Fettuccine

While staying at the Hotel Villa Flori, which overlooks Italy's Lake Como, I had an outstanding pasta with a chunky pesto sauce," says Patty Owens of Walnut Creek, California. "Is there any chance the chef would share the recipe?" This pesto sauce includes walnuts, a variation on the classic recipe. To give the dish a creamy quality, add some of the pasta cooking water to the sauce.

Lots of garlic adds great flavor to this dish. At the restaurant they make it with spinach pappardelle, but fettuccine is a convenient substitution.

Spicy crushed red pepper, rosemary and garlic enhance this main course. Uncork an Italian Barbera to match the menu's hearty flavors. For dessert, offer a compote of blueberries and sliced nectarines with crème fraîche (available at many supermarkets) or lightly whipped cream.

"I had a delightful dinner at Andiamo! Ristorante while on vacation in San Diego," writes Laverne Smith of Seattle, Washington. "Could you get their recipe for fettuccine carbonara? It was the best pasta I've ever had." Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the fettuccine will be hot when the sauce is finished; the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs that are tossed with it.

More supermarkets are carrying fresh rabbit, as people rediscover its delicate flavor. Braising helps to keep it moist and tender. If you have trouble finding rabbit, however, you can substitute bone-in chicken, skin removed.

In Rome, this pasta would be served as a first course, but we prefer it as a main course. Traditionally, Romans don't use heavy cream in this dish, so you won't find any here either. Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 25 min

For some time I had been thinking: How can I pare down a classic meat sauce for those occasions when I have neither the time to make nor the voracity to consume a full-scale ragù? The sauce below is the answer I came up with. I replaced beef with veal; eliminated the milk, the wine, the carrot, and the celery; and reduced the cooking time from several hours to half of one. It is as easy to take as it is to do. Is it a favorite dish? Sure — it is my favorite simple meat sauce. Suggested pasta: The ideal carrier for this simple meat sauce is a homemade noodle, in particular one scented with rosemary and sage, cut into fettuccine or tonnarelli.  Boxed dry pasta in a short tubular shape such as penne or maccheroncini  can be a satisfactory alternative.

Noodles enriched with the deep golden yolks of farm-raised chickens were a frequent starch on heartland tables. Modern cooks may not have the time to put together noodles from scratch, but when glossed with a Swedish-style, caraway-scented butter, even commercial pasta makes a fine accompaniment to the menu's main dish.

Roasted peppers, marinated olives and artichoke hearts make good antipasti. Afterward, sprinkle melon slices with chopped fresh mint, and pass amaretti cookies.

Make this intriguing sauce ahead, then just heat it up while the pasta cooks.

A mixture of cottage cheese, lowfat yogurt and lemon juice replaces the sour cream in the traditional version of this dish. Ground turkey makes an especially good choice for those watching their cholesterol intake.

Egg fettuccine, rather than regular durum pasta, makes all the difference in this dish. It's usually sold curled in nests or loose in trays. Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 45 min

M'Eloise Waters of Yakima, Washington, writes: "Throughout the years, I have enjoyed so many 'R.S.V.P.' recipes, and now I have a request of my own: the chicken pasta from Spazzo Mediterranean Grill in Bellevue, Washington. It has fresh herbs, walnuts, almonds, and caramelized onions."

Both easy and inexpensive, tuna-noodle casserole stretched proteins and carbohydrates to the limits and fed at least a generation of American kids very well. Canned tuna will never go away, but fresh tuna has joined it as a culinary staple, and it stars in this deconstructed version of the classic. All the elements that make tuna casserole so appealing and comforting are here, just slightly rearranged. And there’s no need to serve this on a cafeteria tray: It’s good enough for your best china.

"The tagliatelle with parsnips and pancetta at Babbo is a wonder," says Aleksandra Crapanzano of New York, New York. " I would be thrilled to have the recipe." A good substitute for the homemade tagliatelle used at Babbo is dried egg fettuccine or taglierini—we particularly like the Cipriani brand. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 20 min