An A-Z of pasta Recipes for shapes and sauces, from alfabeto to ziti, and everything in between

As comforting as a bowl of pasta e patate and bursting with flavor like a plate of tagliolini with chanterelles and cherry tomatoes, this is more than an ABC of pasta. Roddy introduces familiar shapes--linguine, penne, rigatoni--and those less known outside of Italy: bigoli, brichetti, scialatielli, vincisgrassi. An English-born, Rome-based food writer who has lived in Italy for over two decades, Roddy has learned the art of pasta making and sauce pairing through family and other skilled kitchen masters. Frequent citations of notable food writers, historians, and scientists show off her ample research. Consider busiate, a spiraled pasta (and Sicily's oldest shape) that dates back to 1000 CE, when both Arabs and Normans ruled the land. Roddy offers two recipes to showcase the shape: pesto trapanese (almonds and tomatoes) and a meaty pork, eggplant, and fennel ragù. The author spins sentences like an elegant twirl of spaghetti on the fork. Pasta enthusiasts will be enthralled by this beautifully crafted guide to often simple, sometimes obscure, and always authentic mouthwatering recipes. Readers will eagerly head to the kitchen to roll out a batch of fresh dough or rush to book a flight to il bel paese in search of these dishes. Possibly both.

Guardian columnist Roddy (Two Kitchens: 120 Family Recipes from Sicily and Rome) highlights 50 varieties of pasta in this winning collection. Each entry includes a short introduction to and history of the shape being considered, whether anelli, a "factory-made, durum wheat and water dried pastina that comes in various sizes"; penne, which owes its sauce-collecting quill design to a Genovese man who in 1865 patented a machine that cut on the diagonal; or lasagna, which is described in a 14th-century cookbook as dough made into "fingers." Recipes feature traditional pairings as well as Roddy's recommendations­­--ruote (wagon wheels) matches with ricotta and lemon zest, ziti is drowned in a silky onion and beef sauce­--and regional specialties are noted, such as the curly, two-dough gnocchi of Abruzzo and the orecchiette that's handcrafted by women sitting at tables along a street in Puglia's Old Bari. Roddy's knowledge of and passion for her subject are evident on every page, and readers will appreciate the look behind curtain as Roddy recalls her own education, such as honing her ravioli-making skills under Rome chef Carla Tomasi. This would happily complement any collection of Italian cookbooks. Agent: Rosemary Scoular, United Agents. (Mar.)