This bright and creamy pasta is a weeknight go-to that can be embellished with seared scallops, shrimp or mushrooms to make it something special. Grated garlic, lemon zest and black pepper sizzle and bloom in melted butter to which starchy pasta water is added to create a thick sauce. A hit of lemon juice at the very end keeps it punchy. Linguine, which is not as thin as spaghetti or as thick as fettuccine, works well here, but if you have another pasta shape on-hand, feel free to swap it in.

From Sunglow Kitchen

This homemade hamburger helper is far better than the boxed mix. With fresh spices, and a hint of tomato, it's beefy, cheesy, savory, and has all the makings of a weeknight family favorite.

These noodles, adapted from the cookbook "The Wok" by J. Kenji López-Alt, and based on the noodle dish originally created and served by Helene An at San Francisco’s Thanh Long restaurant, are extraordinarily simple and delicious on their own, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fancy them up a bit. They go very well with seafood, and some raw, shell-on shrimp stir-fried along with the garlic right from the start would be an excellent addition. Recently, I’ve taken to adding a few spoonfuls of tarako or mentaiko — Japanese salted pollock roe. Sushi-style flying fish roe (tobiko) or salmon roe (ikura) would also be a great addition, as would chunks of crab or lobster meat, or even Western-style caviar (if you’re feeling flush).

With crispy bits of pork, a peppery bite, and a velvety cheese sauce enriched with eggs, carbonara is just as easy to make for dinner as it is at 2 a.m. after a long night out. It’s one of Rome’s signature dishes, and just like cacio e pepe and other pasta recipes in that class, its simplicity demands proper technique and quality ingredients. Cured meat adds a salty depth to the dish, and while guanciale is the most traditional choice, diced pancetta or bacon also work well. Egg yolks give the carbonara sauce its luscious texture and golden hue, so pick up farm-fresh eggs if you can. And when it comes to the cheese and pasta, this is the time to spend a little extra: Buy a wedge of Romano cheese or real Parmigiano Reggiano and a nice box of spaghetti, bucatini, or rigatoni.

At the family-owned trattoria La Tavernetta Vittozzi, Anna Vittozzi taught us that the secret is skipping the breading and taking a more hands-off approach. By roasting olive oil-brushed slices in the oven, we got a golden-brown, luxurious eggplant, perfect for layering with a simple tomato sauce and fresh basil, plus plenty of cheese.⁠

This comforting casserole is a staple at picnics and potlucks across the American South, and it’s no wonder why. Creamy, cheesy noodles are tossed with tender bits of chicken, tomatoes and chiles, then topped with even more cheese and baked until bubbly. There have been many iterations of this dish over the years: Some recipes call for Velveeta and condensed cream of mushroom soup, while Craig Claiborne’s childhood recipe calls for a quarter pound of ground beef and pork in addition to a whole chicken. In this version, a flavorful combination of Cheddar and Parmesan are used, and milk and chicken stock thickened with a roux stand in for the canned soup. Feel free to use whatever kind of cooked chicken you like — leftover roast chicken, rotisserie chicken or a couple chicken breasts you baked just for the occasion. Chicken spaghetti is the perfect casserole to prepare ahead of time and freeze, making it ideal for large gatherings or for stocking a loved one’s freezer (see Tip).

Miso paste gives this take on the classic Roman pecorino-and-pepper pasta an extra savory, satisfying bite.

While it’s hard to beat the convenience and versatility of store-bought noodles, making them at home, by hand, is a fulfilling cooking project that is deceptively simple. It’s a deeply satisfying task, on the same level as baking your own sourdough, and the results are perfectly chewy noodles, with ragged edges and imperfect lines: the ideal vehicles for your favorite sauce or chile oil. If possible, use scales to make sure the measurements of flour and water are accurate.

Scallops are like candy from the sea. Soft, sweet, and buttery, they are truly a treat. While easy to cook, they take a tiny bit of finesse to cook perfectly, but once you have learned how, you will add these to your repertoire. This dish is bright and luscious, a hyped-up version of the (sometimes) gloppy chicken piccata I grew up with. I like to use Meyer lemons to make homemade preserved lemons, but store-bought preserved lemons will work.

What’s better than everyone’s favorite oozy, creamy party dip? That very same dip transformed into your next quick weeknight meal. Frozen spinach and canned artichokes—two hard-working ingredients that you should always have around—join forces with penne to live their best cheesy life. And if that isn’t enough, it all comes together in one skillet—no separate pot needed to boil up the pasta—before getting a kiss under the broiler for a burnished finale. It may at times feel like there’s too much or too little liquid, but trust the process (it will also continue to thicken up off-heat). Hot sauce is a must here.

After the death in 2013 of Marcella Hazan, the cookbook author who changed the way Americans cook Italian food, The Times asked readers which of her recipes had become staples in their kitchens. Many people answered with one word: “Bolognese.” Ms. Hazan had a few recipes for the classic sauce, and they are all outstanding. This one appeared in her book “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking,” and one reader called it “the gold standard.” Try it and see for yourself. —The New York Times

This chicken Parmesan pasta bake is perfect for potluck meals, family gatherings, or in a smaller batch as comfort food for the family. It's my take on traditional chicken Parmesan. I came up with this for my wife's corporate potluck lunch. She wanted chicken Parmesan but it was too difficult to feed 20 people the conventional way. I figured a casserole would work just as well. It did!

While the instructions on a package of shelf-stable gnocchi might tell you to boil them, the secret—which I learned from my friend (and brilliant recipe developer) Ali Slagle—is that these types of gnocchi are at their best when roasted or pan-fried. Direct heat from the oven (or pan), along with a good bit of olive oil, helps them crisp on the outside while remaining chewy and tender within. Roasting them alongside some cherry tomatoes, which burst to create a jammy sauce, means you’ve got dinner in 25 minutes—just add a heap of greens and lots of sharp cheese and you’re good to go. —Sarah Jampel

It's actually a version of spaghetti Pomodoro (or fettucine pomodoro), which is a tomato sauce that has super finely diced, or crushed tomatoes in it. It's been around forever, in various forms, and it's an absolute classic. I tested a couple different versions of this sauce, but I can tell you his tip to make sure you blend the oil, basil, garlic and hot pepper flakes (instead of straining them out) is on point, and totally the way to go.

This pasta captures the essence of basil, without pesto’s garlic, nuts and salty cheese tussling for attention. It smells like a sun-warmed basil plant, one of summer's greatest moments. To make it, simply blanch basil leaves to lock in their color, then blitz them with butter. As the bright-green basil butter melts onto hot pasta, it carries the sweet pepperiness (and the smell, too!) of the herb into every nook and cranny.

It’s tough to highlight peak summer tomatoes in pasta. To make the most out of their bright flavor, summer tomatoes should be minimally cooked. This recipe gently warms the fruit, so they keep their acidity and succulence. Since the tomato hasn’t had the liquid cooked out, it doesn’t cling to the spaghetti the way a cooked pomodoro would, but this keeps the dish light and bright, and makes it perfect for a hot summer day. Be sure to serve with plenty of bread to sop up the cheesy sauce that is left behind at the bottom of the bowl. If juicy, ripe tomatoes aren’t around, swap out for cherry tomatoes and blend them instead of grating to get a similar effect.

This no-colander-necessary, one-pot pasta method isn’t a gimmick: Cooking the noodles in just enough seasoned stock means they’re done in the same amount of time it takes the liquid to reduce into a concentrated, extra flavorful sauce. Mascarpone makes it silky, though crème fraîche or even softened cream cheese would be solid substitutes. While the pasta cooks, make a quick gremolata of chopped parsley, salted almonds and basil, which adds brightness and texture to the finished dish. Though this pasta comes together quickly, it requires more attention than some: Be sure to stir frequently so the noodles cook evenly, and add a splash of water toward the end of cooking, as needed, so they stay saucy.

A Lowcountry favorite that likely descended from West African jollof rice, this classic tomato and rice dish is also sometimes called Carolina red rice – or simply red rice. It often contains sausage, but this version, inspired by how the chef Millie Peartree’s mother, Millie Bell, used to make it, relies on bacon for its depth. (Still, if you’d like to add sausage, just let it sear with the vegetables in Step 3.) To start, the “holy trinity” (bell pepper, onion and celery) is cooked in the bacon fat, infusing the cooking liquid. Then, the rice is baked to ensure it’s perfectly cooked. Serve this alongside baked chicken or ham, green beans or collard greens, for a full, satisfying meal.

Pan-fried gnocchi is like a faster version of baked pasta. Store-bought gnocchi can simply be browned in a pan for an exciting mix of crispy outsides and chewy middles, no boiling required. This dish is studded with juicy tomatoes and melty pockets of mozzarella. Cherry tomatoes are reliably more flavorful year-round than larger, more watery varieties like beefsteak and heirloom. (That said, taste yours, and if they’re more tart than sweet, add ½ teaspoon sugar in Step 2.) Toss the tomatoes with browned butter, red-pepper flakes and garlic, then hit them with a little heat, and they’ll burst into a bright sauce. Stir in the gnocchi, dot with mozzarella, then broil until the cheese is molten and the tomatoes are blistered in spots.

These garlicky, buttery noodles are perfect for when you need a stellar pantry meal lickety-split. A packet of fresh or even instant ramen speeds up the meal prep and is ideal when cooking for one (see Tip). Honey and sherry vinegar round out gochujang’s deep heat into a mellowness that’s at once sweet, savory and tangy. The brick-red butter sauce, emulsified with a splash of the pasta cooking water, coats spaghetti here, but you can use whatever noodles you like.

These are true weeknight meatballs: You pan-sear them in a skillet to develop a golden-brown crust, then pop them in the oven to finish cooking for the final few minutes. Once they’re in the oven, blitz together a quick romesco sauce made from toasted almonds and roasted red peppers for dinner in half an hour. The versatile, nutty sauce adds rich flavor to other lean proteins like fish or pan-roasted chicken breasts and also makes a great dip for raw veg. (For a gluten-free dish, simply leave out the panko.)

Pasta amatriciana is a traditional Italian dish that features a sauce of guanciale (salt-cured pork jowl), tomato, pecorino romano and chiles. Some variations include onion and white wine. The final product tastes much more complex than the ingredient list would suggest: This simple pantry meal delivers deep flavors, as the bright, tangy tomato base balances the rich pork, and a mix of dried peppers adds layers of subtle heat. Guanciale can be found in Italian specialty shops or online, but pancetta is a good alternative. Bucatini is a thicker pasta with a hollow center that captures the thick sauce, but spaghetti delivers equally tasty results.

In a 1974 cookbook, the Italian actor Ugo Tognazzi published a recipe for pasta all’infuriata, furious pasta, a chile-and-vodka-spiked tomato number. It’s one of the first written accounts of the Russian liquor in pasta and may be related to the penne alla vodka that has been a staple of many Italian American menus. For good reason: The alcohol is said to help fat disperse more evenly, keeping the sauce glossy and creamy, and to enhance the sharp heat and deep savory flavors of the dish. The ricotta serving suggestion draws inspiration from the creamy tomato soup with three dollops of cool, sweet ricotta on top from the now-closed Caffe Falai in Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood. The ricotta lends coolness both in temperature and in flavor, lending relief between bites of spicy booziness.

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Homemade Vodka Sauce!

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