This dish, filled with wild garlic (a real flavor booster) and herbs, including basil mint, and parsley, adds up to a simple and elegant weeknight dinner.

Perfumed with cinnamon and saffron, this fragrant rice dish elevates everything it comes in contact with, whether a simple roast chicken or spiced kebabs.

Spaghetti carbonara is hot pasta tossed with eggs, cheese, bacon and pepper forming a creamy carbonara sauce and coats the spaghetti. Great recipe.

The secret to this intensely flavored mushroom risotto is not only are mushrooms part of the mix, but the risotto is cooked with mushroom-flavored broth.

This gratin is flavored with sharp Gruyere and Parmesan cheeses and smoky bits of bacon. Use other pasta besides elbow macaroni for a different look.

Pizzoccheri is a hearty flat buckwheat noodle found in the Lombardy region of Italy. The noodles are tossed in a butter sauce of cheese, onion, and sage.

Trennette, a long, narrow, flat pasta noodle similar to pappardelle, is tossed in a simple sauce of spicy, garlicky oil. On top is a scattering of parsley.

Pasta shells are tossed in a Gorgonzola and Parmesan cheese sauce that’s studded with chopped pistachios. The shells hold the cheese sauce wonderfully.

These gnocchi, soft pillows of potato love, are light and packed with flavor. Serve the gnocchi with browned butter or a tomato sauce. Gnocchi freeze well.

This macaroni and cheese dish is studded with bacon, and filled with sour cream and Cheddar cheese. This mac and cheese is what momma’s comfort food is all about.

Grits get the royal treatment with the addition of wild mushrooms, cheese, and truffle oil. These grits, with its earthy flavors, make an ideal partner to meaty dishes or by itself for instant comfort food.

For this barley salad, pearl barley and black barley are tossed with pine nuts, chiles, cucumber, and olives. Serve the salad as starter or as a toothsome lunch.

Basmati rice is first cooked, mixed with apricots, onion, saffron, cinnamon, and then fried to get a nice crust. Pomegranate seeds give color and sassiness.

Meaty shrimp stud this creamy, oozing risotto. The recipe’s flavor is deep thanks to a shrimp stock, made with the shells, which enriches the risotto.

Clams and rice, a Croatian specialty, is simple to make. Clams and rice are tossed with olives and spooned into empty clam shells.

This spaghetti with red wine is made more like risotto than typical pasta. The cooked spaghetti is tossed in oil in the skillet while red wine is slowly added.

Linguine pasta, clams, mussels, langoustines, and shrimp are tossed in a light tomato-garlic sauce spiked with pepper flakes. A simple quick dinner.

Pappardelle, wide pasta noodles, are topped with a Bolognese sauce full of pork, lamb, veal. The pappardelle is fresh, the Bolognese can be made in ahead.

Fusilli pasta is tossed in a sauce rich with bufala mozzarella. The melted cheese creates strands as the fusilli is lifted, hence the telefono reference.

Potato gnocchi is tossed with sausage, tomato, peas, and smoked mozzarella for a hearty dish. The gnocchi is simple to make and can be frozen.

This pasta salad with tuna is tinted yellow by saffron. The pasta salad is easy to cook and can be made ahead. For the salad use big pasta for big effect.

Fettuccine pasta is tossed in a veal sauce filled with veal, tomatoes, and olives. Butter makes the veal sauce rich. You can use any long strand pasta.

Farfalle pasta is tossed in a salmon and tomato sauce, rich with salmon, tomatoes, cream, and herbs. Penne or fusilli pasta work with this salmon recipe.

Penne pasta is tossed in a rich spinach and ricotta sauce. Use packaged spinach and whole-milk ricotta for best results. Serve the pasta and sauce at once.

Angel hair pasta is tossed in a lemon cream sauce and sprinkled with parsley. The lemon cream sauce is made while the angel hair pasta is cooking. Easy.