Pasta and Noodle Recipes & Ideas

We’ll give you a virtual high five if you can figure out how these were made. They’re part of a group of insane hot dogs we just found over at Woman’s Day…Did you figure it out?To make these spaghetti hot dogs, you stick raw spaghetti through chunks of hot dog and then boil the whole thing until the noodles are soft. Some of you may find this weirdly off-putting, but we actually think it’s kind of hilarious. And kids would love it.

You know that our most basic go-to meal is a riff on pasta with meat and greens. It’s such an easy one-dish meal, and so satisfying. Here’s our latest exploration of the theme: a hearty, spicy, and bold pasta that is wonderful after a long day of work in the garden. This is just like our other pasta templates; it’s adaptable to whatever you have around. But the main thing is to really brown the sausage and also to cook the kale well.

Spring is progressing, and the season for early spring foraged treats like morels and ramps will be over soon. So eat them while you can still find them! This pasta takes these two spring delicacies and puts them together in one simple, quick pasta.And if these two good things are out of season already, or hard to find, then try dried mushrooms and leeks or scallions instead. In fact, I had to use dried morels myself.

Yesterday we showed you a basic recipe for cooking and shredding a pork shoulder. It’s a great recipe on its own; there are plenty of soft carrots, tomatoes, and caramelized onions to make it a stand-alone meal. But we like to set aside some leftover meat, free from its braising sauce, and save it for other meals throughout the week. This is a good one that’s super easy and has a really unexpected flavor.The idea of a mustard cream sauce came from a recipe in Food & Wine.

We ate this pasta twice last weekend—at both dinner parties. It’s not healthy. It’s soaked in butter. Delicious, toasted, slightly sweet brown butter with little bits of sage fried up in that buttery bath. Save it for the holidays, when you’re splurging on calories. Or, hey, eat it twice in one weekend like we did…We weren’t really adept at browning butter and took a completely uneducated stab at it. Guess what?

Looking for one more dish for Thanksgiving, or maybe a first course appetite-teaser? Maybe you should try this dish of pumpkin ravioli from chef Salvatore Corea of New York City’s Alloro. This is a very fun dish; we love pumpkin ravioli, and the sauces that accompany the pasta here are deceptively easy.Alloro is an Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side – thank you to chef Salvatore Corea for this delicious dish! We’ll be trying it out soon.

This is definitely one of those dishes that evolved from being home alone on a weeknight and having nothing in the fridge. Success! Who knew a handful of leftover soba noodles, the last egg in the carton, and a few condiments could make such a delicious and satisfying meal?!The best part about this meal is the fried egg, in our humble opinion. The runny yolk mixes into the sesame-coated soba noodles like a creamy sauce, adding richness and substance to the dish.

For the sauce-hungry crowd, here is a basic tomato sauce, with some lemony and spicy elements for adding an optional zing. It’s easy, quick, and isn’t a boring old sauce. Basic sauces were one of the requested items from Cure-takers. This week’s assignment was to add a new skill to your cooking arsenal.

Orecchiette – small ears – are one of our favourite pasta shapes. They are shaped like the shell of a turtle, or like a thumbprint in pasta form. They scoop up sauce and catch it in their rough ridges, which makes them perfect for hearty winter meat stews. Here’s a recipe for a simple sausage meat sauce with red, spicy chorizo to give it some heat.

Lemon, rosemary, capers, goat cheese – they taste like summer to us, and they all go into this fresh, tangy pasta. We especially love the fried capers – one of our favorite ways to dress up a dish. It’s easy to make them; just fry drained capers in a little olive oil until they open like tiny buds, with layers of crisp, delicate petals standing out from the juicy center. This can be served as a hot dish or as a warm pasta salad.

Fava beans have a short growing season. In most parts of the country they’re at their peak right now. These beautiful bright green beans are a lot of work: they have to be shelled twice – once from their padded green pods, and again after swift blanching to get the tender green inner beans out of their starchy outer jackets. Their tender taste is worth it, though, and we love to find ways to put them in our spring menus.

But sometimes when I just want some dinner after a long day, I do need to be reminded of the basics. For this you need only a handful of ingredients: a big tomato, half an onion or a few shallots, garlic, olive oil, some fresh basil, sage, or rosemary. Some red wine really helps, but don’t knock yourself out. Swirl over some tortellini from Trader Joe’s, pour the rest of the wine into a glass and you have yourself a very nice dish of pasta – all in about 10 minutes flat.

Here’s a recipe from a reader, SarahW, for a simple pasta dish using Swiss Chard (it’s been a hot topic of discussion on the Open Threads for a while) and Feta cheese. With greens such as spinach about to come into season on the East Coast, this would make a great spring dish. Pasta With Greens and Feta 6 Tbsp. olive oil (or less) 4 cups chopped onion 8 cups packed chopped bitter greens (e.g.