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GENUINE HOMEMADE MAC & CHEESE

LINGUINE WITH CLAM SAUCE

SPAGHETTI ALLA CARBONARA

RIGATONI AL FORNO WITH ROASTED ASPARAGUS AND ONIONS

LINGUINE WITH SPINACH AND PEAS

PENNE WITH BROCCOLI AND PESTO

PASTA SHELLS WITH CHICKPEAS AND ARUGULA

FARFALLE WITH ROASTED GARLIC, NUTS, AND RAISINS

PASTA WITH TUNA, WHITE BEANS, AND ARTICHOKE HEARTS

CHINESE-STYLE PEANUT NOODLES

Pasta: Limitless Possibilities

In terms of dinnertime readiness, pasta is your culinary insurance policy. Keep a few kinds in the cupboard, and you’re always pretty much covered. In this chapter, you’ll find a number of good, dependable pasta dishes to look forward to eating at the end of a full day. Most of them can be ready in the time it takes the water to boil and the pasta to cook. But there’s an even simpler recipe you can always follow: Just about any pasta, plus just about any ingredients, plus olive oil, garlic, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and Parmesan cheese, and you’ve got yourself a meal.

Often, a pasta meal can be accomplished simply by combining a few flavorful things (like some leftover chicken or vegetables) in a bowl with a little olive oil, then tossing in some hot pasta and letting the pasta warm everything upon contact. You can save a bit of the pasta cooking water before you drain the pasta and stir a few tablespoons into the dish. In addition to helping to heat the ingredients and moisten things up, the pasta cooking water has a bit of salt and starch in it that will help bring the flavors together.

Or put some olive oil in a skillet that has been warmed over medium heat, add whatever ingredients you think might work—mushrooms, that same leftover chicken, that one last zucchini (sliced) and Roma tomato (diced)—along with a bit of minced garlic. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and toss it into the skillet, adding a bit more olive oil and some pasta water till it all looks saucy.

A “designer” sausage or two (like chicken-apple or basil–dried tomato) will go a long way toward turning a little pasta and a handful of leftovers into a tasty, substantial dinner. Brown the sausages in a little oil in a skillet, then slice them and toss them with the pasta.

Then there are the endless possibilities of pasta and red sauce. I’ve provided a basic recipe for making it from scratch—either vegetarian (marinara) or with ground meat (Bolognese). If you’d prefer to just use some out of a jar, that’s fine (and there are some really good ones available). Find brands of marinara or other tomato-based pasta sauces you like. The variety and quality is improving all the time, so explore and expand your horizons. Heat and toss with cooked pasta, or doctor with anything from vegetables to canned tuna or leftover cooked chicken, meat, or fish.

And finally, you can take Italian-style pasta in an Asian direction just by adding a few well-chosen ingredients, like soy sauce, oyster sauce, toasted sesame oil, fresh ginger, garlic, scallions, and cilantro. Or, even easier, buy a prepared Asian sauce (such as curry or sweet and sour), or use the super-versatile peanut sauce on Chapter 3: Pastas as a base to create your own homemade Asian-style noodle bowls.

Finally, when you haven’t shopped in a week and there appears to be nothing edible anywhere in your kitchen, toss any kind of pasta with a little butter or olive oil and some Parmesan. For more flavor, add parsley, garlic, Roasted Garlic Paste (Chapter 1: Soups), and/or red pepper flakes. It’s comforting, warm, cheap, fast, and tasty. Think of it as moving beyond ramen noodles.

And those are the basics of your pasta insurance policy. Keep a bunch of packages around. They’ll last for a year or more, and they’ll always be there when you need them.

PASTA SHAPES

Pasta shapes are endless, and in cultures where pasta rules (like Italy and much of Asia), there are all kinds of sacred creeds about which shape best holds and complements which sauce. That’s all good, but in your kitchen, here’s a rule you can use: Any pasta will really go with any sauce (just don’t repeat this to an