Pasta & Noodles
1283 recipes found
Crab and Shrimp Boil Pasta
Sweet corn, salty sausage, zesty shrimp, creamy potatoes and butter for dipping — a crab boil has everything you want in a meal. But unless you’re a pro at cracking crab legs, it can be a challenge. Instead, capture those same flavors with this seafood pasta, which uses lump crab meat and this speedy sheet-pan shrimp boil. Get the shrimp boil into the oven, then immediately start preparing this recipe. (If the shrimp boil is done early, just cover it with aluminum foil until ready to add.) In the end, it all comes together in a big, shareable dish.
Creamy Pasta With Bacon and Red Cabbage
Smoky bacon and cabbage are a classic Eastern European combination, but tossing them with pasta and a bit of cream takes them in a heartier direction. Use a short, curvy shape, such as cavatappi or fusilli, that can catch the silky sauce in its crooks. Red cabbage is called for here, but regular green or Savoy cabbage would also work well. Top any leftovers with a fried egg and, of course, extra grated cheese.
Quick Lamb Ragù
A simple sauce made mostly with pantry staples, this spicy, tomatoey take on a ragù, which is traditionally long-cooked, is unapologetically lamb-forward. If you prefer, you could use pork, beef or a mix of all three. Whatever you do, try not to skip the anchovies — they add a depth of flavor typically achieved by a long simmer, and anchovy-haters won't even know they are there.
Lasagna With Roasted Eggplant, Mushrooms and Carrots
This is like a combination of eggplant Parmesan and lasagna, with the added texture and flavor provided by savory mushrooms and sweet roasted carrots.
Fried Catfish and Spaghetti
Spaghetti in a hearty tomato sauce accompanies this tender, flaky fish, coated in crisp cornmeal in this Southern dish. It’s often paired with potato salad, and linked to the Deep South and the Midwest. But the recipe developer Millie Peartree grew up eating it in New York, where her mother, Millie Bell, who is from Savannah, Ga., would serve it as part of Friday night fish fries. This recipe calls for catfish, but whiting or flounder would also work well. Just make sure to look for a cornmeal that’s not extra fine for the crispiest fish.
Cannellini-Bean Pasta With Beurre Blanc
This recipe, like so many great straightforward, inexpensive go-tos, starts with little more than a can of beans — then transforms it into a luxurious meal. Jack Monroe, the British food writer, uses a classic beurre blanc to do that work, simmering a splash of wine, vinegar and butter together, then tipping it into a pot of boiling beans and pasta, letting the liquid reduce to a starchy, nearly creamy consistency. If you think of beurre blanc as fancy and fussy, this simple, unexpected use for it may change your mind. You can also build on the basic recipe, adding a bunch of chopped chard or mustard greens in with the sauce, or covering the top with torn herbs.
Lasagna With Collard Greens
Collard greens are so big and flat that they fill in for a layer of noodles in this easy, satisfying lasagna. When you make lasagna, be careful not to use up your ingredients on the first layers. You should have enough for three layers here.
Bún Kèn (Coconut Fish With Noodles)
This version of bún kèn, a deeply delicious street food specialty of Kiên Giang Province in southern Vietnam, comes from the chef Diep Tran, who traveled to the region while researching “The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook,” written with Cuong Pham and Tien Nguyen. The dish is built by infusing fish stock with aromatics and coconut cream, then ladling this fish curry over rice noodles and topping the bowls with fresh herbs, vegetables and a drizzle of sweet and salty coconut nuoc chăm. While you can often find yellowtail collar at Japanese and Korean markets in the United States, Ms. Tran suggests using a snapper head or grouper head, or any small whole fish that isn’t too oily, if you can’t get your hands on collar.
Pasta With Roasted Broccoli, Almonds and Anchovies
This no-fuss weeknight pasta makes marvelous use of basic ingredients found in almost every kitchen — and calls for some smart multitasking: Get the broccoli roasting while the pasta cooks, then create an easy emulsified sauce using butter, anchovies, red-pepper flakes, lemon juice and a splash of pasta cooking water. A sprinkle of toasted almonds provides texture and crunch. This dish is endlessly adaptable: Go for cauliflower instead of the broccoli (or a combination of the two); use parmesan or any other hard cheese in place of pecorino; opt for walnuts or pistachios instead of the almonds — or bypass nuts altogether and use toasted panko or breadcrumbs. If you don’t have campanelle or fusilli, that’s fine too. Any pasta with plenty of nooks and crannies to capture the buttery sauce will do.
Pasta With Gorgonzola and Arugula
The main characters here are Gorgonzola and arugula, the first of which appears in a number of different pasta sauces, all unsurpassed for their creaminess. But in many instances, to me at least, Gorgonzola-based sauces tend to be too slick and rich. This makes the addition of the fresh-tasting spicy arugula from the supermarket even more welcome. Not only does it provide a little bit of crunch, but its odd version of heat also gives a bit of an edge to what could otherwise be a soft, almost insipid sauce. Don't forget to finish up with a few hearty cranks of the pepper mill. A full teaspoon for the entire dish is not too much. (The original recipe called for 1/4 pound of Gorgonzola and 2 tablespoons of butter, but after many readers commented that the dish needed more sauce, we tested it and agreed. The figures you see below are for doubling the sauce, but if you prefer it the old way, just halve the Gorgonzola and butter.)
Pasta With Corn, Zucchini And Tomatoes
The two things I love most about this dish of summer vegetables and pasta are the crunch of the corn against the tenderness of the pasta and the fact that I cannot seem to settle on a combination of flavorings that I think is best. Chile powder, a little bit of cayenne, perhaps some cilantro are all excellent choices. But with pasta this seems too heretical even for a culinary atheist like me, so I usually go in a tamer direction: a suspicion of garlic with some fresh tarragon or basil. It is flexible not only in its flavorings but in its ingredients. You can use onions, garlic or shallots, singly or in combination; add string beans (or even fresh limas) to the mix; substitute eggplant for the zucchini. Think of it as a delicious mélange of whatever is on hand.
Pasta With Mushrooms, Fried Eggs and Herbs
This fall-inspired, earthy pasta uses a combination of mushrooms for depth of flavor and is topped with a runny egg, which silkens up the sauce. Supermarkets these days generally have a good selection of different varieties such as cremini and shiitake, but if your standard white-button mushroom is all that’s available, this dish will still be a winner. If you’re not feeling pasta, the mushrooms are equally good served on top of creamy polenta or on their own. Red wine not optional.
Tagliatelle With Mushrooms in Red Wine
This hearty, umami-rich pasta dish is easily assembled in less than an hour. For the best texture, use your hands and not the food processor. Chopping the mushrooms and crushing the tomatoes by hand ensures some uniformity. The sauce can be prepared in advance, since you will summon the powers of the cooking water from the tagliatelle. Use more, if needed, to moisten the mixture before serving.
Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodles)
The taste of a good pad kee mao relies on fresh garlic, basil and chiles — and a lot of each. (“Kee mao” means, roughly, “drunk-style,” and dishes with that label are associated with late-night cravings and hangover prevention.) The finished dish should be fragrant, pungent and whatever means “hot” to you: Deploy your chiles accordingly. Hong Thaimee, a chef in New York who grew up in Bangkok, employs a heavy Dutch oven, instead of a wok. (She said she was surprised to find that it worked better than a wok for Thai stir-fries on her tiny apartment stovetop, as its wide, flat bottom has more contact with the flame and holds onto more heat.) Fresh lime leaves are a popular addition; they are easy to buy online, along with fragrant Thai basil and, sometimes, holy basil. But in a pinch, Ms. Thaimee said, Italian basil and a garnish of lime zest are fine.
Fresh Egg Pasta
This adaptable pasta recipe will work with whatever flour you’ve got in the pantry. Using the “00” gives the silkiest, softest pasta while bread flour will give you more of a satisfying chew, and all-purpose lands you squarely in the middle. Because flour absorbs liquid differently depending on its age and the humidity in the air, consider these amounts as a guide and not as the law. Use your judgment. If the dough seems too wet and sticky to work with, add a bit more flour; if it seems too dry to come together into a smooth, satiny ball, add a bit more oil. The pasta is wonderful cooked right away, but you could dry it for future use instead. Let it hang in strands over the backs of your kitchen chairs or on a washing line if you have one. Or you can curl handfuls of pasta into loose nests and let them dry out on the sheet trays, uncovered.
Pasta, Green Beans and Potatoes With Pesto
The most elegant pasta dish that Italian cooks have ever invented is astonishingly simple to make. Here, the magical green sauce is tossed with trenette (or any long pasta you can twirl around a fork), tender slices of potato and barely blanched green beans.
Seared Scallop Pasta With Burst Tomatoes and Herbs
Although usually designated as a “something special” ingredient, scallops make a perfect weeknight dinner because they cook in minutes. To get a good, crisp sear, be patient (it's hard for us, too) and let the pan get quite hot before adding the scallops. Once you do, leave them alone to ensure a deeply golden crust. Toss them with pasta and candy-colored cherry tomatoes that burst and get coaxed into a jammy sauce. Finish with a showering of fresh, tender herbs and a drizzle of olive oil.
Neapolitan Pasta With Swordfish
The lusty foods and intense wines of southern Italy provide inspiration to spare for cooks and connoisseurs. San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, succulent olives, tender pastas and fragrant olive oils, alone or combined, spell sheer enjoyment. The roots of red-sauce Italian, ever popular in the United States, are in the south — in Campania and Naples (its capital city) as well as in Puglia and Basilicata. This recipe is a riff on the traditional pasta alla puttanesca, with tomato, capers, olives and garlic, but without the anchovies. The recipe goes bigger on the fish front, with chunks of seared swordfish to bolster the mixture with meaty, briny notes.
Vermicelli Sweet Corn Usli
This is a take on vermicelli usli, also known as upma — an ideal South Indian breakfast, savory and satisfying, full of vegetables and delicate fried noodles, and seasoned with coconut and cashews. Though commonly made with carrots and peas, you can toss in whatever vegetables you have on hand. In summer, fresh corn adds plenty of crunch and sweetness, and the dish works for lunch and dinner, just as it is.
Evan Funke’s Handmade Tagliatelle Pasta
Evan Funke, a pasta maker and the author of the cookbook “American Sfoglino,” developed an exacting recipe for handmade tagliatelle that practically guarantees success for ambitious home cooks. It takes time to achieve the proper balance between elasticity and extensibility in the dough. If it is too elastic, it won’t stretch to the desired thinness, but if it is too stretchy, it is too hydrated and won’t maintain its shape. Keep at it: The more often you make it, the better it will be. If you find the dough springing back after you roll it out, it may need more time to rest, so let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before resuming, or refrigerate it for up to 24 hours. Because the dough is the result of just two ingredients — flour and eggs — use the freshest eggs you can find.
Buttery Lemon Pasta With Almonds and Arugula
Brown butter, crunchy almonds and tangy lemon make a rich but balanced sauce for this pantry-friendly pasta. The arugula lends freshness and rounds out the pasta, turning this into a quick one-pot meal. If you want to increase the vegetables, you can double the arugula. (Just add a little more lemon juice.) And if you don’t have baby (or wild) arugula on hand, spinach or baby kale are fine, though slightly milder, substitutes. Don’t stint on the red-pepper flakes; their spiciness helps bring together the flavors.
Pasta With Wilted Greens, Bacon and Fried Egg
The success of this delectably simple weeknight pasta relies on two things: the quality of the bacon, and the sheer amount of freshly ground pepper. The bacon must have ample fat to render out (this is where the sauciness comes from) as well as a hearty, smoky flavor. As for the black pepper, more is more; getting enough of that subtle, floral spiciness will require more than a few turns from the grinder. And yes, there's an egg on top.
Birria Ramen
The leftover birria broth, or consomé, from a pot of birria is delicious and versatile, and can be repurposed in the kitchen in a number of ways. Use it like stock, to cook beans, and infuse them with all the flavors of the birria, or stretch it into another meal by dropping in some matzo balls to poach. If you’ve only got a little left, you can make a quick, comforting noodle dish, garnished with fresh herbs and a little onion. This recipe works well with instant ramen noodles, pulled from a package, though fresh noodles are great, too.
Mushroom Wafu Pasta
Wafu directly translates to “Japanese style.” As it relates to pasta, you can expect uniquely Japanese flavors and twists like mentaiko pasta, which is made with spicy cod roe, or the Napolitan, which is made with mushrooms, green peppers and bacon, sausage, or even hot dogs, in a tangy ketchup-based sauce. Kinoko, or mushroom, wafu pasta is a spaghetti dish made with a variety of Japanese mushrooms (and occasionally bacon) in an umami-rich soy-butter sauce emulsified with pasta water. Using bronze-cut dried pasta, with its rough surface, is optional but results in a superior final dish. Bronze-cut pasta is normally labeled as such on the package, otherwise, look for pasta with a surface that is more coarse. (Traditional Italian brands and some organic pastas are often made in this manner). This recipe calls for a full pound of pasta, but it halves easily. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.