Here is a way to make pasta that uses a risotto type method. It's based on a recipe published in the NYT a while ago. It apparently is in a style common in some places in Italy. It uses fingerling potatoes and produces a luscious creamy sauce for the pasta that my kids love. The technique involves saute-ing onions, garlic, and fingerling potatoes in a mix of butter and olive oil until they just start to turn brown. Meanwhile heat 5 or 6 cups of chicken or vegetable stock in a saucepan. Add your pasta (any short, textured pasta will work but the original recipe called for strozzapreti) to the garlic, onions and potatoes. Now add enough salt and pepper to taste along with a couple of peeled seeded and chopped tomatoes, a bunch of basil and more garlic. Now add a cup or so of hot stock and stir until it is almost absorbed. Keep adding the stock about a cup at at time until the pasta is cooked to al dente stage and a creamy sauce has developed. This takes about 20 minutes. Stir continuously. Mix in a cup or so of fresh grated parmesiano-reggiano to serve. Howard
