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This is not merely everyday Italian, but Italian food in a flash. This dish would also work with penne, but definitely try to use one of these short tube shapes, which mimic the shape of the asparagus pieces and make for a beautiful presentation; with spaghetti, it’s just not the same.

This recipe is a prime example that you don’t need tomato sauce to make a great-tasting pasta dish. And here’s a bonus: It tastes great at room temperature, so it’s perfect for picnics and casual buffet lunches.

Traditionally, this dish is made with pork sausage. But in an effort to lighten things up, I use turkey sausage, which in general is a great, healthy alternative to pork. I promise that you won’t be able to tell the difference.

Wild mushroom ravioli are my very favorites, so I always have a box of them in my freezer. In the time it takes the water to boil and the raviolis to cook—no need to thaw or defrost them—I can make this sauce, and have this great dish on the table in a flash.

In this recipe I have you make ravioli from scratch—but without using fresh pasta! Don’t worry, it’s really not hard, and you’ll look like a professional chef. Trust me.

Pumpkin ravioli is easier to find in the fall through the holidays, when the Halloween mascot is in season and on the minds of cooks. The sauce can also work nicely with any ravioli filling, but the pairing of pumpkin (or another sweet squash) with sage is particularly perfect, especially with the nutmeg and hazelnut flavors. This is truly a seasonal dish; to me, it tastes like autumn—even autumn in Southern California, where I’m from.

Lasagna is a dish that can be made ahead and can feed a crowd; it’s as easy to make for twelve as it is for four. I actually have lasagna parties where I make both the classic version and a fantastic vegetarian version (page 94), and my guests mix and match. If you make the lasagna ahead of time and serve it family style with a simple green salad as a side, you can feed a whole crowd while not spending more than five minutes in the kitchen during your party—literally, only five minutes. It can take longer just to give directions to the pizza-delivery guy.

The beauty of a baked pasta like this is that you can really use any vegetables you want, as long as you cut them all to the same size. This version uses a lot of them, because I like the variety in textures and flavors. But if you’re not a huge fan of any one of these vegetables, just omit it, and use the same quantity of another. If you prefer a simpler dish with fewer vegetables, you can do that too. It’s really up to you. You can also feel free to assemble one large lasagna in a 13 X 9-inch pan from these ingredients.

Tortellini means “tiny cakes”; they’re small pasta nuggets filled with ingredients that range from plain cheese and vegetables to meats. They’re usually served at Sunday dinners, holidays (especially on Christmas Day), or on special occasions, because making them was a laborious task. But with the premade frozen stuffed pastas now available, you can make this dish in a flash any day of the week.

A great one-dish meal in the tradition of the classic red-checkered-tablecloth, family-owned restaurant, this is Italian-American food at its best. I like to make individual portions ahead of time, and freeze them. When I get home really late from work, I just pop one in the microwave and have a full, comforting meal in mere minutes.

One of the easiest pasta dishes you’ll ever make, this is great as a light meal or as a side dish, especially for grilled fish.

In Italy this dish is known as aglio, olio, e pepperoncino. It’s thoroughly easy, with just one secret: Reserve some pasta water to make the sauce. My version of this dish adds fresh herbs; I’ve found that this combination works wonderfully, but feel free to substitute oregano, thyme, marjoram, or whichever of your favorites are fresh; dried herbs don’t work in this recipe.

Most of us think of bread crumbs as a coating for frying. But in Italian cooking, bread crumbs are also used as a main ingredient, as in this pasta dish. This recipe probably came about as a way to use up leftover stale bread—a humble inspiration for a fantastic dish. I love this dressing with orecchiette (“little ears”), but any small shape will do.

This is an Italian-American favorite, but I like to make my meatballs with turkey instead of the traditional pork, veal, and beef. It’s lighter and healthier, and that way I can eat it more often. Your guests will be so busy eating them that they won’t have time to ask what’s in them (they are that good), especially when they adorn a gigantic family-size platter of spaghetti or linguine.

This tasty Italian-American invention (you just won’t find it in Italy) looks like it’s a heavy dish, but the vodka kicks in and heats up the back of your throat to cut through the heavy cream. You can buy it in a jar, but because it’s a cinch to make and very yummy, it’s definitely worth taking the few minutes to make it from scratch. I like to serve it with rigatoni or penne.

This is one of my favorite combinations; the salty prosciutto and creamy melted fontina cheese make my mouth water. It’s amazing how grilling the sandwich brings all the ingredients together, turning an everyday sandwich into the embodiment of comfort food.

Mom used to make me this sandwich for lunch, and all the kids at school wanted to trade with me. It was my absolute favorite lunch. Nutella is a chocolate-hazelnut spread that’s wildly popular in Italy and is just starting to catch on here in the U.S. Give it a try and see why.

This breakfast sandwich has been passed down through our family: My grandfather used to make it with my mom, and she would make it with us. Now I’m passing it on to you.

This sandwich made of mozzarella, tomato, and basil is my version of a BLT. It’s simple, quick, and oh so yummy! The term alla Margherita was invented in 1889 when an official from the royal palace asked a local to make pizzas for Queen Margherita. Her favorite was the one made with three toppings: tomato (red), cheese (white), and basil (green)—the tricolore of the Italian flag. So anything using those three toppings is known as alla Margherita.

When asparagus is in season in springtime, use it to capture the flavors of the garden with a minimal amount of effort. It cooks quickly by any method—steaming, boiling, grilling, or sautéing, as here—and it’s very easy to prepare. To trim asparagus of its woody stem end, simply hold one end of the spear in one hand, the other end in the other hand, and bend gently until the spear snaps—which it will do exactly where the stem starts to get woody. Asparagus has its own built-in sous chef.