Farfalle with Ham, Mushrooms, and Peas in Creamy Fontina Sauce excerpted from Pasta Veloce: Irresistibly Fast Recipes from Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes and  Susan Wyler. Photographs copyright © 2023 Steven Rothfeld.

Frances Mayes is known for transporting readers to the charming Italian countryside in her bestselling books. In Pasta Veloce, Mayes and veteran food editor Susan Wyler take us there us by sharing 100 under 30-minute pasta recipes, inspired by their time in Italy. These well-loved recipes blend traditional Italian technique with magic from the Mayes and Wyler home kitchens where experiments are always in progress.

Pasta is the most versatile food on earth. And if you do it right: fast! Pasta Veloce offers a multitude of under 30-minute, luscious recipes, all accompanied by Mayes’s evocative text. While there are numerous pasta cookbooks, few feature a true Italophile’s passion and eye for detail that can get a dish to the table in, as Mayes describes, “the time it takes to boil water.” From a Tagliatelle with Duck Confit, Chestnuts, and Coffee Reduction to a glittering Capellini with Golden Caviar to the perfect vodka sauce, Pasta Veloce is your guide on those nights when you’re ready to skip the whole production of it but still want to eat like royalty in a rustic Italian village. (more…)