I’ve never seen our legal analyst Arthur Aidala so excited. It’s 8:15am and Arthur is supposed to be headed to work but he refuses to leave our greenroom. His favorite Italian-American Alan Alda is here and Arthur has him cornered.

As I write, they’re bonding about their recent trips to Italy. Who knew Alan’s real name is Alfonso d’Abruzzo??? Does it getting any more Italian?? He told us his father changed the family name when he got to America by taking the first two letters of his first and last names and “Alda” was born. Capiche?

Here’s Alan’s favorite Italian dish — and it’s an interesting one. You don’t boil the pasta! It’s a recipe from Naples circa 1840. He says it was the city’s first use of tomatoes. Take a Corningware and put in a pound of raw rigatoni, over that pour in a 1/2 cup to 3/4’s of a cup of good quality olive oil and coat the rigatoni, dump in large can of crushed tomatoes (preferably from Naples), add salt and pepper, cover with foil and pop in oven, bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes and stir often, every five to seven minutes. Sprinkle some grated Parmigiana cheese over it “and you’re good to go.” Mangia!