italian - The Pasadena Chef

The Pasta I Make When I Don’t Feel Like Cooking

September 1, 2026September 1, 2026Leave a comment

I get this question fairly often: when you spend much of the day working on recipes and talking about food, don’t you eventually get tired of thinking about what to cook?

The answer is yes.

There are evenings when the last thing I want to do is research a recipe, measure twelve ingredients, or spend an hour standing over the stove. That’s when I fall back on a handful of things I can make almost without thinking.

This is one of them.

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Rigatoni with Roasted Eggplant and Walnuts

August 26, 2026August 29, 2026Leave a comment

Roasting eggplant until completely tender transforms it into an unexpectedly rich pasta sauce. Tossed with garlic, good olive oil, basil, Parmesan and toasted walnuts, this is one of those simple Italian pastas where a handful of ingredients become much more than the sum of their parts.

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Spaghetti al Pomodoro: The 3-Michelin-Star Tomato Sauce That Breaks Every Rule

August 6, 2026September 2, 20264 Comments

When you think of Spaghetti al Pomodoro, you probably picture a slow-simmered sauce of crushed San Marzano tomatoes cooking for hours until rich and dark.

At Ristorante Quattro Passi, the three-Michelin-starred restaurant perched on the cliffs of Nerano along Italy’s Amalfi Coast, Chef Fabrizio Mellino proves that sometimes less really is more.

His signature Spaghetti al Pomodoro abandons canned tomatoes, heavy purées, and long cooking times altogether. Instead, sweet cherry tomatoes, whole cloves of garlic, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil, and just enough water are gently simmered together, creating a fragrant golden tomato broth rather than a thick sauce.

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Pasta alla Norcina: Authentic Creamy Sausage Pasta from Umbria

August 1, 2026August 1, 2026Leave a comment

This pasta from Norcia, in the Umbria region of Italy, is made with a crumbled fresh sausage which is traditionally made without fennel and seasoned with garlic and white wine.

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Rigatoni with Peas and Bacon/Sausage

July 26, 2026August 29, 2026Leave a comment

Sometimes the best Italian meals are the simplest. This rustic rigatoni pasta combines smoky bacon or flavorful Italian sausage with sweet peas, garlic, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and just enough cream to bring everything together into a silky sauce.

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Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

July 21, 2026August 1, 2026Leave a comment

This is the tomato sauce recipe that changed everything for me. So simple, but mind blowingly good. When I first made it, I couldn’t get my head around how it could be so good with just these few ingredients.

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Sicilian Marinara Sauce-Workhorse of Nonna’s Kitchen

July 11, 2026August 1, 2026Leave a comment

I got this marinara recipe from a friend’s grandmother. She had emigrated from Sicily in the early 1920’s and settled in the North End of Boston. She wrote the recipe down in a piece of scrap paper with a stubby little pencil. I had that piece of paper for years and then it disappeared. I admit I was pretty upset. I was planning on framing it.

She always had a batch of this sauce going on her stove, and always served it with rigatoni or mezze rigatoni.

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Pasta alla Gricia-Pasta with Italian Bacon

July 7, 2026August 29, 2026Leave a comment

This is not a totally traditional Pasta alla Gricia, as made the Lazio region, as it has some additional ingredients, but it’s very good.

That being said, sometimes we can get bogged down between what’s the “real” recipe and what tastes good. I’m a big believer in what tastes good.

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Italian Lemon Pasta with Pancetta (Pasta al Limone con Pancetta)

July 5, 2026August 1, 2026Leave a comment

This pasta starts with slowly rendered pancetta, then removed from the pan while crispy so it doesn’t get soggy.

Fresh lemon zest for aromatic oil and fresh lemon juice for acidity, emulsified directly into the starchy pasta water and a hint of the pork fat. Fresh arugula for a peppery bite or torn sweet basil to lift the dish.

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Stocking Your Italian Pantry: Essential Ingredients for Authentic Italian Cooking

July 2, 2026July 19, 2026Leave a comment

To make authentic Italian food whenever you like, it’s important to keep a few essential ingredients in your pantry. When inspiration strikes, you’ll already have everything you need on hand.

You may still need to purchase fresh meats or seafood, but with these pantry staples on hand, you’ll be able to pull together authentic Italian meals quickly and easily.

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