Pasta & Other Noodles

My favorite section.

Pasta e Ceci Salad

Olives and parsley are great here, but in the spirit of this sort of fridge-clean-out, do-less-with-more, accidentally fabulous recipe, I kept them optional.

Clam Pasta with Chorizo and Walnuts

Even at the most suspect red-sauce Italian restaurant, I’ll always order the linguine alle vongole, because like pizza, even at its worst, linguine with clams is still pretty great.

A Very Easy Macaroni and Cheese

You can make this more interesting any number of ways, but I also think it’s fine to let this be what it is: a really, extremely, very simple and easy way to make a classic macaroni and cheese that tastes very close to the box, as fast as possible.

Osso Buco Ragu

More than a tomato sauce with meat, this is a ragu that’s truly about the meat–braised low and slow, with white wine, onion, garlic and tomato paste. This is something you don’t have to pay attention to, good for days when you feel like doing something, but don’t feel like doing that much.

Tomato Pasta with Eggplant and Sausage (on the side)

Decidedly a tomato pasta with eggplant and not an eggplant pasta

Pasta with Sausage, Browned Butter and Broccoli Rabe

This is a simple recipe, but an important one. Take the measurements and ingredients with a grain of salt, knowing that at the end of the process you should end up with a skillet of saucy, porky pasta laced with as many greens as it can handle.

Spicy Seafood Pasta with Fennel

At its core, this is a light breezy pasta made with caramelized fennel and juicy, fresh tomatoes—already wonderful—but yes, there is also seafood.

Roasted Eggplant Pasta with Parmesan Breadcrumbs

This is not necessarily a quick recipe, because almost nothing involving eggplant is “quick,” but that’s okay. Some things, like a bowl full of pasta that tastes like Eggplant Parmesan, are worth it..

Baked Shells

Less intensely indulgent than classic Baked Ziti and a lot less fussy than lasagna, in my old age this is sort of the only baked pasta I’m making these days. It’s got all the hits: pasta, cheese, sauce, but feels casual in a way that makes it possible to throw together for dinner tonight.

Lemon Pepper Pasta with Browned Butter

While “lemon” and “pepper” are the two primary flavors here, this pasta really does taste enough like cacio e pepe to hit many of the same pleasure receptors as excellent boxed macaroni and cheese.

Alison's Bolognese

If you’re looking for a different kind of winter cooking experience, may I interest you in the rewarding act of slowly cooking a bolognese for a few hours? This classic-ish sauce will offer warmth and comfort on the dark, cold days you need it most.

Fresh Tomato and Fennel Pasta

The goal for the sauce is to have bits of tomato floating in a juicy, almost jammy sauce for the pasta to finish cooking in. Fennel seed, when used here in conjunction with crushed red pepper flakes and garlic, has the ability to turn this sauce into something vaguely resembling sausage.