Spaghetti

2005 F&W Best New Chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson adds a generous amount of crisp green and wax beans to this light summer pasta for crunch and body, so the dish uses fewer noodles.

F&W’s Kay Chun tops pasta with a very fast and delicious combination of pork sausage, brussels sprouts and crispy breadcrumbs.

Spaghetti and meatballs is a crowd-pleasing classic Italian-American dish. The mixture of beef, veal and pork makes the meatballs really flavorful.

New York City chef Andrew Carmellini uses Calabrian 'nduja, the spicy, spreadable sausage, to bring loads of delicious heat and flavor to his silky carbonara.

Chef Paola Budel updates linguine with clams by using pasta made with kamut (an ancient variety of wheat) and adding bitter chicory and a bright parsley sauce.

Chris Cosentino adds briny flavor to his pasta with cured tuna heart. He shaves it on right before serving. To make this recipe simpler for the home cook, use anchovies rather than the tuna heart. Egg yolks form a silky sauce.

“I look forward to going to Sicily for many reasons,” says Frank Castronovo of his biannual trip to southern Italy. “One of them is because I’m amazed at how many times Frank [Falcinelli] can order linguine con vongole.” Their exquisite, supersimple version is packed with garlic and a judicious amount of crushed red pepper. If you prefer, shell the clams before tossing them with their juices in the pasta.

This Mediterranean dish from Marcie Turney is quick, simple and utterly delicious.

Food & Wine's Kay Chun makes her silky, garlicky pasta with an abundance of greens so that each bite is equal parts of both.

Pasta cacio e pepe (“cheese and pepper”) is made with Pecorino Romano, a tangy aged sheep’s-milk cheese originally from Rome, and lots of freshly ground black pepper. In Lazio, chef Antonio Ciminelli of Osteria Fontana Candida serves an elegant version with short pasta on the menu, and a rustic one with spaghetti for staff.

Marc Murphy grew up eating this intensely cheesy baked spaghetti. “When I was young, we lived in Genoa, where spaghetti is the pasta of choice. This is my mother’s version of macaroni and cheese,” he says.

Parsley, rather than the traditional basil, makes this pesto a year-round staple. Because the taste of almonds is more delicate than that of the usual pine nuts, we have chopped rather than ground them. Their flavor really comes through when you bite in to a nutty chunk.

Pairing Suggestion: Chef Chris Pandel of The Bristol worked with Goose Island to create a black IPA called A Beer Named Sue, a crisp beer with a dark color that belies its lightness. Pandel likes to pair it with this savory goat-and-olive ragù tossed with pasta. “Goat has just enough richness to combat an IPA’s bitterness,” he says (lamb shoulder makes a great substitute). For an easier-to-find beer alternative, serve this dish with 21st Amendment’s Back in Black from San Francisco.

Use mild or hot Italian sausage, according to your preference, in this updated classic. We call for red bell peppers but you can use green or one of each color. Plain spaghetti can replace the whole-wheat, too.

One of the most popular cured meats on restaurant charcuterie boards, soppressata is a hard salami from southern Italy. Andrew Carmellini’s family grinds their own meat to make it, but much easier is buying Italian sausages and removing their casings. To give the fresh soppressata extra spice, use hot sausages instead of sweet ones, or increase the amount of crushed red pepper.

“The $24 spaghetti from Scott Conant’s Scarpetta in NYC is so delicious,” says Roy Choi of L.A.’s Kogi empire. “My $4 version tastes almost as good.” Roy’s trick: flavoring tomato sauce with a quick mushroom broth and slow-cooked garlic.

This pasta is an ode to the mountains of fried zucchini Gwyneth Paltrow ate at Elio’s, an Italian restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, growing up. Here, she adds the crispy zucchini slices to spaghetti that's tossed with shredded Parmesan cheese (which adds texture to the dish) and plenty of olive oil and basil.

Cacio e pepe is a Roman pasta dish prized for its simplicity. Our Mad Genius culinary director, Justin Chapple, one-ups the original with a black pepper and Pecorino Romano compound butter. Just boil the pasta, grate the chilled butter over the top, and dinner is done.

When she was 19, Gail Simmons traveled through New Zealand and quickly became obsessed with a local specialty that appeared at practically every roadside diner: spaghetti sandwiches. Part oozy grilled cheese, part tangy, tomato-sauced noodles, this mash-up was the inspiration for one of the Top Chef judge’s greatest culinary triumphs, spaghetti pie. She’s prepared multiple flavor variations, and it always makes her guests extremely happy. This version, perfect for fall gatherings, incorporates plenty of wild mushrooms, spinach and herbs (plus a spoonful of chopped oil-packed black truffles, if she’s feeling decadent). Bonus: If you don’t finish it all in one sitting, leftovers make possibly the best next-day treat of all time.