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While the tomatoes roast, slice each chicken breast across the center horizontally to create two thin halves. Place each half between sheets of plastic wrap and use a meat mallet, rolling pin, or heavy skillet to pound it into an even cutlet about ¼ inch thick.

Dredge each cutlet first through the egg mixture, then through the panko mixture, turning to coat both sides. Arrange the cutlets on the second baking sheet and spritz the tops with cooking spray.

Once the tomatoes have roasted for 15 minutes, place the cutlets on the oven’s bottom rack and cook for 12 minutes, or until they register 165°F on an instant-read thermometer.

To serve, spoon roasted tomatoes and garlic over each cutlet, then drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

HOW LONG? 45 MINUTES

HOW MUCH? 4 SERVINGS

CHAPTER FIVE

PUNCHED-UP PASTA

Orecchiette Pasta with Wilted Greens

Bow Tie Pasta with Bacon Pesto

Shell Pasta with Winter Squash and Rosemary

Gnocchi with Cider Butter Sauce

Truffle Oil and Parmesan Penne

Shortcut Carbonara

Four-Cheese Baked Gnocchi

Stovetop Brocc Mac and Cheese

Meat Sauce Maximus

Four-Mushroom Penne with Goat Cheese

Stir-Fry Ravioli with Ground Turkey and Peppers

Linguine with Goat Cheese, Smoked Salmon, and Peas

BLT Linguine

Linguine with Cilantro and Pepita Pesto

Chorizo and Arugula Fettuccine

Good gnocchi are all in the butt.

And in case we missed her point, Patrizia gave a generous side-to-side wag of her own as she pinched off a piece of tender pasta dough and rolled it across a grooved board.

She held up the gently notched gnocchi, a delicately delicious pillow of potato pasta. “You roll with your butt.”

I was learning pasta making at Patrizia’s school outside Pisa, Italy. The brochures had not warned that butt wagging was on the lesson plan.

Patrizia scowled at my poorly formed gnocchi. And my butt.

“Not enough butt,” she scolded, grabbing my hips and forcing them back and forth as I struggled with the gnocchi.

My culinary shortcomings are many; I hadn’t considered my rear among them.

Whatever the size and skill of your backside, you should make pasta from scratch at least once. It’s ridiculously easy, it’s a great project for the kids, and the taste is so much better than anything you can buy.

While special equipment makes it easier, you don’t need it. Or even a recipe.

Here’s how it works. For ingredients all you need are all-purpose flour and eggs. Each cup of flour will make enough pasta for about two people. The number of eggs will equal the number of cups of flour, plus one. So for 2 cups of flour you need 3 eggs.

To make the pasta, in a food processor combine the flour and eggs. Pulse until the mixture forms a ball of dough, then let it run for 30 seconds to knead. Place the dough on the counter and cover it with a bowl. Let it rest for 30 minutes.

That’s it. You just made fresh pasta. Now all you need to do is shape it. A pasta roller/cutter (either the hand-crank style or a standing mixer attachment) makes fast and easy work of this.

Alternatively, you can roll it out like pie dough, then use a knife to cut it into long, thin strips for fettuccine. Then just boil it in salted water for a couple minutes.

I take an equally laid back approach to my pasta recipes. While I do suggest particular pastas for most dishes, when cooking for my family I take a pasta-is-pasta approach. Which is to say, I use whatever I’ve got on hand. Pasta dishes generally just aren’t the sorts of recipes where you need to get hung up on the details.

Orecchiette Pasta with Wilted Greens

I learned this recipe in Italy, and it has become one of my go-to dishes for company. It’s fast, easy, and adaptable, and people are always wowed by the pleasantly peppery flavors that are contrasted so nicely by the Parmesan cheese and lemon zest. If you want to make it more substantial, toss in chunks of sausage when adding the anchovies (which melt away, so set aside any anchovy anxieties).

Any hardy