Some days you just have to go all out. Maybe you have soft cheeses and crackers before dinner, open a bottle of good wine, make spaghetti and meatballs and then decide that garlic bread is also important. When you can't stop thinking about garlic bread, this is the recipe for you. More

I have a confession: Pasta Week is killing me. For medical reasons, I am not eating wheat for 30 days, and unfortunately this is only the third week of the new diet, so mac and cheese, fall vegetable orzo, and — my favorite — pappardelle topped with a rich, meaty tomato sauce are all off-limits. But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the same long-simmered sauces I would normally eat over noodles. More

Fettuccine alfredo is one of those dishes that is somehow more than the sum of its parts. Of course, when those parts are primarily butter, cream, cheese, and pasta, it's extremely hard to go wrong. More

I don't often stop and admire the pasta shapes on my dinner plate, but I am inspired to change my ways by The Geometry of Pasta, a book that examines the many shapes and sizes of pasta, and offers some recommendations on which sauces pair best with certain shapes. Did you know there is a reason why you might use ruffle-edged lasagne noodles instead of flat-edged? More

Let this one simmer and bubble all afternoon. That gives the beans plenty of time to become soft and creamy while the sweet caramelized onions melt into the rich bean broth. Your reward is a stew so thick you could stand a spoon in it and so hearty that the dreariest winter day will feel cozy. More

Other than headlining a BLT or lying beside a pile of scrambled eggs, this may be our favorite use for bacon. It adds so much flavor to pasta, pairs well with so many vegetables (green peas, broccoli, butternut squash), and—if you chop it into pieces first—cooks in no time. More

A traditional Florentine pasta, ricotta gnocchi is the lighter, hipper cousin to northern Italy's potato gnocchi.This gnocchi cooks up as soft, mild-flavored dumplings. They make a great base for any sauce, especially a simple tomato sauce. And if we'd known how easy it was to make ricotta gnocchi, we would have added it to our cooking rotation years ago! More

Last week, on the same day, I encountered two very different recipes for polenta. One had a practicality born of science, curiosity and efficiency. The other was much more rooted in time and tradition. One quick, the other slow. One required a modern appliance; the other, sourcing a special, stoneground organic polenta. The former I discovered, rather fittingly, while listening to a podcast and the later, equally fittingly, while sitting on a couch next to an open window while browsing through a book. More

Imagine limoncello: cool, refreshing, sweet-tart limoncello poured straight from the freezer into a waiting tumbler. Now imagine it creamy. Sounds pretty good, right?! I will be starting a batch of holiday gift-giving ASAP. Care to join me? More

I always giggle a little at how universally disappointing it is to eat Tuscan bread. Saltless, with a completely unsatisfying texture, it can be real let-down when the carb cravings hit. And yet, it comes from Italy, a country revered deeply for its culinary traditions.

But then, like clouds parting, those savvy Italians redeem themselves with panzanella, the traditional Tuscan bread salad that combines their stale, tasteless bread with tomatoes. Suddenly, that bread has a purpose. More