Pasta Recipes
You know one of the great things about being a home cook? You can basically do whatever you want in your kitchen. Mix up cuisines. Pair unlikely foods. As long as it tastes good and you like it, no great...
Some recipes are just so good I can't wait to share them with you, and this is one of them. It's simple. Just peeled shrimp, cooked just through in a sauce of cream and lemon juice, and tossed with herbs...
A while ago I got together with Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks to try out one of the recipes from her cookbook, Super Natural Cooking. The recipe we selected is perfect for spring, a pesto made with blanched asparagus, baby...
Now here's a classic midweek meal, or a hot dish to bring to a potluck. Baked ziti is a lot like American lasagna, but easier to make; it has practically the same ingredients but you don't have to fuss with...
Have you ever had broccoli rabe (pronounced "rahb" or "rah-bee" depending on where you are from)? I have sort of a love hate relationship with it. It looks like broccoli, but it doesn't taste like it. Broccoli rabe can sometimes...
About once a week, for my entire upbringing, my mother would prepare a very simple side of pasta with a sweet, buttery tomato sauce. Usually she used elbow macaroni pasta, because usually a small bowl of tomato pasta would be...
I am not the most talented of gardeners. I over-water, under-water, over-fertilize, under-mulch. I plant little plants behind big plants, blocking out their sun. I then transplant my poorly placed plants to what I'm hoping will be a better location...
Dear chicken Florentine. I like you. I like your spinach and your cream sauce. But honestly? I don't love you. You're missing a little pizzaz. So, I would like to introduce you to my friend pesto pasta. You kinda need...
We tried this thyme mint cream sauce from another recipe and loved it so much I decided to make it with chicken and pasta. Great flavor combination, and the kicker is that by the time the pasta water has come...
I have, over the years, attempted to grow cilantro several times. Each time the plants bolted before I got much use out of them. This year I planted a bunch of seed in October, when the scorching Sacramento summer weather...
Under the headings of quick, easy, and a good way to stretch a half pound of pork, I present my friend Heidi's Citrus Pork with Egg Noodles. I'll admit that I was skeptical at first, but it's surprisingly good and...
Remember the 70s? Please welcome Hank Shaw as he shares one of his favorite restaurant pasta dishes from that era, pasta primavera. ~Elise Pasta primavera. It’s very name evokes the 1980s, nouveau cuisine, and bad food clichés. Done in its...
Shown cooked with brown rice pasta. We were recently sent a review copy of Dave's Dinners: A Fresh Approach to Home-Cooked Meals by Dave Lieberman of the Food Network. Honestly, I've never heard of Dave as I don't watch much...
Mmmm. Fettuccine Alfredo. So simple, but so so good. Most of us in America know this dish in its cream-based form, with a little nutmeg sprinkled on top. But did you know that the original fettuccine Alfredo sauce didn't use...
A favorite from the archives. A new post and recipe will be up soon, I promise! ~Elise All I had to do was read the ingredient list of this recipe and my father was half-way out the door to the...
Every year we plant basil and every year the plants do so well that we can't use it up fast enough. What to do? Basil pesto, of course! Here is a simple recipe. Note that pesto is always made to...
Rachael Ray has nothing on my mother. As far as this family is concerned, my mom invented healthful, delicious comfort food that one can cook in 30 minutes or less. This hamburger and macaroni dish has been served in our...
My parents have been making spaghetti this way for several years, ever since first learning about this method from watching a Martha Stewart program. Martha apparently got it from some famous chef in New York City. The beauty of this...
Recently returned from a year teaching English in Korea, my friend Kerissa Barron has been introducing me to some of her favorite dishes, including this one, a spicy cold noodle salad, with lots of toppings. It's known as bibim guksu...
Simply Recipes reader Alton Hoover sent me his favorite recipe for lasagna which he has been cooking up since college days. His original recipe created enough lasagna for a small army so I halved it. What is posted here will...
This isn't a quick and easy lasagna. This is a slow and divine lasagna. A memorable lasagna. And we have a reader of Simply Recipes to thank for it. Several months ago a commenter on this site, by the name...
What's there to say about this Italian-American classic other than, "red or white?" Linguini with clam sauce comes in either a red tomato-based version, or a white version with cream or white wine. Today we present to you a red...
When you have a week straight of over 100° temps, you start looking for cooler things to make. My mother whipped up this macaroni salad earlier this week and I think I ate half of the whole bowl. Think macaroni...
The word primavera refers to being served with fresh vegetables; it is from the Italian (alla) primavera, or (in the) spring (style). Pasta primavera is almost always a simple-to-prepare dish using the fresh vegetables of the season. In spring you...
Please welcome guest author Jaden Hair of the ever-so-Steamy Kitchen. Jaden and I have been visiting Seattle recently, take a look at the interesting scenery we encountered there. ~Elise Because I'm the resident foodie here in my neighborhood, I'm usually...
Recipe updated Nov. 18, 2011 One of the best things about fall is the abundance of pumpkins and hardy winter squash. Ever wonder why winter squash is called "winter" squash when it first makes its appearance in the fall? Perhaps...
Okay, so I'm weird. I'm one of those people to whom you can say "cauliflower" and "anchovies" and I'll start salivating. I'll take cauliflower any which way (though IMHO roasted is best) and anchovies? Well anchovies are one childhood prejudice...
When springtime rolls around I find almost any excuse to cook fresh asparagus we bring home from the market. This is an easy pasta dish with asparagus and chicken breasts. Goat cheese melts into the cream sauce to make it...
We are big fans of cauliflower, especially roasted cauliflower. Now if you start with nutty roasted cauliflower, and add some Parmesan, some chopped prosciutto, a few roasted tomatoes, some garlic, and stir in some tender greens like baby arugula or...
Guest contributor Hank Shaw of Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook shares one of his favorite pasta dishes. Sensuous and savory, this simple pasta and duck recipe is perfect for a romantic dinner. ~Elise This is one of my favorite things to...
Here's a little secret: olive oil-packed canned tuna, chili pepper flakes, and pasta is a master combination (and classic Italian). One of my favorite dishes on this site is the tuna, arugula, chili pepper, pasta recipe. So when I stumbled...
Canned tuna has never tasted this good. I came across this recipe on Sher's What did you eat? blog, where she got it from the San Francisco Chronicle. You make a sauce for the pasta with tuna, olive oil, garlic...
Have you ever tried smoked mozzarella cheese? It's sort of like a mozzarella version of gouda. I had never encountered it until my father used it in a recipe he got from a local butcher shop. This is the recipe...
My mother made a pasta dish the other night that took everyone by surprise. My skinny-as-a-spatula 10-year old nephew who won't eat anything, ate his serving with gusto and asked for more. My carb-avoiding sister couldn't resist it. My father...
With California asparagus selling for less than $4 per pound, they're hard to resist, especially with summer weather knocking on the door. I tore this recipe for pasta with asparagus and ricotta cheese out of the New York Times magazine...
The season for potluck barbecues is here and a quick and easy dish to prepare for a gathering is pesto pasta salad. Spiral pasta catches and hold the bits of basil pesto. You can dress up the pesto and pasta...
My parents took their first trip to Europe a couple years ago, spending a week in the Tuscany region of Italy. They both came back inspired by the Italian food they enjoyed and, as a result started to make many...
Hank Shaw is back, tempting us with pumpkin ricotta gnocchi. It's crazy good, and actually not as hard as you would think to make. Enjoy! ~Elise Pumpkin ravioli with brown butter and sage is a classic for a reason: The...
A traditional Bolognese sauce requires hours of simmering and careful attention. But sometimes we don't have hours and we just want a sauce that's maybe not as spectacular as it could be, but still quite good enough. This simplified Bolognese...
I don't know about you, but I could really use some comfort food right now. Updated, from the recipe archive. Originally posted a gazillion years ago. ~Elise A few months ago I prepared macaroni and cheese this way for some...
Do you like roasted red bell peppers? You should try them in a pasta sauce! Here's a wonderful roasted bell pepper pasta sauce from the king of sauces himself, Hank Shaw. ~Elise This is a pasta sauce I came up...
I distinctly remember the tall cans of dark pink salmon that used to be in our pantry when I was a kid. Although we could any time open a can of tuna or sardines and eat to our hearts content...
There must be a special place in heaven for men who cook. My father made this dish the other day to my mother's and my delight. It always amazes me that dad, who isn't a patient man to begin with...
The Swiss chard I planted last spring survived the winter to vigorously return this year. Last week we made a yogurt dip with the leaves of some swiss chard I picked. The ribs from that bunch went into this dish...
If the heat of the summer is getting to you, this is a lovely spicy pasta salad for a hot day. One recent morning, on a day when the mercury eventually hit 105°F, I made this vermicelli pasta early in...
My father loves to watch cooking shows and is often inspired to try out a new dish he sees prepared on a show. Today he drew inspiration from Weir Cooking in the City a program of public television KQED in...
Okay, pardon me in advance, but I think I've just had a Sandra Lee moment with this dish. Wait, the parsley is fresh from the garden, does that count? Let's look at the ingredients - shrimp (best to get frozen...
What I love about this recipe, other than the ingredients (smoked salmon, pine nuts, yum!) is that it can be pulled together so quickly and it's not particularly heavy, as so many cream sauce pastas can be. There's also room...
One of the challenges of the holidays is keeping everyone fed when the family comes to town. We're always looking for dishes that can feed lots of people well, without a lot of hassle, and that are relatively easy to...
Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord who prepared this fabulous salad for us the other day. Big, big hit. ~Elise "Very tangy and sweet! With just enough crunch from the peanuts." "It's so colorful and aromatic, you can just smell...
Spaghetti pasta alla carbonara. Luscious and wonderfully indulgent, it takes as long to make as it does to cook the spaghetti. The ingredients are simple, just spaghetti (or other long pasta), pancetta or bacon, eggs, Parm, a little olive oil...
Spaghetti and meatballs, what's there not to love? Spaghetti and meatballs has to be one of the most fun dishes ever invented, at least from a kid's perspective. Mounds of spaghetti, fork twirling strands in a spoon, tasty meatballs, even...
Have you ever made potato gnocchi? If you have, then you know that the process can be tricky at best. What you want are light, fluffy dumpling pillows. What we often get is dense, chewy dough balls. Gnocchi with ricotta...
We've been in a nostalgic mood lately, thinking of some of our favorite dishes from years past. One that my father remembered that my grandmother used to make was a egg noodle ground beef casserole, with tomatoes, lots of cheddar...
Almost every other Friday growing up my mother would serve the family this tuna macaroni salad. With six kids she loved this standard; it was easy to make, filling, relatively inexpensive, and best, we all gobbled it up.
Tetrazzini is an American pasta dish that includes a cream sauce, mushrooms, and either chicken, turkey, or seafood. It is thought to have been invented in San Francisco and named after the famous opera singer of the early 1900s, Luisa...
Vermicelli (*pronounced verm-i-CHELL-ee) is one of my mother's signature dishes. In fact, all one has to do is say the word - vermicelli - around here and eyes light up and hearts warm to the very idea. Also known as...
There's something magical about the combination of pasta, eggs, Parmesan, and cured pork. The flavor base is the salty, fatty pork (in this case prosciutto), noodle-y pasta makes it filling, and a creamy sauce is created with eggs, lemon zest...
