Cooks' Books by Lisa Messinger

"Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta: 100 Quick and Easy Recipes" by Giuliano Hazan (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $27.50)

There's no trick, of course, to preparing a pot of pasta in 30 minutes. In fact, in less time than that, you can have perfect pasta ready for butter, sauce, freshly ground pepper and a bit of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

What's the fuss then over "Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta"? It's about everything other than the pasta.

It's about the diced cantaloupe you've sauteed, seasoned and combined with tomato paste and fresh lemon juice before commingling with spaghetti. It's about cooking asparagus and shelling lobster tail, marrying it with tomatoes and linguine. It's about draping fettuccine in a saffron cream sauce.

Hazan, a recipient of the International Association of Culinary Professional's award for Cooking Teacher of the Year and son of famed cookbook author Marcella Hazan, is feted for dressing up pasta fast in all the terrific trappings of traditional Italian cooking. The quick melon dish, for instance, is about as gourmet as it gets:

"I remember eating with my parents many years ago at a restaurant in Venice that specialized in unusual dishes, one of which was seafood or risotto, the staples of Venetia cuisine," writes Hazan, who also penned the best-selling "The Classic Pasta Cookbook," as well as "Every Night Italian" and "How to Cook Italian." "The restaurant is no longer there, and I don't remember its name, but I do remember this delicious dish of pasta with cantaloupe.

"Its flavor is rich and almost tangy — not as sweet as one might imagine. My mother started making it at home, and now I often make it when we have friends over. Once it is cooked, the melon is mostly unrecognizable, and it's great fun seeing if people can guess what the sauce's secret ingredient is."

As for his sophisticated, textured Neapolitan soup, he writes:

"The broth is neither a homemade meat broth nor made from bouillon cubes; it is created from the combination of flavors in the soup (onions, olive oil, pancetta, ground beef chuck, black pepper, nutmeg and tomato paste)."

The book itself is the best secret ingredient of all. From stocking the pantry, to the expert manner of marrying convenience products such as tomato paste, canned olives or anchovies and even the store-bought pastas themselves rather than complex homemade ones with the staples of simple, yet breathtaking, Italian cooking, Hazan — as usual — makes a distinctive contribution to the genre. Color photographs guide the way like mementos from a treasured trip.

 

SPAGHETTI WITH MELON

1 (3-pound) cantaloupe

3 tablespoons butter

Salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 pound spaghetti (or linguine)

2 teaspoons tomato paste

1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Yields 4 servings.

Fill a pot for the pasta with about 6 quarts of water, place over high heat and bring to a boil.

Cut away rind of the melon down to the orange flesh.

Cut the melon in half, discard the seeds and cut melon into 1/2-inch dice. Put butter in a 12-inch skillet and place over medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted completely, add melon and season generously with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until melon begins to break down and most of the liquid it releases has evaporated, about 10 minutes.

Add about 2 tablespoons salt to the boiling past water, add spaghetti and stir until all the strands are submerged. Cook until al dente.

Add tomato paste and lemon juice to the melon and stir well. Add the cream and cook until the sauce thickens and reduces by about a third, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

When the pasta is done, drain well, toss with the sauce and the Parmigiano-Reggiano, and serve at once.

 

NEAPOLITAN MACCHERONI SOUP

1 medium yellow onion

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 ounces pancetta, sliced 1/8 inch thick

8 ounces ground beef chuck

Salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 tablespoons tomato paste

6 ounces short tubular pasta for soup

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Yields 4 servings.

Peel the onion and finely chop it. Put the olive oil in a 3- to 4-quart soup pot, add the chopped onion and place over medium-high heat. Saute until onion turns a rich golden color, about 5 minutes.

While onion is sauteing, finely dice pancetta. When the onions are ready, add the pancetta and ground beef. Season with salt and pepper and cook until meat just begins to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add nutmeg and stir in the tomato paste. Add 4 cups water, cover, and raise heat to high. When soup comes to a boil, lower heat to medium and cook for 20 minutes.

Add pasta and cook until it is al dente. Mix in grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and serve hot.

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Creators News Service "After-Work Gourmet" column. To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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