20 Pasta Dishes Worth Making More Than Once
Pasta is the canvas. The sauce is the painting.
But what makes a pasta dish worth returning to is the combination. Something about the way the noodle holds the sauce.
The way the flavors land on your tongue. The way the meal improves if you make it again next week.
Here are twenty that have proven themselves worth the repetition.
Cacio e pepe
Spaghetti. Black pepper.
Pecorino cheese. Water.
That’s it. The heat of the pasta and the starch of the cooking water emulsify with the cheese to create a creamy sauce with no cream.
This dish requires understanding. The pepper must be toasted.
The water must be reserved. The timing must be perfect or you have scrambled cheese.
Once you learn it, you can make it in the time it takes the pasta to cook.
Aglio e olio
Spaghetti. Garlic.
Olive oil. Red pepper flakes.
Parsley. The garlic must be sliced thin and cooked slowly so it softens without browning.
The oil becomes infused. The heat of the pasta brings everything together.
This is the dish you make when your refrigerator is empty and your pantry is full. It tastes like Italy on a weeknight.
Carbonara
Spaghetti. Eggs.
Guanciale or pancetta. Pecorino cheese.
The eggs are mixed raw and tossed with hot pasta so they cook gently and become silky. Not a cream sauce.
Not scrambled. Something between.
Carbonara has rules and people are passionate about those rules. Once you make it correctly, you understand why.
Bolognese
Ground meat. Onions.
Carrots. Celery.
Tomatoes. Wine.
Milk. This sauce cooks for hours.
The flavors become deep. The meat becomes so soft it dissolves into the sauce.
Serve it over fresh egg pasta or dried spaghetti or pappardelle. It’s different depending on the shape.
All of them are correct.
Amatriciana
Guanciale or pancetta. Tomatoes.
Pecorino cheese. Red pepper flakes.
This sauce is from Rome and tastes like afternoon in a warm city. The guanciale must be rendered slowly so the fat becomes the base of the sauce.
Serve over bucatini or spaghetti. The cheese goes in at the end so it melts from the heat.
Pasta alla vodka
Tomato sauce. Heavy cream.
Vodka. Parmesan.
The vodka cooks off but leaves something behind. A brightness.
A complexity. This sauce is rich and smooth and the kind of thing you want to wipe the bowl with bread.
It’s not traditional Italian. It’s Italian-American and proud of it.
Puttanesca
Spaghetti. Tomatoes.
Olives. Capers.
Anchovies. Garlic.
Olive oil. The anchovies dissolve into the sauce and you won’t taste fish.
You’ll taste umami and salt and a kind of briny brightness. This sauce is fast.
Everything goes in a pan and cooks for 20 minutes. You eat within the hour.
Lasagna
Fresh pasta sheets or dried. Bolognese sauce.
Béchamel. Parmesan.
Layered and baked until bubbling. This is a dish that takes time to assemble.
It improves if made a day ahead. It feeds many people and leaves you with leftovers.
It tastes like someone spent the afternoon in the kitchen on purpose.
Ravioli with brown butter and sage
Fresh ravioli filled with ricotta and spinach or meat. Brown butter infused with sage leaves.
The butter turns nutty as it cooks. The sage becomes crisp.
The ravioli are boiled until they float and then tossed gently with the butter. Simple but requires good ravioli and good technique.
Fettuccine Alfredo
Fettuccine. Butter.
Parmesan. Black pepper.
Cream if you want it but you don’t need it. The heat of the pasta and the starch of the cooking water are enough.
This dish is often made wrong in restaurants. Made correctly it’s silky and rich and balanced.
Made at home correctly it’s one of the best things you can eat.
Orecchiette with broccoli rabe
Orecchiette. Broccoli rabe.
Garlic. Olive oil.
Red pepper flakes. The broccoli rabe cooks in the same water as the pasta so everything comes together.
The bitterness of the greens against the softness of the pasta. This is eating.
This is real.
Penne arrabbiata
Penne. Tomatoes.
Garlic. Red pepper flakes.
The heat builds as you eat. The flavors are simple and there’s nowhere to hide.
Every ingredient has to be good. The tomatoes have to taste like tomatoes.
The oil has to taste like oil. This is a dish where you can taste exactly what went into it.
Spaghetti alle vongole
Spaghetti. Clams.
Garlic. White wine.
Olive oil. The clams open as they cook.
The liquid becomes the sauce. Serve this in a wide bowl so you can drink the broth with bread.
This is the taste of the beach. This is what you make when you’ve had access to good clams.
Pasta con le sardine
Pasta. Sardines.
Fennel. Saffron.
Raisins. Pine nuts.
This is Sicilian and tastes like history. The combination of flavors seems impossible until you taste it and it makes perfect sense.
This is not a dish you can replicate by guessing. You need a recipe and you need to follow it.
Tagliatelle with mushroom ragù
Tagliatelle. Mushrooms sautéed and cooked down with tomatoes and wine.
The mushrooms become meaty. The sauce becomes deep.
This is vegetarian Bolognese. It’s rich enough that no one misses meat.
It cooks slowly and improves overnight.
Cacio e pepe with zucchini
Spaghetti or linguine. Zucchini cut into thin strips.
Black pepper. Pecorino cheese.
The zucchini cooks gently so it stays tender. The sauce is the same emulsification as regular cacio e pepe but with a vegetable.
Light but satisfying.
Pasta e fagioli
Small pasta. Beans.
Tomatoes. Garlic.
Onion. Carrot.
Celery. This is more soup than pasta but it’s served in a bowl without broth.
It’s thick and filling and the kind of dish that costs almost nothing to make. It tastes like someone feeding you because they care.
Linguine with white clam sauce
Linguine. Clams.
Garlic. White wine.
The clams open and their liquid becomes the sauce. This is different from spaghetti alle vongole because there’s no tomato.
The sauce is pale and delicate. The clam flavor is front and center.
Pappardelle with wild boar ragù
Pappardelle. Wild boar or beef stewed slowly.
This is a dish that takes time. The wide ribbon pasta holds the heavy sauce.
This is the kind of dish you eat slowly and with intention. It’s not fast food.
It’s the opposite of fast food.
Pasta gratin
Leftover pasta mixed with béchamel and cheese and baked until the top is golden. This is how to use pasta that has become too soft.
This is breakfast or lunch or late night food. It’s comforting without trying to be sophisticated.
The common thread
A great pasta dish is about proportion. The right amount of sauce for the shape of the noodle.
The right amount of heat. The right amount of time.
These recipes have all proven that they work. What changes is your mood and your season and what’s in your market that day.
The pasta stays. The sauce changes.
That’s the whole thing.
