Penne

This thick and comforting dish is delicious sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Make this with vegetable broth for a meatless main course.

Though penne is Faith Heller Willinger's pasta of choice for this dish, we tried other types—such as mafalde (broad, rippled noodles similar to lasagna noodles but not quite as wide)—and found they work well, too.

(Greek Lamb and Pasta Casserole)

A full-flavored Italian blue cheese adds pizzazz to this pasta. Serve the dish with a salad, bread and a glass of white wine for a lovely weekday dinner.

Freshly picked greens and herbs are essential to cooking in the Apulia region of Italy. Their assertive, often bitter flavor enriches many a modest dish. Here, a just-cooked tomato sauce is enlivened with the peppery taste of arugula.

"Dinner at J. Alexander’s in nearby Troy is a treat my family enjoys regularly, and there’s one thing we always order: the chicken soup. says Katie Randlett of Wixom, Michigan."Although it sounds ordinary, this version definitely isn’t — it has a rich, creamy texture, and it’s full of goodies like pasta, sugar snap peas and carrots." Sugar snap peas add crunch to this comforting soup. The restaurant uses penne pasta, but macaroni would also work well.

To round out the menu, offer a tossed green salad and uncork a Chianti to go with this delicious pasta dish. Sharpen your chopping and mincing skills with our technique video.

Canned tuna sparked with lemon and capers creates a superb sauce that complements many pasta shapes — penne, shells, or linguine, to name only a few. I prefer solid-pack tuna in olive oil for the best flavor and texture. I sometimes add a small handful of unpitted black olives — Kalamata or Gaeta — and a large, ripe tomato, seeded and diced, for a delicious variation. Italians would never serve cheese with fish, but you have my permission to break the rules!

Meatless pasta loaded with bold flavors.

The key to this recipe is cooking the bell peppers until they’re meltingly tender, at least 15 minutes.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This rich, slightly smoky sauce is cooked for only ten minutes.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.