Pasta & Noodles
1283 recipes found
Spaghetti and Drop Meatballs With Tomato Sauce
This fast version of spaghetti and meatballs with red gravy is ready in less than 30 minutes, but you’ll be chopping, stirring and monitoring heat — actively working — from start to finish. You’ll be busy, but not frantic, and rewarded not only with the twirling of pasta in half an hour, but with the satisfaction that you made every second count.
Mushroom Pasta Stir-Fry
While stir-fries have long gone hand-in-hand with rice, this recipe shows the versatility of the dish. Here, a quick stir-fry is transformed into a flavorful, unconventional pasta sauce. Five spice is a Chinese seasoning that is said to incorporate all five tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. In this recipe, its blend of star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns and fennel intensifies the robust flavor of the mushrooms. Don’t overcook the broccolini; it should be crisp, with a bright green vibrancy. You could easily substitute broccoli, green beans, snow peas or other crunchy greens. And don’t skip the butter (or use vegan butter, if you prefer), as it provides a beautiful richness which brings the sauce and ingredients together.
Stir-Fried Snow Peas With Soba
Snow peas are a great source of fiber, vitamin K, calcium and vitamin C.
Cheesy Baked Orzo With Marinara
A vegetarian weeknight pasta that’s as comforting as it is easy, this dish will win over adults and kids alike (red-pepper flakes optional!). While fresh mozzarella can become tough and chewy when baked, shredded low-moisture mozzarella melts beautifully. Serve this with a simple, lemony arugula salad or a Caesar salad for ultimate weeknight comfort.
Faloodeh (Persian Lime and Rose Water Granita With Rice Noodles)
Faloodeh is an ancient Persian dessert, a sort of granita threaded with rice noodles and spiked with rose water and lime. Though you may typically cook noodles until al dente, you’ll need to really cook them through here before adding them to the syrup so that they soak up enough liquid to become as crunchy as possible as they freeze. In Iran, most ice cream shops sell just two items: traditional saffron ice cream and faloodeh, which is typically topped with bottled lime juice that tastes mostly of citric acid. Faloodeh has been my favorite since childhood, but now I prefer it with the juice of freshly squeezed limes. It’s incredibly refreshing and the ideal end to a rich meal filled with complex flavors.
Quick Ragù With Ricotta and Lemon
Meat ragù traditionally requires a long simmer over low heat, but this 45-minute version owes its slow-cooked flavor to a hefty dose of red-pepper or chile paste, which yields a complex, hearty sauce. (This recipe calls for sambal oelek, which is easy to find, but Calabrian chile or Hungarian paprika paste would work well, too.) Spoon the ragù over cooked, broken lasagna noodles and top it with a dollop of creamy ricotta, a sprinkle of toasted fennel and a few curls of lemon zest. This recipe uses beef, but you could also prepare it with spicy Italian sausage, or ground pork or turkey — though you may want to amplify the flavor by tossing in a little fennel seed and red-pepper flakes with the onion and garlic in Step 1.
Pasta With Anchovies, Garlic, Chiles and Kale
If you don’t have an after-work, go-to pasta dish, this may fill the void. The backbone of flavor comes from pantry staples — a pungent mix of anchovies, garlic, red pepper flakes and capers, which gives pasta more than enough character for a satisfying dinner. But kale (or chard, spinach or other greens) adds a fresh, earthy flavor and enough vegetable content to turn it into a one-dish meal.
Salami Pasta Alla Gricia
Pasta alla gricia is among the most versatile Roman pastas, and arguably foundational: Add tomato for amatriciana, add egg for carbonara or remove the pork for cacio e pepe. As one origin story goes, shepherds in Amatrice brought guanciale, pecorino and pasta on their journeys, and made these dishes for sustenance. Guanciale (cured jowl) isn’t especially common in the United States, so, in the spirit of the shepherds using what was available to them, this recipe uses salami. Like guanciale, salami gives off deeply flavored fat to build the pasta sauce on. But salami provides even more crispy bits of meat to stud this rich, silky, deceptively simple pasta.
Spaghetti With Garlicky Bread Crumbs and Anchovies
This is a take on a classic dish from Southern Italy that tosses pasta with toasted, seasoned bread crumbs called pangrattatto. In this version, the bread crumbs are sautéed in olive oil with garlic and anchovies until golden and crisp, and the pasta is coated with egg yolks, hot sauce and Asian fish sauce for creaminess and depth. You can make the bread crumbs up to 3 hours ahead; longer than that and you risk letting them go soggy. Use good-quality bread crumbs here, either homemade or purchased from a bakery. The next best choice is panko, Japanese bread crumbs that you can find in large supermarkets. If you have any of the pangrattatto mixture left over, store it in the refrigerator and give it a brief sauté to revive it before using.
Fastest Pasta With Spinach Sauce
The very best pasta is often the simplest. Jack Bishop, the author of “The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook,” has refined his technique for pasta and vegetable sauce to breathtaking efficiency: He cooks the greens with the pasta and adds the seasonings at the last minute. While the pasta is cooking, Mr. Bishop prepares the seasonings. Allow at least a gallon of water to a pound of pasta, because you need a large pot to accommodate the greens and because, if there is too little water, the addition of the greens will slow the cooking too rapidly.
Broccoli-Walnut Pesto Pasta
Pesto becomes more full-bodied with the addition of broccoli that’s blanched in the same pot as the pasta and fresher with the combination of mint and lemon. For a sauce that's light and loose, use only the florets — not the stems. Raw walnuts have a welcome natural sweetness and nice crunch that complement the pesto, but you can leave them out or substitute sunflower seeds if you have a tree-nut allergy.
Pasta Alla Brontese (Creamy Fettuccine With Pancetta and Pistachios)
This easy weeknight pasta honors the town of Bronte, Sicily, renowned for its green pistachios harvested from the volcanic soil of Mount Etna. They’re famous for their flavor and bright green color. The simple pan sauce has only a few ingredients: ground pistachios, grated cheese, heavy cream, a splash of wine and pancetta. Perfect for a weeknight but interesting enough for a dinner party, this dish is as rich and comforting as fettuccine alfredo, with additional texture and depth of flavor from the crispy pancetta bits and nutty pistachio crumble.
Muzaffar Seviyan (Sweet Vermicelli With Cardamom)
Desserts made with seviyan — toasted vermicelli noodles — are popular all over South Asia. Sumayya Usmani, who writes the food blog My Tamarind Kitchen, remembers eating this particular dish, Muzaffar Seviyan, every year in Pakistan, where she grew up, to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the feasting holiday that signifies the end of Ramadan. Toasting the broken noodles in butter until they smell nutty is the key to the dish’s depth; the next layer of flavor comes from cooking them in spice-scented milk or syrup; finally, nuts and dried fruit provide crunch and chew.
Pasta With Cauliflower, Bacon and Sage
A comforting dinner for a cold night, this hearty pasta has all the makings of a crowd-pleaser like fried sage leaves, crispy bacon and nutty roasted cauliflower. This recipe demonstrates the magic of starchy pasta water: Swirled with lemon juice and Parmesan, it creates a luxurious sauce without the addition of cream or butter. Add more pasta water than you think you need, so the pasta stays moist as it absorbs the sauce.
Vegan Kale-Pesto Pasta
This silky sauce is a lovely mash-up of kale sauce, basil pesto and cashew cream. Thanks to a simple pot of water and good timing, it doesn’t require soaking nuts for 30-plus minutes: Just boil the cashews with basil stems and kale stems (which are perfectly edible). Part of the way through, add the kale leaves, then right at the end of cooking, add a handful of basil leaves to lock in their color. Blend everything with garlic and red-pepper flakes, and watch in awe as rugged kale and cashews transform into a bright-green sauce that’s as light as air. The 3 cups of sauce will keep for up to 3 days in the fridge.
Spicy Glass Noodles With Shiitake Mushrooms and Cabbage
Glass noodles readily soak up their surrounding seasonings — and this dish delivers a smack of umami with curry powder, soy sauce, sesame oil and fresh ginger. Also known as bean thread noodles or cellophane noodles, gluten-free glass noodles are often combined with vegetables and used as a filling for dumplings or spring rolls, or added to soups, braised dishes or stir-fries for heft. Here, the transparent threads are tossed with curry-spiced Napa cabbage and dried shiitake mushrooms, which have more complex, earthy notes than fresh. Bright cilantro and ginger round out the dish, which is equally good warm or at room temperature.
Cold Rice Noodles With Coconut Milk, Peanuts and Lime
In this breezy recipe, rice noodles are tossed in a creamy-yet-light mix of coconut milk, fish sauce and lime, then garnished with plenty of salty peanuts, chile, lime zest and cilantro. Don’t bother picking the cilantro leaves from the stems; just chop the whole plant until you hit a firm, white stem. The green stems add crunch, and they pack more concentrated flavor than the leaves. Feel free to add whatever fridge stragglers or greenmarket celebrities that look good to you, such as thinly sliced vegetables, poached shrimp, pan-fried tofu, grilled chicken or pork. Because this salad teeters from savory to sweet, even pineapple, green apple or mango would do.
Noodle Bowl With Mushrooms, Spinach and Salmon
I love spinach, barely cooked, in a noodle bowl. Use either bunch spinach from the farmers’ market or baby spinach for this one.
Spring Vegetable Japchae (Korean Glass Noodles)
Japchae is a savory Korean stir-fry with mixed vegetables, beef and sweet potato noodles. Also known as glass noodles, sweet potato noodles can be found in Asian markets; once cooked, the noodles turn translucent, light and chewy. (They are also wheat-free, so they are a great option for those avoiding gluten.) The noodles are cooked first, then sit in the sauce, absorbing all of the garlicky sesame and soy flavors like a sponge. This springtime japchae celebrates crisp asparagus and snap peas. Japchae can be made a few hours ahead and served at room temperature, making it the perfect dish for potlucks and picnics.
Pasta With Tuna and Olives
If you want to make a complete meal of this, you can add a green vegetable to the mix (see the variation below). I like to use fusilli because I like the way the tuna gets lodged in the twists of the corkscrews, but other types of pasta, such as penne or spaghetti, will be just fine.
Buckwheat Noodles With Ginger and Miso
Buckwheat noodles are often served cold in Japan and Korea, and are especially welcome during hot weather. To appreciate buckwheat’s delicious nutty flavor, look 100% buckwheat noodles in Asian groceries. The bright, gingery dressing needs a little spiciness, so use a good pinch of cayenne or other hot pepper. This version is meant to be a small first-course salad. Add slices of grilled chicken to make it more of a meal.
Pasta, Beans and Tomatoes
Many vegan dishes (like fruit salad and peanut butter and jelly) are already beloved, but the problem faced by many of us is in imagining less-traditional dishes that are interesting and not challenging. Here is a more creative option to try.
Ham and Cheese Pasta With a Handful of Peas
This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredients list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen. Pick up a box of large shells — the ones the size of a knuckle, so they hold a little pasta water in them. Pick up a ham steak from the butcher or the corner of the supermarket meat display, and dice it. Pick up a bag of frozen organic peas as well — they’re sweeter. You’ll need a block of good Swiss if you can find it, or some Jarlsberg if you can’t. (Hey, it melts like a dream.) Set a large pot of salted water to boil, and prepare your pasta. While it cooks, get to work on the next burner, browning the ham in a pat of good unsalted butter in a skillet. Offstage, grate about a cup of cheese into a large serving bowl. When the pasta has been cooked for just shy of the time called for on its packaging, throw in a handful of peas, cook another minute, then drain, reserving a little cooking water. Toss the whole mess into the cheese, along with the hot ham, another pat or two of butter and a splash of the pasta water. Watch as the cheese goes soft and ribbony in the heat, and the fat of the ham mingles with the butter and the pasta water, and the shells pick up some of it and grab peas in their valves. Shave some Parmesan over the top. Don’t you want to eat that right now? Sam Sifton features a no-recipe recipe every Wednesday in his What to Cook newsletter. Sign up to receive it. You can find more no-recipe recipes here.
Creamy Pasta With Smoked Salmon, Arugula and Lemon
One selling point of smoked salmon is that you don't need to do much to it to get it on the table. Fold it on top of toast and dab it with sour cream and you have the lazy man's cocktail party. But take the salmon one or two steps further and you break out of the cliché. Salmon's buttery fat and smoke serve as useful flavoring elements. In this easy 15-minute meal, it's chopped up and used as a counterweight in pasta tossed with full-fat Greek yogurt, arugula, fresh dill, lemon zest and juice. It is, at once, lively and comforting.