Ingredients

• 1 lb. thick macaroni
• 7 tbsp olive oil
• 2 vegetable stock cubes (optional)
• 1 lg. onion, finely chopped
• 1 lg. clove garlic
• 2 lb. minced meat (half pork and half beef, or lamb, etc.)
• 2 tsps dried mint, rubbed
• 1 tsp oregano
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 cup pureed tomatoes
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 heaped tbsp butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup grated Halloumi (or other dry, hard) cheese

For the white sauce:

• 8 cups milk scant
• ½ c. corn flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
• 1 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp breadcrumbs
• 3 tbsp grated cheese
• zest of 1 lemon

Preparation

Macaroni:

Grease a shallow baking dish (15x13"). Break the macaroni in half (this will enable you to arrange the cooked pasta better in the baking dish later). Add macaroni to a large pan of boiling water, together with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt and 1 vegetable stock cube (optional). Boil, uncovered, until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water. Drain well and put aside in a bowl. Add 1 tbsp butter to the pasta, 3/4 cup of your grated cheese, the beaten egg and 1tsp dry mint. Mix well and set aside.

Meat Sauce:

Heat the rest of your oil in a large frying pan; add your chopped onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add the mince and cook until well browned. Add the pasata and the tomato paste, the sugar, oregano, dried mint, cinnamon, the stock cube dissolved in 1 cup of hot water, the salt and the freshly ground black pepper. Towards the end, add the parsley and remove from the heat.

White sauce:

Dissolve your corn flour in 1 cup of milk, then and1 tsp salt. Add the egg (lightly beaten), and the finely chopped parsley and lemon zest. In a big non-stick pan add the remaining 7 cups of milk and bring almost to the boil. Gradually whisk the dissolved corn flour and egg mixture into the hot milk, stir well over the heat until the mixture boils and thickens; mix until smooth and remove from heat.

Next steps:

Add half of the macaroni into your greased dish. Top the macaroni with the meat sauce and spread evenly. Add rest of the pasta over meat sauce. Pour over ¾ of the white sauce and use a fork to make sure that some of the white sauce goes through the pasta to the base of the dish. Now add the rest of the white sauce and smooth the surface, then sprinkle the breadcrumbs and cheese on top. Spread several nobs of butter equally along the surface of the dish.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until golden brown. Leave to stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Ingredients

• Salt
• 1 ½ cups finely grated pecorino Romano, plus more for dusting completed dish
• 1 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper, plus more for finishing the dish
• ¾ pound tonnarelli or other long pasta like linguine or spaghetti
• Good olive oil

Preparation

Put a pot of salted water on to boil. In a large bowl, combine the cheeses and black pepper; mash with just enough cold water to make a thick paste. Spread the paste evenly in the bowl.

Once the water is boiling, add the pasta. The second before it is perfectly cooked (taste it frequently once it begins to soften), use tongs to quickly transfer it to the bowl, reserving a cup or so of the cooking water.

Stir vigorously to coat the pasta, adding a teaspoon or two of olive oil and a bit of the pasta cooking water to thin the sauce if necessary. The sauce should cling to the pasta and be creamy but not watery.

Plate and dust each dish with additional pecorino and pepper. Serve immediately.

Mark Bittman, NYT

Ingredients

• 4 cups sugar snap peas
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup parmeggiano reggiano (parmesan) cheese
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 pound penne rigate
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup pignoli nuts
• 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon fresh spearmint
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

Prep the sugar snap peas, pulling the string off the side. Then blanch them in salted boiling water for a minute (basically, you get the water boiling, you add the peas to the water, once it starts boiling again, you can fish them out). Refresh them in a bowl of salted ice water. Cut them up in halves or thirds, depending on their size (1/2" size is good). Reserve 1.5 cups of the prepped peas. The rest will go in the pesto.

Put a large pot of salted water on high heat on the stove for the pasta.

Heat the butter and 1 tbsp of the olive oil together in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the garlic clove to the heated butter and oil until it gets a nice lightly toasted color. You can pull it out now and reserve it. Add the sliced onions and the crushed red pepper and cook on medium heat until they are caramelized. This takes a little while (as much as 20 min) so be patient, young grasshopper.

While you are waiting on the onions to caramelize, you can start work on your pesto. If you have a hunk of parmesan, cut it into smaller pieces and blitz it in the food processor. Make sure you have a cup. Next you can blitz the pine nuts.

Once the onions are finished caramelizing, you can pull them off the heat so they cool slightly. Then you can add the onions, the cooked garlic clove, and the non-reserved peas (i.e., the majority of them) to the food processor with the pine nuts. Go ahead and add in stages if the food processor is getting too full. Pulse for the first few times to get it started and then hold down the button. You can add the olive oil through the hole in the top to keep the mixture wet and moving. When all the ingredients are processed, it should be grainy and wet, but will never be totally smooth. That’s ok.

Once the water is boiling, drop the pasta and cook according to package directions.

Do a chiffonade of the mint – this means you stack the mint leaves together and roll them up like a little cigar. Then you cut them up cross-wise as thinly as possible.

When the pasta is ready, reserve a ladleful of pasta water. Drain the pasta and put it back in the pot you cooked it in. Add the pesto, a few tablespoons at a time, tossing to combine. If it is too dry, add the reserved pasta water, a little at a time. Once you have the right pesto-pasta ratio (this is up to you), taste to see if it needs more salt and pepper and add as necessary. Toss in the reserved peas and the mint. This is good at room temperature too, so you can make it ahead of time.

JORJ, Food52

Ingredients

• Kosher salt
• 3 bunches Swiss chard, stems removed
• 3/4 cup toasted almonds
• 3/4 cup grated aged Pecorino Romano cheese
• Pinch nutmeg
• Pinch ground cloves
• 2 lemons, zested and juiced
• 1 clove garlic, grated on a rasp grater
• About 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Bring a large pot of water to a boil; season the water generously with kosher salt. Prepare an ice water bath with a colander. Blanch the Swiss chard in the boiling water until tender, about 2 minutes. Shock immediately in the ice water. Drain by squeezing the leaves in a ball in a clean kitchen cloth.

Put the cooked chard, almonds, cheese, nutmeg, cloves, lemon zest and juice and garlic into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the mixture begins to break down and come together. Add enough olive oil to the mixture to just get it to come together, about 3/4 cup. Season with salt and pepper.

Food Network

Ingredients

• 1 medium cauliflower
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 chili (red?)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 500g (just over 1 lb) orecchiette pasta
• 3 anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
• salt
• parmesan, for serving, grated

Preparation

Cut the cauliflower into little florets, cook in salted boiling water for 5 minutes, drain. Peel the garlic and deseed and chop the chili. Heat the oil and gently cook both for a few minutes. Add anchovies, cook two more minutes. Add cauliflower, cook until it just begins to brown on the edges. Meanwhile, cook pasta to package directions. Drain and toss with the cauliflower. Serve with generous parmesan and more olive oil.

Nudo

Ingredients

• ¼ c. olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, pressed
• ½ tsp. red pepper flakes (JP: reduce to make less spicy)
• Salt
• 8 oz. sweet Italian sausage
• 1 fennel bulb, halved, cored, and sliced thin
• ½ c. pine nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
• ½ c. coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 lb. whole-wheat spaghetti
• 1 oz. grated parmesan (~½ c.)

Preparation

1. Combine oil, garlic, pepper flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in small bowl; set aside.

2. Heat sausage in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; cook, stirring to break sausage into ½-inch pieces, until browned and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to paper towel-lined plate, leaving rendered fat in skillet. Return skillet to medium-high heat, add fennel and ¼ teaspoon salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until fennel is tender, about 5 minutes.

3. Push fennel to sides of skillet to create 3-inch clearing; add oil-garlic mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir to combine garlic mixture with fennel and cook for 1 minute longer. Remove skillet from heat and stir in sausage, pine nuts, basil, and lemon juice.

4. Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts water to boil in large Dutch oven. Add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt to boiling water; cook until al dente. Reserve ¾ cup pasta cooking water, drain pasta, and return pasta to Dutch oven.

5. Add sauce and reserved cooking water to pasta and toss to coat. Season with salt to taste. Transfer to serving bowl, sprinkle with cheese, and serve.

CI

Ingredients

• 2.2 lb (1 kg) yellow onions, finely chopped
• 3/4 lb. ground beef or pork
• 2 tbsp. garlic
• 1/2 lb. rigatoni
• 3/4 c. shaved parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 c. cream
• 1/4-1/2 c. dry white wine
• olive oil

Preparation

Liberally coat the bottom of a heavy bottom sauce pot with olive oil. Add all the onions, coat with more olive oil and a liberal amount of salt. Stir to combine. Cover and heat on medium for 40 minutes, stirring every 10-20 minutes. If the onions are completely translucent and a good amount of liquid has appeared, stir in the meat and garlic. Stir hard and long to completely break apart the meat and combine it with the onions. Cover and simmer on very low for 2-3 hours, stirring every 30 mins or so.

Bring a pot of salted water to boil, cook the rigatoni until al dente.

While the pasta cooks, deglaze the pot with the wine, stir to combine and turn the heat to medium-low to cook off the wine. Reduce heat back to very low, stir the cream into the sauce, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce, stirring to combine. Spoon the pasta onto plates and cover each with 1/4 cup shaved parmesan.

Raymond’s Food, edited

Ingredients

For the chili paste/oil:

• 2 tsp of red Szechuan peppercorn
• 1 tsp of green Szechuan peppercorn
• 3 + 2 tbsp of chili flakes (divided)
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 small piece of scallion
• 2 star anise
• 1 dry bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp of ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp of ground coriander
• 1/8 tsp of curry powder
• 1 cup of vegetable oil
• 1 grated garlic
• 3 tsp of soy sauce

For the sesame sauce:

• 90 grams (1/4 cup + 1/8 cup) of toasted sesame paste
• 35 grams (1/8 cup) of creamy peanut butter
• 20 grams (1/8 cup) of chili oil (without the “bits”)
• 4-5 tbsp of soy sauce
• 2 tsp of dark Asian vinegar
• 2 tsp of sesame oil
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1/2 cup of water (more or less depending on the thickness of sesame paste)

For serving:

• 2 servings of ramen noodles, plus more
• sesame oil for rubbing the noodles
• cucumber, cut into thin strips
• radish, cut into thin strips
• 1 egg, beated with a tiny splash of milk
• Crushed salted peanuts and toasted sesame to top

Preparation

To make the chili paste/oil: Finely grind the red/green Szechuan peppercorn in a spice-grinder or stone mortar (but you’ll need to work harder to break them down). Set aside. In a deep sauce pot, add 3 tbsp of chili flakes (reserve the other 2 tbsp), minced garlic, scallion, star anise, bay leaf, ground cumin, ground coriander, curry powder and vegetable oil. Set the pot over medium heat and bring to a sizzle. Stir constantly and let the mixture cook for 1 ~ 2 min until the minced garlic turn JUST LIGHTLY BROWNED. Turn off the heat completely, then add the ground sichuan peppercorns and 2 tbsp of chili flakes (ground sichuan peppercorns will turn bitter if overcooked which is why it’s added at the end). Keep stirring until the oil stops sizzling/bubbling. Then add the grated garlic and soy sauce, and stir to combine. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for AT LEAST 2 hours. After which you can remove the star anise, bay leaf and scallions, then keep the oil and paste in a jar. It will keep in the fridge for… a long long time.

To make the sesame sauce: Add the toasted sesame paste, peanut butter, chili oil from above, soy sauce, dark vinegar, sesame oil and sugar in a blender. Blend on high while slowly adding in 1/2 cup of water. Scrape the sides down a few times to ensure even blending. You can add more soy sauce or water to adjust seasoning and consistency if needed. The sauce should be the consistency of yogurt.

To make the noodle: Heat a flat and wide non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and brush the surface with oil. Pour in 1 beated egg and swirl the pan to evenly distribute it so the egg thinly coats the bottom of the skillet. Cook until both side of the egg-sheet is evenly browned, then thinly cut it into short strips. Set aside.

Cook the ramen noodle according to the package instructions. Once done (DON’T overcook it! It should be still slightly chewy), rinse under cold water until cools down completely. Toss with 2 tsp of sesame oil to prevent sticking, then you can keep it in the fridge until needed. Before serving, toss the ramen noodles, cucumber strips, radish strips, egg strips and enough sesame sauce to generously coat every strand of noodles. Evenly stir the chili paste/oil then add a couple tsp to the noodle (or more…), plus crushed salted peanuts and sesame on top.

Lady and Pups

Ingredients

• 3 cups jarred whole artichoke hearts (smaller the better, packed in water, not marinated or oil)
• 2 slices white bread, torn into 1-inch pieces
• 3 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (1/2 cup), plus extra for serving
• Salt and pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 anchovy fillets, rinsed, patted dry, and minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 12 ounces tagliatelle
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Preparation

Cut leaves from artichoke hearts. Cut hearts in half and dry with paper towels. Place leaves in bowl and cover with water. Let leaves stand for 15 minutes. Drain well.

Pulse bread in food processor until finely ground, 10 to 15 pulses. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add bread crumbs and cook, stirring constantly, until crumbs begin to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup Parmesan and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until crumbs are golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer crumbs to bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Wipe out skillet.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add artichoke hearts and 1/8 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring frequently, until hearts are spotty brown, 7 to 9 minutes. Add garlic, anchovies, oregano, and pepper flakes; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in wine and cream and bring to simmer. Remove skillet from heat and stir in artichoke leaves. Set aside.

Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt and cook, stirring often, until al dente. Reserve 1 cup cooking water, then drain pasta and return it to pot. Stir in artichoke sauce, remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan, 2/3 cup reserved cooking water, remaining 1/4 cup oil, parsley, and lemon zest. Adjust consistency with remaining reserved cooking water as needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve, passing bread-crumb mixture and extra Parmesan separately.

CI

Ingredients

• 1 ½ lb beef (oxtail, short rib, shank—something with fat, flavor, and preferably some marrow and gelatin), in one or two large pieces
• Salt to taste
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and minced
• 2 ribs celery, minced
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 1 lb ground pork (preferably from the shoulder)
• ½ cup minced pancetta
• 1 small can whole peeled tomatoes (preferably San Marzano), drained and crushed
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1 ½ cups chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf

Preparation

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven set over medium-high heat. Season the beef on all sides with salt and cook until deeply browned all over. Remove from the pan.

If the pan is dry, add another splash of oil. Sauté the carrot, celery, and onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the pork and pancetta and cook until lightly browned, then stir in the tomato and continue cooking for another 3 minutes. Return the beef to the pan, add the wine, stock, bay leaf and cover. Turn the heat to low and simmer for two hours, until the beef is falling apart.

Shred the beef by hand or with two forks and fold back into the sauce, discarding any bones, excess fat, or cartilage. If the sauce looks too dry, add a splash of broth or water to get the right consistency. Serve over pasta with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Makes about 8 servings.

Matt Goulding, Roads and Kingdoms