Pasta & Noodles

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Some cooks may prefer to substitute more readily available angel's-hair pasta for the rice noodles called for in this recipe.

This was a recipe that came from my mother, Rae Horowitz. She told me it was from my Grandma Sade Lyon's recipe and she learned to make it from her.

In classic Chinese cooking, noodles destined for soup are cooked separately and added at the last minute so that the starch from the pasta doesn't cloud the broth. Because we were aiming for a rib-sticking dish, we broke with tradition and cooked the noodles right in the stock, allowing the starch to thicken the soup slightly.

Offer a salad of snow peas and sliced radishes in a ginger vinaigrette. End with oranges and almond cookies. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Mung bean sprouts, commonly known simply as bean sprouts, are available in the produce section of most supermarkets.

"On the last night of a teachers' conference in Boulder, Colorado, I had dinner with some colleagues at a delightful little restaurant called Dandelion," says Cindy Chassee of Wyoming, Michigan. "We sat on the patio and shared a memorable gnocchi and wild mushroom dish." Gnocchi, tender potato dumplings, aren't difficult to make. A hint of truffle oil intensifies the flavors in the sauce, which would also go well with other types of pasta.

A hearty stew-like soup inspired by Vietnamese pho. The hot and sour elements are great paired with Asian beer. Start preparing this soup one day before serving.

At the restaurant, the gnocchi are shaped in a time-honored manner that includes pressing each short dough piece against the tines of a fork. Home cooks may find it simpler to roll the dough along the wires of a whisk, as outlined here. Also, if you can't get ground chuck, buy a boneless chuck roast, and ask the butcher to grind it for you.

Good as a side dish or meatless entráe.

Dried udon noodles are found in the Asian foods section of most supermarkets; if unavailable, use linguine instead.

Despite its name, this dish is not rice at all but noodles—and not even rice noodles but shimmering, transparent bean threads with lots of chicken flavor. Got that straight?

Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 15 min

This is a lighter, first-course version of a classic Pennsylvania main-course soup. Saffron was initially a Colonial rich man's spice, and it retained a certain panache even for the Pennsylvania Dutch in Philadelphia, who grew their own.

(Stir-Fried Rice Noodles with Shrimp) Paad Thai, with its signature fettuccine-width rice noodles, is available in myriad variations throughout Thailand. In its country of origin the dish is often made with dried shrimp; for a milder flavor fresh shrimp is specified here.