Pizza with shells by nnonna2003

Linguine with Wine and White Clam Sauce by Vivien

Spaghetti with Clam and Tomato sauce by John Spottiswood

This is one of my favorite last minute, throw together pastas. I generally use canned clams and canned Italian plum tomatoes (except in the summer/fall when wonderful fresh roma tomatoes are available), so this requires only a trip to the pantry. Our kids enjoy this as well. Recommended pasta: Spaghettini, thin spaghetti, takes to…

Shrimp in Green Garlic Sauce by John Spottiswood

Wow, this is a really powerful and delicious dish. If you are looking for subtle flavors, search elsewhere. But if you're in the mood for a garlicky, "must dip my bread in every last bit of that sauce", type of dish, you cannot beat this. I'll admit our kids are not normal, but all four of them downed these shrimp and were dipping…

Grilled Salmon with Basil Cream Sauce by John Spottiswood

Grilled salmon goes very well with lemon and basil. This cream sauce makes an interesting and attractive dish to serve for family or for guests. Our kids went back for more sauce. They love pesto on pizza and pasta, and this has a similar, though milder, flavor.

Pasta with Cauliflower and Anchovy Sauce by Nancy Miyasaki

This is a wonderful, mild flavored pasta we've adapted from Marcella Hazan. I know it sounds like an odd combination of ingredients, but you should definitely try it. It's unlike any pasta you have likely eaten before, and it is quite tasty. We will definitely make it again. Serve with the roasted broccoli below for a nice…

«Polpetielli» affogati (Baby Octopus Braised in Tomato Sauce) by Frank Fariello

Octopus is a popular food all around the Mediterranean basin and yet elsewhere it is often, for some reason, 'controversial'. Many people who will happily scarf down fried calamari will shudder at the thought of eating its close cousin, which is too…

Lemon-butter Linguini with Peppery Shirmp by John Spottiswood

It always surprises me when black pepper is used in such quantity that it makes a dish truly spicy, since we so often use it as a mild addititve. That's the case with this dish. The black pepper generates a welcome heat which is cut nicely by the lemony pasta. You'll enjoy this one! Adapted from a recipe in Cooking Light.

Baccalà alla napoletana by Frank Fariello

Baccalà, or salted codfish, marries especially well with tomatoes, and the marriage reaches its apogee of deliciousness in the summer, when tomatoes are at their best. And who does tomatoes better than the people of Campania, home to Italy's best tomatoes? Baccala alla napoletana, Naples-style codfish, is a simple dish of bold…

Spaghetti alla cipolla rossa e alici by Frank Fariello

This was not a dish my grandmother Angelina ever made, as far as I know, but it is certainly the kind of pasta-cum-vegetable dish that formed the foundation of her culinary repertoire. The robust flavor and texture of the onion and anchovy sauce would go well with other long pasta shapes like linguine or even bucatini.

Baccala' e ceci by Frank Fariello

Everyone knows that Friday is fish day for Catholics (even for some lapsed Catholics like myself). A traditional Friday dish in Rome is baccala' e ceci, salted cod fish with chick peas. (I love fried baccala', and there was a well-known place on via dei Giubbonari, close to our apartment, called Filetti di Baccala' that I loved to go…

Filetti di pesce all'acqua pazza by Frank Fariello

Acqua pazza, or 'crazy water' is the humorous term for an extremely easy, but tasty way to poach fish--or, more specifically, to the poaching liquid.

Tagliatelle al tonno e panna by Frank Fariello

Here's a dish for iconoclasts: tagliatelle with tunafish simmered in butter, cream and parmesan cheese—a dish that violates one of the cardinal rules of Italian cooking: never mix fish and aged cheese. But this may be one of those exceptions that prove the rule, as the result is really very good.

Spaghetti alle vongole (Spaghetti with Clam Sauce) by Frank Fariello

A Friday night favorite at our place is spaghetti with clam sauce, one of the signature dishes of Neapolitan cuisine. It is surprisingly easy to make, fun (if a bit messy) to eat and—if you have some good, fresh clams on hand—really, really tasty.

Tiella pugliese by Frank Fariello

Even though my paternal grandfather was from Grumo Appula, a small town outside Bari in the southeastern Italian region of Puglia, I don't remember eating much pugliese food growing up. Other than a few dishes—orcecchiette with cime di rape (also known as broccoletti), that wonderful calzone di cipolla (onion pie) that I just recently…