Pasta

Try this variation of the familiar Greek egg-lemon soup in the springtime when the first tender shoots of asparagus hit the markets.

With tortellini in the freezer and dried mushrooms and a carton of broth in your pantry, you can throw together this savory, filling soup in only half an hour.

For a richer dressing, add half a cup of coconut milk and a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter to the dressing.

We were happy to discover that orzo and kasha can be cooked together. When we added the rich flavor and texture of portabellas and walnuts, we knew we had a winner.

This elegant herbed couscous is a lemon lover’s delight. We like it best made with all of the herbs. The flavor develops beautifully overnight in the refrigerator.

Whole wheat and spelt pastas have a pleasant, nutty flavor that stands up to the flavors in this sauce, but any kind of pasta is fine for this recipe.

Feta cheese, garlic, and artichoke hearts are some of our favorite ingredients; here, they’re combined in a very simple pasta dish that packs a lot of flavor. For this dish, we make an instant creamy sauce by stirring hot pasta-cooking water into feta.

Rich and delicious Walnut Pesto can be made in minutes in a food processor or blender—it will be ready before the pasta has cooked. Make extra; it keeps well for 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator and is good on boiled potatoes and steamed fish.

Here’s a simple supper to make in the chill of fall or winter, when the sweetness of the onions and the richness of the cheese is comforting.

Fresh summer herbs release an intense, splendid aroma when you stir them into hot oil. (See photo).

Shelled edamame (fresh soybeans) are available in the frozen food section of many natural foods stores and supermarkets. Whole wheat pasta is especially good in this dish. If you think you’ll be lucky enough to have leftovers for lunch tomorrow, instead of tossing the walnuts into the pasta, sprinkle them on top of each serving.

Pasta with tomatoes may be the most fundamental and satisfying simple supper—it’s fast, versatile, and always good, time after time. In the winter, spaghetti and tomato sauce with cheese hits the spot. In the summer, we never tire of pasta with good ripe tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil.

Mustard greens and broccoli raab (also called brocoletti di rape, rape, and rapini) are somewhat bitter, a good counterpoint to creamy, subtly flavored ricotta cheese.

So easy to make, yet simply delectable—if you keep an assortment of good deli olives on hand, supper is only minutes away. (See photo)

In Comfort Me with Apples, Ruth Reichl attributes the original recipe to Danny Kaye, but lemon and cream seems such a simple, natural combination that we suppose people were putting it on pasta long before Danny Kaye was born.

It may seem strange to have a dish using couscous (made of semolina flour) in an Italian cookbook, but couscous is actually a staple of Sicilian cooking. Over the centuries, southern Italian—and especially Sicilian—culture has been greatly influenced by North Africa and Greece, and this recipe is a perfect culinary example.

Like a pizza, it’s crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. Nearly any pasta shape with any sauce will do; as long as you liked the original serving, you’ll like the leftovers prepared this way.

This famous cream sauce is named after its creator, Alfredo Di Lelio, who made it for his wife when she lost her appetite after the birth of their son. Alfredo’s dish was made of egg-rich fettuccine, butter, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and it became a hit in his restaurant (Alfredo’s) in Rome. In 1927, two Hollywood movie stars also fell in love with it and brought the recipe back to the States. The dish had to be adapted because the butter and Parmesan that were available here weren’t as rich as they were in Italy. So chefs added heavy cream. I’ve added my own twist with the addition of lemon juice and zest. Fresh pasta is a must, because dried pasta can’t stand up to all the rich ingredients.

There’s only one thing I can say about this dish: It’s so good you won’t believe it.

The literal translation of torta di pasta is “cake made of pasta.” What I particularly love about this recipe is that it makes for great finger food: All the ingredients bind together and can be cut up into easy little servings, and it can be served at room temperature. You probably won’t want to tell your guests that you’re serving them leftovers, and they’ll never know the difference.