There’s a scene in The Godfather in which Clemenza teaches the young Michael how to cook spaghetti sauce. “You start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic. Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste, you fry it; ya make sure it doesn’t stick.” In go meatballs and sausage, “and a little bit o’ wine. An’ a little bit o’ sugar, and that’s my trick”.
Simple pasta, good ingredients and a bit of flair. It’s a philosophy espoused by the new wave of Italian restaurants appearing in the UK and elsewhere. All put pasta at the centre of the menu, with nothing else bar a few antipasti.
Low-carb it ain’t. But the popularity of these restaurants is as cheering as a bowl of mac and cheese to those of us bored by the obsession with ditching carbohydrates from our diets.
Pav Kalsi, the senior clinical adviser at Diabetes UK, says: “Carbohydrates get bad press ... it is important to include carbohydrates [in your diet], but choose the right type.”
And, according to a new 25-year study, eating a diet which is low in carbohydrates could knock years off your lifespan. The research followed 15,400 people since the 1980s and found those with low-carb diets died an average of four years earlier than those who had moderate intakes.
And pasta carbs may be one of the better ways to consume your carbs. Dr Denise Robertson of the University of Surrey, an expert in carbohydrates, has this to say: “Although pasta, potato and rice are all seen as refined carbohydrates, they are very different: pasta has a much lower glucose response [glycemic index], mainly because of the structure and the presence of gluten, that slows down its digestion.”
Why does this matter? The glycemic index is the all-important rate at which glucose is absorbed into the blood and sudden peaks in blood glucose, caused by eating high GI foods, are particularly a problem for people with diabetes. But they are relevant to all of us, as they also make hunger harder to manage.
Low GI foods avoid spikes in glucose levels and keep you feeling full for longer. Kalsi is firm that wholewheat carbs, including brown pasta, are the best choice. But for those of us who don’t like the gritty texture, Robertson has encouragement. “Wholewheat pasta is good because it has fibre and nutrients such as B vitamins. But in terms of blood glucose levels, the difference between wholewheat and white pasta is not as big as you’d think, because the fibre is not soluble fibre.”
How you cook pasta has an impact, too. Cook it as the Italians do, which is to say very al dente. The almost-raw interior of the pasta will be broken down far more slowly than mushy spaghetti, if at all. And don’t skimp on the sauce: the fats and proteins all work together to make a sustaining dish. So, never mind the carb haters. Eat.
Recipe | Fresh Pasta
Fresh pasta is nothing more than a stiff dough of eggs and durum wheat flour, but the proportions vary from chef to chef. This is Stevie Parle’s version.
It can be rolled flat for lasagne and cut in strips for tagliatelle or pappardelle – a rolling pin is fine if you don’t have a pasta machine. Or hand roll it into other shapes.
Makes 700g fresh pasta
Ingredients
400g fine Italian semolina
2 eggs
200ml water
Method 
Pour the semolina into a mountain on a work bench. Make a well in the centre, add the eggs and most of the water.Gradually work the flour into the liquid, and bring together in a ball, using a little more water if needed, but bearing in mind it should be very stiff.Knead well, until smooth, then wrap in plastic and rest for a few minutes before rolling or shaping, using more flour if necessary to stop it sticking.
Recipe | Datterini tomatoes with garlic and basil
This simple dish from Padella in London is delicious. They use datterini tomatoes, a Sicilian variety, but your sauce will still be good if you just use baby plum tomatoes. Serves four.
Ingredients 
30g garlic
90ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to finish
320g datterini or baby plum tomatoes
15 basil leaves, torn
400g freshly made or 250g dried fettuccine
Method
Slice the garlic cloves lengthways, ensuring they are sliced evenly.Heat gently in olive oil until garlic softens but does not take on any colour. Once soft, turn the heat up slightly and add the tomatoes. The heat will blister the skin and they will slowly bleed their juice and flavour into the sauce.After four to five minutes of cooking, add the basil, a pinch of salt and pepper, and a good glug of olive oil.Cook the fettuccine until it is barely done, then stir through the sauce.
Recipe | Cavatelli with sugo scoglio
This recipe, from Sugo Pasta Kitchen in Cheshire, owes its intensity to those prawn heads.
You can substitute cavatelli pasta with elbow macaroni. Serves one.
Ingredients
½ tsp garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger, finely diced
Pinch of dried chilli
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for finishing
3 king prawns (raw, head on, shell on)
100g cherry tomatoes, halved
Splash of white wine
Handful of fresh mussels, cleaned
60ml fish stock
Handful of sliced baby squid
50g dried pasta, cooked al dente
½ lemon
1 tbsp chopped parsley
Method 
Fry garlic, ginger and chilli in a pan with two tablespoons of oil for two minutes, allowing it to caramelise. Pull the heads off prawns and squeeze their juice into the pan.
Cook for further 30 seconds, then add the prawn tails (still in their shells) and sear on both sides.Squash tomatoes in pan and season with salt. Add wine, stirring to deglaze.
Add mussels and stock, and cover with a lid.Cook for three minutes until mussels have opened. Add squid, put lid back on and cook two more minutes.Squash tomatoes down again, with a wooden spoon, add pasta and finish with a squeeze of lemon, parsley and a glug of extra virgin oil.
Fresh pasta with green beans and pesto
This recipe is by Stevie Parle from his restaurant Pastaio in London. He makes his own fresh trofie, little hand-rolled noodles, for the dish but you can use dried, too: Fusilli or farfalle should be fine.
Serves four
Ingredients
3 Tbsp pine nuts
½ small garlic clove
3 huge bunches of basil, leaves picked and lightly washed
2 tbsp grated parmesan, plus extra to serve
100ml olive oil
2 tbsp ricotta
2 medium sized waxy potatoes, very thinly sliced
150g green beans, topped
500g fresh pasta ( 300g dried)
Method
Place pine nuts in a pestle and mortar, and crush until fine. Remove and put aside. Crush garlic with a little salt, then roughly chop basil and start adding handfuls, crushing it in until you have a green pulp. Stir in parmesan and pine nuts, and season with salt and pepper.
Drizzle in oil, stirring as you go. Fold in ricotta.Boil a large pan of well-salted water. Boil potatoes and green beans until soft, then boil pasta for around two minutes or until cooked, but still al dente.
Mix everything together with the pesto and a little pasta cooking water. It should be loose, silky and bright green. Use lots of pesto and maybe add a little cheese if you make it too watery, but keep tossing the pasta: consistency is everything here. – The Telegraph