Pasta

Pasta

by Wikipedia

Pasta (UK: /ˈpæstə/, US: /ˈpɑːstə/; Italian: [ˈpasta]) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Pasta was originally only made with durum, although the definition has been expanded to include alternatives for a gluten-free diet, such as rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils. Pasta is believed to have developed independently in Italy and is a staple food of Italian cuisine,with evidence of Etruscans making pasta as early as 400 BCE in Italy.

27 of Our Best Pasta Recipes for Any Night of the Week

by Claire Lower MILK STREET

There is a lot to be excited about in our newest cookbook, “Milk Street Backroads Italy,” but the wide range of pasta recipes from all over the country might be what I’m most excited about. From a charred, truly “killer” spaghetti to the cacio e pepe Chris Kimball calls “the hardest recipe of his life,” these are our favorite pasta recipes inspired by our Italian travels.

The Pantry Pasta I Rely On When I Have No Time and No Plan

by Daniel Gritzer 15/1/26 serious eats

I have authored more than my fair share of pantry pasta recipes on this site, but the one I turn to the most is from my old colleague and friend Sasha Marx. On a night when I am caught in an "oh crap I need to feed the kids and it's almost bedtime" moment (which is most nights, if I'm being honest), his recipe for pasta al tonno is the one I almost always make. The result is guaranteed to be more special than the time and effort I put into it would suggest.

Sicily's Simple Pastas

by MILK STREET

Glistening and splayed on the road, the 280-kilogram tuna lay amid the evening scrum—a dusky piazza tumbling with chattering nonnas, couples on promenade and children punting soccer balls. It was dinnertime in Borgo Vecchio, Palermo’s oldest quarter. I’d come for Sicily’s simple, on-the-table-in-minutes pastas, but first the tuna had a lesson to teach.

At the center of the square, a young cook stood sentry over a long grill of coals he fanned with a wooden pizza peel. Over the embers, rough-cut tuna steaks, sizzling and billowing as he sloshed them with olive oil and lemon juice, the piazza filling with savory and smoke.

Pasta & Noodle Recipes

by AMERICA'S TEST KITCHEN

You should also make pasta by hand—no food processor, no mechanical roller, not even a rolling pin—simply because you can. The tactile experience of pasta “fatto a mano,” or handmade pasta, is a meditative way to pass an hour or two, and it rewards you with a hearty meal, particularly when you’re making pici (pronounced “PEE-chee,” or sometimes “PEE‑shee”), the long, wonderfully chewy strands that have been rolled out on Tuscan tables since Etruscan times. Pici are inherently frugal too—a prime example of cucina povera—and simple to make: Mix together a dough of mostly flour and water; knead until it’s smooth and slightly springy; let it relax a bit; and roll pieces of dough into slim ropes. 

by KING ARTHUR

Ah, macaroni and cheese... everyone's favorite comfort food! We go beyond "same old, same old" by using both cheese powder, similar (but tastier) to that found in boxed mixes for this dish; and fresh Cabot Vermont cheddar — available nationwide.

The Joy of Making Pasta by Hand

by Andrea Geary 2/4/23 AMERICA'S TEST KITCHEN

This was the first question I put to Katie Leaird, a former America’s Test Kitchen editor and current food writer and pasta-making instructor who studied her craft in Italy. Without hesitation, she replied: “Because fresh pasta is a completely different food.” The texture of a fresh noodle, she insisted, is chewy in a way that’s impossible to replicate with one that’s been dried.

Our Favorite Pasta Shapes

by The Serious Eats Team 01/4/21 serious eats

up, the Serious Eats staff is a little obsessed with pasta (just look at our Starch Madness tournament!). While we'll eat just about any kind of pasta (except angel hair), there are some shapes we turn to time and again, for their ability to hold onto sauce, for their perfect chew, or simply because they inspire in us some sense of comfort, whether it's rigatoni with its ridges, the long strands of bucatini or linguine, or the gyre-like cavatappi. Of course, there are some of us who can't choose a favorite shape—can you blame us?—and we love them all (except angel hair). Nevertheless, we have opinions, because we always have opinions; really, we have more opinions about pasta than we know what to do with. So we decided to share some of the why's and wherefore's of our most loved pasta shapes. Do you have your own personal favorite? Do you think any of us—gasp!—are wrong? Let us know in the comments!

12 Comforting Homemade Pasta Recipes

by KING ARTHUR

Fresh, homemade pasta isn’t just for special occasions; it’s something you can make for dinner anytime, even on weeknights. Whether you're looking to make your first batch of homemade noodles or ready to perfect your from-scratch ravioli, this collection of 12 homemade pasta recipes has you covered.

When you make your own pasta, you have choices: Opt for the delicate-yet-toothsome texture of Semolina Pasta, the hearty bite of Whole Wheat Pasta, or the pillowy softness of Potato Gnocchi. And when it comes to shaping, use an electric pasta machine or noodle cutter for effortless precision, or keep it simple and use just a rolling pin and a knife.

Obsessed: Resurrecting the Art of Fresh Pasta

by Niki Achitoff-Gray 7/3/21 serious eats

Perhaps that's why I find Antonio Capone to be such an inspiring figure. The Italian-born, Brooklyn-based artisanal pasta-maker certainly has impeccable technique. But it's his utter devotion to exploring and experimenting with flour that makes his products stand out from the crowd. Capone owns and operates Un Posto Italiano, a tiny, pristine storefront at the intersection of Gowanus and Park Slope. There, he sells nothing but fresh, handmade pasta and a small selection of high-quality imported Italian cheeses, oils, and other packaged pantry products. I sat down with him to talk about what makes his pastas unique, and how he came to open a specialty business that's virtually nonexistent in 21st-century New York.

Homemade Fresh Pasta

by Niki Achitoff-Gray 28/9/25 serious eats

It's not just a lay cook's issue, either. When I was in culinary school, I had a series of instructors who only left me more disoriented. Some insisted on oil, others on salt, still others on additional yolks or a splash of water. Prescribed kneading and resting times often contradicted each other. One instructor told us to hang the pasta to dry for at least 10 minutes before cooking it; others had us keep it tightly wrapped until the moment it was dropped in the pot. And even the best cookbooks for making pasta have differing instructions.

No Dinner Motivation? Here Are 3 One-Pot Pastas to Save the Day

by Eden Faithfull 19/9/23 AMERICA'S TEST KITCHEN

As someone who loves to cook, the one part of the process I would happily give up forever is deciding exactly what to cook. As an America’s Test Kitchen employee, I have no lack of incredible recipes at my fingertips, making the decision even more difficult every single night.

World's Easiest Pasta (Frascarelli) From 'Pasta Modern'

by Kate Williams 2/8/21 serious eats

rancine Segan's fresh pasta chapter in Pasta Modern features most well-known homemade pasta shapes: ravioli, gnocchi, and free form pasta sheets are interspersed with a few long, twisted noodle recipes. The frascarelli, however, are totally different. Segan calls this the "world's easiest pasta." Indeed, you'll need little more than your fingers to make the pasta, and it needs nothing other than a bit of cheese, oil, and (maybe) meat to finish. Cooked in just a quart of water, these tiny "nuggets" of semolina, water, and egg have the same tender toothsome texture as German spaetzle, but are served like polenta.

Our Favorite Pasta Shapes

by The Serious Eats Team 1/4/21 serious eats

Yup, the Serious Eats staff is a little obsessed with pasta (just look at our Starch Madness tournament!). While we'll eat just about any kind of pasta (except angel hair), there are some shapes we turn to time and again, for their ability to hold onto sauce, for their perfect chew, or simply because they inspire in us some sense of comfort, whether it's rigatoni with its ridges, the long strands of bucatini or linguine, or the gyre-like cavatappi. Of course, there are some of us who can't choose a favorite shape—can you blame us?—and we love them all (except angel hair). Nevertheless, we have opinions, because we always have opinions; really, we have more opinions about pasta than we know what to do with. So we decided to share some of the why's and wherefore's of our most loved pasta shapes. Do you have your own personal favorite? Do you think any of us—gasp!—are wrong? Let us know in the comments!

A New Way to Cook Pasta? | The Food Lab

by J. Kenji López-Alt 12/1/24 serious eats

My wife and doorman have got a pretty sweet deal. All they have to do is nothing, and they get hot, fresh food delivered to them several times a day. Of course, they do have to be content with eating, say, fried chicken and nothing else for a month as I test a recipe, and of course there's the never-ending supply of burgers, but all in all, they've pretty much got it made.

So you can imagine my surprise the other day when I walked into the kitchen and saw my wife cooking, and my even greater surprise when I realized she was cooking pasta—in our smallest pot—at a simmer. The water was barely covering the noodles as she stirred them to keep them submerged.

Please, No: The Pasta Shapes We Won't Eat

by Sasha Marx 7/3/21 serious eats

When I first pitched Starch Madness at a Serious Eats edit meeting, my colleagues were into the idea of a March Madness-style pasta shape tournament, but they balked at the notion of a competitive field of 64 shapes. "Can you even find 64 different pasta shapes in stores? That's way too many, no? What about doing 32? Do you really have strong opinions about that many types of pasta?"

No Dinner Motivation? Here Are 3 One-Pot Pastas to Save the Day

by Eden Faithfull 19/9/23 AMERICA'S TEST KITCHEN

The classic combination of sausage, beans, and pasta deserved a makeover, and that’s exactly what the Cook’s Country test cooks did in this hearty pasta dish. Cooking the noodles in chicken broth (instead of water) infuses them with rich and savory flavor. This perfectly seasoned and crowd-pleasing meal can hit the dinner table in less than a single hour, making it a weeknight hero worthy of the praise it receives.

Italy’s Forgotten Pastas

by MILK STREET

Milk Street heads to Italy to uncover lesser-known Italian pasta recipes that deserve your attention. Christopher Kimball and J.M. Hirsch prepare Pasta with Spicy Tomato and Pancetta Sauce, where the secret spicy ingredient takes everyone by surprise. Then, after getting a lesson on pasta shapes from across Italy, we make Handmade Orecchiette. Finally, Rose Hattabaugh makes Rigatoni alla Zozzona, a mash-up of cheesy, porky, egg-rich carbonara and spicy, tomatoey Amatriciana.

14 Comforting Pasta Dinners You Can Make in Under 30 Minutes

by Rabi Abonour 27/1/26 serious eats

There's a dish for every mood, but sometimes an easy pasta recipe is exactly what you need. Sure, every now and then we love spending hours lingering over a perfect slow-cooked red sauce or hearty lasagna Napoletana, but there are also days when you need to get dinner on the table fast. That's where these quick and easy pasta recipes—which take just about 30 minutes to make—come in. Whether you only have the most basic pantry staples on hand (olive oil, garlic, maybe a can of tomatoes), or you happen to have a tin of tuna, breadcrumbs, or a butternut squash, we have something that is just your speed.

Pasta With Brown Butter, Cinnamon, Almonds, and Goat Cheese Recipe

by Nick Kindelsperger 4/4/25 serious eats

When I moved to the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago five years ago, the area had yet to be completely and totally saturated with bars and restaurants and breweries and distilleries. But it had Lula Cafe, and even after all these years, the restaurant is still as relevant (and packed) as ever. Part of that is due to the fact that it's the rare kind of place that is both funky and serious about its food, regardless of whether you want a six-course vegetarian tasting menu or a simple sandwich. One of the staples is a simple noodle dish called pasta yia yia, which features long and hollow tubes of pasta tossed with brown butter, cinnamon, and goat cheese. It's essentially spruced-up mac and cheese—creamy and comforting, with interesting spices going.

The Best One-Pot Pasta

by MILK STREET

For a delicious 20-minute dinner, all you need is bold flavors and contrasting textures, says Milk Street Director of Education Rosemary Gill. Case in point, this amazing one-pot pasta. Keeping these two, simple guidelines in mind, you can use fewer ingredients but use them well for a really, really good dinner that’s on the table in no time. Here, Rosie browns garlic and blooms red pepper flakes in olive oil, cooks pasta al dente and relies on two additions of fresh basil to coax maximum flavor out of everyday ingredients. One-pot pasta has never been better, or easier. See here for a full recipe.