Correction: Avant Garde

"Pasta Modern, New & Inspired Recipes From Italy" by Francine Segan   Stewart, Tabori and Tang   208 pages   $35

Segan says that many of the recipes in her book go back to earliest times, but if the nonnas of old could read it, I think they'd be astonished.  Growing up in the Midwest, I'm much more used to spaghetti and meat sauce than such as pasta with chocolate and coffee; chocolate-stuffed shells, almond pasta crunch...

How about winding a raw, tail-on shrimp in spaghetti and sauté-ing it?  Making pastry cups out of cooked spaghetti coiled in muffin tins and baked.  Or substituting big, cooked shells for rice and slamming them full of sushi?

Pasta and fruit?

PASTA WITH CARMELIZED ORANGES
3 oz. chopped pancetta
Olive oil
2 medium leeks, washed and thinly sliced
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 T sugar
Grated zest of one orange, pepper and grated pecorino cheese for garnishes
1 lb. orecchiette, cooked

Cook the pancetta in olive oil in a skillet big enough to later toss the pasta.  When it's crisp, add the leeks and continue cooking until they are tender.  Add 1/2 cup of orange juice and raise the heat - you're going to cook it to "sticky" and then you will keep adding orange juice and dribbling in sugar until the sauce sticks to the back of a spoon.  Toss in the pasta and coat every bit of it.  Garnish with the zest, pepper and cheese.

RIGATONI WITH RED APPLES, ROSEMARY AND RED ONIONS
2 oz. chopped pancetta or bacon
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 Red Delicious apples, cored, peeled and thinly sliced
olive oil
3/4 cup dry white wine
rosemary branch
pepper to taste
1 lb. rigatoni
Parmesan for garnish

Heat 2 T olive oil and cook the pancetta/bacon and onion, then add the apples, wine and rosemary, scraping up any bits in the bottom of the pan.  Cook on high until the wine evaporates - about a minute.  Pepper to taste, remove and toss the rosemary branch.  Toss the cooked pasta in the pan with the sauce.  You can add a tablespoon of pasta water, if needed.