TIPS FOR ITALIAN SUCCESS.

Byline: Natalie Haughton Daily News Food Editor

``Every Italian pantry contains a few essential ingredients that, combined with fresh produce, can be turned into a meal,'' writes Faith Willinger in her recently released cookbook, ``Red, White & Greens: The Italian Way With Vegetables.'' Choose the best ingredients for optimum results, advised Willinger, who shared the following tips.

Willinger is a dry pasta fan. ``No one in Italy makes fresh pasta at home on a daily basis. Choose first-rate pasta, which is extruded from bronze dies and slowly dried,'' advised Willinger, adding that her favorite brand is Latini, made in the Marches region of central Italy. She includes mail-order sources in the book if you can't find it locally. First-rate pasta contains a better quality of wheat, has better flavor and doesn't get mushy, she noted.

``Pasta is so inexpensive that even if you buy the Rolls-Royce, it doesn't cost as much as steak,'' said Willinger. De Cecco, available in many supermarkets in Los Angeles, is acceptable if you can't find the other brands mentioned in the book, added Willinger, who wants to let consumers know that there are better products, even if they can't locate them at their corner supermarkets.

She thinks flavored pasta is a waste of money.

Willinger opts for sea salt in her recipes. Although it is saltier, she finds it better tasting than American table salt, which has a metallic flavor.

In recipes calling for tomato pulp, use fresh tomatoes in season, peeled if necessary, juiced, seeded and diced. Out of season, use canned tomato pulp or drained, chopped, canned plum tomatoes.

Willinger prefers Sicilian dried oregano. If you can't get it, use fresh oregano in her recipes. It isn't the same, but ``fresh is better than bad dried oregano,'' she said.

Although capers are not a vegetable, Willinger has sandwiched a chapter on the tiny buds of a flower into the book because she is hooked on them. Italians use salt-cured capers (which are available shriveled up in bags), rinsed off before using or soaked in water 15 minutes or longer to remove excess salt. The brine-packed capers most Americans are accustomed to have an entirely different flavor. Salt-cured capers can last for years and are worth buying by mail order if not available locally, she said.

In certain instances, such as the recipe for Tuscan Tuna and Beans White or Green, Willinger noted that canned white beans are acceptable time-savers for busy cooks.

``It's almost impossible to make great risotto without great rice,'' cautioned Willinger. ``Arborio rice from the supermarket will never yield the spectacular results of superior Carnaroli or Vialone Nano rice.''

As a rule of thumb, cook pasta only three-quarters of the required cooking time - and finish cooking the drained pasta in the pasta sauce in a pot or skillet. Always reserve some of the pasta cooking water to add to the pasta sauce. The starch in the cooking water will help keep the sauce from sliding off the pasta.