Penne

The goat cheese, when tossed with the hot pasta, melts and becomes a creamy sauce. We've learned that it's a good idea to taste your goat cheese before using it (or before buying it, if possible — one of the soft goat cheeses we tried seemed a bit too strong for this dish).

Pasta Mille Gusti This recipe for "pasta with a thousand flavors," as Aeolian Islanders call it, is based on one developed by Fraser's friend after the writer herself was unable to persuade any locals to share their recipes. We recommend Bella di Cerignola olives, which are quite mild. Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

This recipe comes from my 86-year-old grandmother, a northern Italian from Faenza, who picked it up during her travels as a piano teacher in southern Italy. I've watched her make it my whole life and know the recipe from memory.

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

This dish is delicious warm, but it can also be prepared ahead, stored in a covered container and served at room temperature at a picnic. Either way, its terrific.

The parts of Corsica that are not cultivated or forested are covered with a thick underbrush called the Maquis. It consists of diverse aromatic herbs that make the hillsides white with little flowers in the spring and inspire one of the island's nicknames, "the Scented Isle." A blend of these herbs, called herbes de maquis, is a flavoring for many seafood specialties, including this rich pasta and lobster dish. Many say that the most flavorful lobsters in the Mediterranean come from the waters off Corsica. For reasons of food safety, it is essential to make the sauce and finish cooking the lobster immediately after the lobster has been boiled.

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.

Great served warm or at room temperature.

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.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

(Greek Lamb and Pasta Casserole)