Pasta, pasta!

I left my favorite cookbooks in Ann Arbor, so I decided to arm myself with a new one this summer. After reading about Francesca D'orazio Buonerba in my mother's NTUC Lifestyle monthly magazine, I was convinced that she valued the art of Italian cooking. She had no qualms about saying that certain Italian restaurants in Singapore serve and/or cook Italian food in ways that aren't authentic and that do a disservice to the the cuisine. I noted that she's a member of the Academia Italiana della Cucina, an institution founded to safeguard the principles of Italian dining and cooking in italy and abroad, so I figure that the recipes produced in her book will help the foodie get the real deal, depending on the foodie's culinary skills, of course.

While the title of her book, Pasta In A Wok, suggests fusion food, the only Eastern thing about her recipes is the suggestion of tossing the pasta and sauce in a wok, whose depth and curved shape make the process much more convenient. Even her friends in Italy have asked her to visit with gifts of woks for them.

My parents recently returned from a trip to Switzerland, a tour which took them to two lakeside towns in nearby Italy, where my dad finally had a plate of pasta which he thoroughly enjoyed and completed to the last mushroom. My dad seldom likes pasta because it's too saucy, too tomato-ey, too rich. He told me that this plate of pasta he had was cooked well, so well the strands of tagliatelle were smooth, and had the added benefit of not being drowned in sauce. There was only olive and garlic oil.

Too often in Singapore, you'll find your pasta tasteless and covered with a heap of sauce that doesn't really salvage the meal. I was once served spaghetti that was the spitting image of yellow mee at a restaurant that doesn't deserve its popularity and has way too many outlets in Singapore. And of course, there was more sauce than was necessary. I really wanted to send the plate back and demand real spaghetti (was that too much to ask for?), but I was weak and just accepted the meal with a grimace. I've never been back to the restaurant or any of its outlets. Despite an Italian name, the food served there is nothing like Italian food. Far from it.

When I was a student in Florence, my favorite pasta dishes were al dente - no tomato-based or cream sauces for me. I had perfectly-made pasta and superb mushrooms from a little shop called World of Pizza, but strangely enough, it served only pasta. The same grouchy lady served me and my friend, Jess, all the time, but I forgave her her dour face because I just wanted her spaghetti porcinara. I still miss it.

If you don't have time to try cooking your own Italian dishes, try eating at one of my favorite restaurants that does serve authentic Italian cuisine: Pasta Brava at Craig Road (Tanjong Pagar). Vantan , another Italian food lover, and I have had several great meals there, and we both agree the food is perfectly palatable.

Posted by Monoceros at June 15, 2004 5:21 AM