Quick & easy pasta : fabulous fast food Italian style

Pasta must be the world's first fast food. It takes only minutes to produce delicious meals, whether for family suppers, dinner parties or light lunchtime snacks.

From spaghetti to fusilli, and from egg noodles to pasta shells, there is a shape to match every sauce you can imagine.

It is so versatile, it goes superbly with a vast range of other ingredients and can be served hot in substantial soups and filling main courses or cold in appetising and unusual salads.

Most fresh pasta, which is widely available from supermarkets and delicatessens, cooks in less than three minutes and dried pasta rarely takes longer than about ten.

The easy to follow instructions in this book aim to ensure that it is perfectly and effortlessly "al dente" every time.

The recipes for the soups and sauces have all been compiled to match the ease and speed with which the pasta cooks.

The pace of modern life seems to get faster every day, but this does not have to mean sacrificing delicious and nutritious meals - or the pleasure of cooking them.