the c.r.a.p out of some of those other pasta myths so we can start digging in!

JUICY B BITS FROM FROM Joe JoeThis one time Teresa and I were making a lasagna from scratch for company, and to hurry things up, we decided to stick the eggs in the microwave. Don't ever do that.First of all, we forgot we had eggs in there. So when they started exploding really loudly, we couldn't figure out what was going on. It sounded like gunfire or something! We were ducking, our guests were hiding . . . it was crazy.When we realized it was the eggs in the microwave, ah marone, what a mess we had on our hands! There was egg everywhere! Maybe that's what put Teresa off from cooking pasta from scratch. Our lasagna nearly gave us a heart attack! Maybe that's what put Teresa off from cooking pasta from scratch. Our lasagna nearly gave us a heart attack!

Pasta Myth 1 White Pasta Is Bad White Pasta Is Bad White pasta is often lumped in with white bread, white flour, and white sugar as a ”bad” carb because they digest too quickly in your body. But what the h.e.l.l is ”white pasta”? Any pasta that isn't dirt brown or green? Um, that only leaves the yellow or tan pasta.

Maybe the people who warn against ”white pasta” are looking at egg noodles or noodles made with processed flour, but Italian pasta is made with a hard wheat called durum that's coa.r.s.ely ground down to a flour called semolina. (It's so hard, the Italians used to knead the dough with their bare feet . . . no lie!) So Italian pasta is slow-digesting, healthy, and can even be called a whole grain. Ha!

Just make sure your pasta says ”100 percent durum wheat semolina” or ”100 percent durum wheat.” In fact, it's against the law in Italy to make pasta with anything but durum wheat, so if your pasta is imported from Italy, you're good. Most Italian pastas made in America also use durum semolina, so you're probably fine no matter what you pick.

Pasta Myth 2 Pasta Is Fattening Pasta Is Fattening This one is funny because if you've ever looked at the nutritional information on a box of pasta, it usually says 1 gram of fat per serving. That sounds pretty good to me! It's not the pasta itself that's fattening, it's the crazy stuff people put on top of it (like ten pounds of processed cheese). But since we're cooking the Old World Italian way, we're using our pasta to help dress up fresh ingredients, healthy oils, and vegetables. I know my kids wouldn't just chomp on raw spinach, but toss it in a pasta dish, and they gobble it up.

Pasta Myth 3 Pasta Has No Nutritional Value Pasta Has No Nutritional Value Again, that amazing durum wheat used in Italian pasta making tells a different story. A cup of cooked Italian pasta imported from Italy has 8 grams of protein, 10 percent of your recommended daily amount of iron, and almost the same amount of dietary fiber as a slice of whole-wheat bread. While the Italian government doesn't allow durum flour to be ”enriched,” some American companies add even more vitamins and minerals, including calcium, pota.s.sium, and folic acid, to the protein-and-fiber goodness of semolina flour.

A Pasta Primer You now have divine permission to eat and enjoy pasta. Amen! The first thing you need to know is that in Italy, they don't call it ”pasta.” In Italian, pasta means ”paste,” and ordering a plate of paste just doesn't sound so good. In Italy, they say macaroni. It's sort of like opposite world: while in America ”macaroni” only refers to the short elbow-shaped (or sometimes SpongeBobshaped) noodles in a box with an envelope of cheese powder stuff or a fatty, homemade ca.s.serole oozing with cheese, in Italy, you can order macaroni and expect a sophisticated, lovely meal.

Is It Bad to Munch on Raw, Dried Spaghetti? Raw, Dried Spaghetti?It's one of those things you think only you do (or did as a kid) but ask around, everyone at one time or another munched on some raw spaghetti out of the box, usually out of complete boredom.My grandmother used to say my brother and I shouldn't do it or we'd ”get worms.” We didn't believe her, but I did wonder if it was bad for your body in any way.Several doctors I spoke with confirmed that unless there were weevils in your pasta, you had pretty much no chance of getting worms. They did say, however, that pasta is sharp and can cut up your insides, and that since pasta expands in water, it probably wasn't a good idea to go throwing it down your pie hole before cooking it.My dentist, though, had a very strong opinion: she said to cut it out right now. Like chewing ice, biting down on dried pasta can damage your teeth in a million ways. My dentist also won't allow me to give my kids those fruity snacks, and they've never had a single cavity, so I guess I'm going to listen to her, and try to find something new to chew on.

I also want to clear up the different types of pasta. There are really only two: fresh and dried. Pasta isn't like bread, where there are a million different recipes and tastes depending on what loaf you buy. Pretty much all pasta is made from the same ingredients: flour, water, salt, and sometimes eggs. After that, all the shaping and cutting and dyeing is mostly for show. Picking the right pasta shape can help your dish hold the sauce better, and we'll go over that in a second, but those are just suggestions. You are free to mix and match any pasta shape with any sauce or preparation that you want.

I didn't realize this was a big deal to some people until I taught my friend Tracey how to make my favorite tagliatelle with peas and ham (it's phenomenal-don't worry, I'm giving you the recipe at the end of this chapter). She'd never heard of tagliatelle-it's a flat pasta like linguine except it's wider-and was asking me why I had to use that kind of pasta. I told her I didn't, that you could use any pasta you wanted, and she kind of freaked out. ”But what does the recipe say?” she wanted to know. ”I don't want to make it wrong.” There is no wrong way when it comes to picking a pasta shape, I promise. If a recipe gives you a pasta suggestion, it's only a suggestion. Feel free to subst.i.tute your favorite noodles, a fun shape you've never tried before, or whatever's on sale that week.

Yes, there are people who think putting a certain sauce on the wrong noodle is like serving a hamburger on a hot dog bun. Get over it! One of the best parts about cooking Italian food is that it's so easy to personalize. I hope that after reading this book you'll be comfortable enough with the ingredients and how to prepare them that you create dozens of your own special recipes! (Although I do want you to name every single one after me or my girls.) Fresh vs. Dried Even though they taste almost the same, dried pasta is not just a shriveled version of fresh pasta, like a raisin and a grape. Each type of pasta is made with a different dough and different process. Fresh pasta uses a soft flour and eggs (which give it a little more fat and some cholesterol), and it has to be used immediately or refrigerated. It also costs a little more.

Dried pasta (except for egg noodles, and we do not count egg noodles) is made from a hard durum wheat semolina flour and water. No eggs, no cholesterol. Then it's cut and dried, but it miraculously comes back to soft, doughy life in a pot of hot water. Dried pasta also costs pennies per serving, and it can last years in your pantry.

Bronzed PastaOn some dried pasta packages, especially imported ones, you might see the words bronze drawn, or drawn through a bronze die. That's a way for companies to tell you they still do things the old-fas.h.i.+oned way.To make shapes, pasta dough is squeezed through a big press sort of like what you used in grade school to crank out Play-Doh spaghetti. The colored plastic bit that you slid to make different shapes is called a ”die,” and while it was first made of wood, it's traditionally made of bronze in Italy. Bronze dies give the pasta an almost b.u.mpy edge all around.

Many modern companies use plastic dies that make super-smooth pasta.Either one is fine, but many people prefer the rougher pasta because they say it holds the sauce better and gives your mouth a little more fun because of the texture (ribbed for our pleasure, I guess). In any case, if I can, I usually go for the ”party in my mouth” version.Any pasta that says rigate or ”ridged” is also telling you it will hold pasta sauce and tickle your tonsils better, but not necessarily because of a bronze die.

It's important to know, though, that dried pasta is not an inferior choice to fresh pasta, like cheese spread you squirt from a can versus fresh cheese. The Italians have been making dried pasta for hundreds of years, and it tastes divine.

Homemade vs. Store-Bought You know I love to make things from scratch. If I can get my hands into the food, I'm enjoying it before it even hits my mouth. I make my sauces from scratch. Joe makes our sausage from scratch. We even make our own wine. (We don't normally stomp the grapes with our feet and dress like characters from I Love Lucy, but this year, me and Jacqueline just had to give it a try. It was too fun.) Of course, I also know how to make pasta from scratch. Once you know how to do it, you can have fresh pasta ready for cooking in fifteen minutes. But I usually don't, and here's why. The unused pasta doesn't last as long as dried. It creates a whole bunch of extra dishes for me to wash. (And believe me, I've got enough dishes and clothes to wash for the next fifty years. My girls, they gotta change their outfits like three times a day. Drives me crazy!) But the most important reason I don't regularly make my own pasta is because the stuff you can buy in the store is so inexpensive and so good, it's not really worth the extra effort. The difference between homemade sauce and the stuff in a jar? Life-changing! The difference between rolling out your own pasta and the beautiful bags imported from Italy for two dollars? You can't tell.

When I do make my own, though, it's usually for dishes that use big shapes of pasta, like lasagna, manicotti, or ravioli. You roll them out, cut them, and shape them pretty easily. But the small pastas like fusili or farfalle, those I use dried.

Brand Name vs. Generic In most cases, I choose the products imported from Italy that I know are well made and not full of additives. But for pasta, you can actually go with a local brand, as long as it's a good one.

Mine and Joe's favorite Italian dried pasta brand is De Cecco. It's been made in Abruzzo by the De Cecco family for 120 years. People used to have to dry pasta in the sun until Don Filippo De Cecco invented a drying machine for those rare cloudy days. Their factory was bombed by the Germans in World War Two, but they were able to rebuild because after all the Allied soldiers fell in love with pasta, international demand for their product grew. I also like that they still use a bronze die, and I love their logo: a gorgeous, curvy Abruzzo country girl carrying wheat.

The other dried pasta we usually buy because it tastes fantastic is Via Roma. It sounds all Italian, but it's actually an American brand made by the A&P grocery store. Their packaging is adorable: a black-and-white picture of an elderly couple enjoying a meal. It may be a generic brand, but since A&P gave it a private label and put some thought and skill behind it, it tastes amazing.

I've had friends tell me that the cheapest dried pasta on the shelves doesn't cook up very good. My advice: spend twenty cents more and get a guaranteed winner.

Designer Pasta Like everything, there are ”designer” brands of pasta, called ”artisa.n.a.l pastas,” that make smaller batches of better quality and of course charge a bit more for it. But unlike shoes or cars, a box of premium pasta will cost you about seven dollars, rather than two. My favorite is Latini Cla.s.sica Red Box selection by Carlo and Carla Latini. The Latini family has been farming wheat in Osimo, Italy, since 1888, and they really have perfected it with what they say on their own Web site is ”genius and love.” They use bronze dies, and their pasta, even in a blind taste test, totally wins, even without any sauce at all. If I'm having fancy visitors I really want to impress, I send Joe down to the Italian market for some Latini. I'm not the only one either, since most of the best Italian restaurants in New York use Latini as well (and you thought they made it all by hand . . . I told you, it's a pain in the a.s.s!).

Teresa'sT I PIf you're measuring out dried pasta into the pot and don't know how much you need, consider the average girl eats about one cup of cooked pasta. You'll need half that much of the dried pasta, so pour in a half cup. Measure out half of that for kids, and double for big boys like my Joe.You can't pour spaghetti into a cup, so here's a trick my grandma taught me. Make the OK sign with your first finger and thumb. Now tighten it up so the opening is the size of a nickel. Stick some dried spaghetti in there: that's how much spaghetti you'll need for one adult. Make the hole small as a dime, and you've got a kids' portion. Big eater? Give 'em a quarter-sized bunch.

Specialty Pasta I said all pasta, fresh or dried, starts out pretty much the same way, as a soft dough. This is true. However, some companies get a little creative and add extra ingredients to their dough. You might see green pasta that has spinach in it. Tricolor pasta. Red pepper or purple beet pasta. In Venice black pasta stained with squid ink is popular!

Colored and flavored pastas are fine, if you like the taste of them; just check the ingredients and make sure the manufacturer didn't add any unwanted extras in there, too. Christmas tree pasta shapes are fun for the holidays, as long as they aren't green only because of an unnatural dye. Look out for added sugar and things like corn syrup, as well.

Whole-Wheat Pasta The biggest question I get about pasta these days is if I use whole-wheat pasta or not. The answer is: Joe and I tried it, and to be honest, it tasted more like the box it came in than the pasta we were used to.

That was a few years ago, and I hear that the whole-wheat pastas are getting tastier, but I'm still gonna pa.s.s on this one. When you make pasta with a whole-wheat flour instead of the hard durum flour, you're changing the consistency the Italians perfected for years and years. I don't need pasta that goes all mushy or won't hold on to the sauce for me.

Pasta is supposed to be an almost silent partner in the dish. It's the vehicle that carries all the rich, fresh ingredients into your mouth. I can't have a pasta with its own strong flavor competing with my perfect toppings.

I did a little research-and by that I mean, I looked at two boxes in the grocery store side-by-side-and I discovered something shocking: all that whole-grain, it's-so-much-healthier-for-you, you've-got-to-switch marketing is complete garbage. Whole-wheat or multigrain or filled-with-wood-chips pasta, whatever you want to call it, has hardly any more fiber than the regular stuff. Like 2 to 4 grams more. All that fuss and extra expense and dark brown, muddy pasta for 2 extra grams of fiber? No sir! I can make up that extra fiber by eating a quarter cup of raspberries or half an apple. I'll stick to my beloved national dish, thank you very much.

JUICY B BITS FROM FROM Joe JoeA lot of people want to know if you should use cold water or hot water from the tap to fill your pot for boiling pasta. Either way, it won't affect the pasta. Cold water will take longer to come to a boil, but that's the way we do it.I don't know if you've ever seen the inside of a used hot-water heater, but I have, and it's not nice in there. Hot water from the faucet doesn't go in my mouth or my family's mouths. Period.

Serving Sizes One reason Italians can enjoy their pasta every day is because they don't overindulge. America must have the biggest serving spoons in the world, because we just heap mounds of food on our plates.

A good-sized, healthy serving of pasta is one cup of cooked pasta. That's 2 ounces of dried pasta, or 4 ounces when it cooks up. If you want to eat more than that, just plan the rest of your day accordingly. Double up on the spaghetti and cut back on the cheese.

How Fabulous People Cook Pasta What's the right way to cook pasta? It's a simple question, yet somehow everyone has a different answer. Well, this is my book, and I'm going to give you my answer (which of course is the right one). This is how the most fabulous people in the world do it: .

How Fabulous People Cook Pasta Step 1 Use the Right Pot and the Right Amount of Water Use the Right Pot and the Right Amount of Water For 1 pound of pasta, use a deep, 6- to 8-quart pot. Fill it three quarters full of water. If you use too much water, it will boil over. If you use too little, the pasta won't cook well. use a deep, 6- to 8-quart pot. Fill it three quarters full of water. If you use too much water, it will boil over. If you use too little, the pasta won't cook well.

Step 2 Salt the Water Salt the Water If you add salt to the water, it won't keep the pasta from sticking, but it will help bring out the flavor of the pasta. (If you're on a salt-sensitive diet, though, for heaven's sake, skip this step!) it won't keep the pasta from sticking, but it will help bring out the flavor of the pasta. (If you're on a salt-sensitive diet, though, for heaven's sake, skip this step!) However, you have to add the salt at just the right time. If you add it too early, you'll slow down your boil. If you add it too late, the pasta can't absorb it.

As soon as the water has started to boil, add a tablespoon of salt. Let the salt dissolve, and then add the pasta.

Step 3 Stir the Pot Stir the Pot To keep pasta from sticking together, you want to give it a stir every once in a while. For spaghetti, don't lay it in a clump on one side of the pot. Hold it in the middle of the pot and then open your hand and let it fall to all sides, sort of like an upside-down teepee. you want to give it a stir every once in a while. For spaghetti, don't lay it in a clump on one side of the pot. Hold it in the middle of the pot and then open your hand and let it fall to all sides, sort of like an upside-down teepee.

Step 4 Boil Until Boil Until Al Dente Al Dente Al dente means ”to the tooth,” means ”to the tooth,” and it means the pasta is ready to be drained when it still has a tiny, tiny ”bite” to it. Not too firm, but not mushy, either. and it means the pasta is ready to be drained when it still has a tiny, tiny ”bite” to it. Not too firm, but not mushy, either.

There is no perfect amount of time because every pasta brand and shape and amount you are cooking will be different. Look at the time recommendations on the box, and start taste-testing from the pot two minutes before you think it's done.

Step 5 Drain but Do NOT Rinse Drain but Do NOT Rinse As soon as your pasta is finished cooking, drain it in a colander right away. If you leave it in the pot because you're afraid it will get cold, you will have a mushy noodle mess. drain it in a colander right away. If you leave it in the pot because you're afraid it will get cold, you will have a mushy noodle mess.

Shake the water off the pasta, but don't rinse it at all. I don't know where this rumor started, but if you wash all the starch off it, the sauce won't stick and you'll have a slimy dish.

Step 6 Don't Use Oil Don't Use Oil Italian pasta is perfect on its own. It doesn't need any oil poured over it until you're adding your dressings. If you pour oil over the pasta when it's in the colander, you're basically just pouring money down the sink. It doesn't need any oil poured over it until you're adding your dressings. If you pour oil over the pasta when it's in the colander, you're basically just pouring money down the sink.

Do You Come Here Often? Famous Pasta Pairings I know I said you can mix and match whatever pasta with whatever sauce you want. Still true. There are no rules. But for those of you that want to know the most cla.s.sic pairings, I will help a sister out.

Generally, you put smooth sauces like a marinara on long pasta, and you use shorter shapes with holes and ridges for chunky sauces (so the pasta can cling to the vegetable or meaty bit). Here are some traditional pairings: Thick, creamy sauces: usually go on a fettuccine Chunky sauces: anything that can hold on to it like cavatappi, orecchiette, or penne Seafood sauces: great with linguine Really light tomato or oil-based sauce: spaghetti Special food you don't want to overwhelm with pasta (like lobster): angel hair is the way to go Anything you want your kids to eat: use farfalle Great in cold pasta dishes: macaroni, farfalle, rotelle, or rotini The best pasta for soups: orzo, ditalini, conchigliePretty Pasta Talk: No More Bow Ties or Wagon Wheels Before I leave you with my favorite pasta recipes, I wanted to give you one more little Italian lesson. Pasta shapes are named after things in Italy, so learning the proper name is an easy way to start learning Italian. (And, to be honest, I can't stand in the pasta aisle one more second and hear people mangle the p.r.o.nunciation!) Here are my favorites. Learn how to say them correctly, and please, please tell all your friends.

CAVATAPPI (CAV-vah-top-pee) I know there are a million spiral pasta shapes, but cavatappi actually means ”corkscrew” in Italian. Somehow, there's a way to turn this into a curse word, I just know it . . . (CAV-vah-top-pee) I know there are a million spiral pasta shapes, but cavatappi actually means ”corkscrew” in Italian. Somehow, there's a way to turn this into a curse word, I just know it . . .

CONCHIGLIE (con-KEEL-yay) In Italian, this word means ”sh.e.l.ls,” and the pasta is shaped just like sh.e.l.ls. This one is a b.i.t.c.h to p.r.o.nounce, though, if you don't speak Italian, so you're welcome. (con-KEEL-yay) In Italian, this word means ”sh.e.l.ls,” and the pasta is shaped just like sh.e.l.ls. This one is a b.i.t.c.h to p.r.o.nounce, though, if you don't speak Italian, so you're welcome.