Pasta

Active time: 2 hr Start to finish: 4 hr (includes making fresh pasta)

Mary deMuth of Rowlett, Texas, writes: "Because my husband is in a graduate program, we've been able to meet people from all over the world. It has been a great experience for our three children — and a chance for me to add to my recipe collection. We frequently have other students over for dinner, so I'm always learning new dishes. Next year our family will be moving to southern France, and we're very excited about the food we'll have there. We hope to make many new friends who will share their Provençal specialties." This side dish is a perfect contribution to any potluck picnic. Toss in a can of drained tuna for a more substantial salad.

Butternut squash and a variety of beans give this vegetarian dish its hearty texture.

Sour cream and beets are inseparable in Eastern European cooking. Here's a fresh new way to enjoy them together.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 30 min

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 30 min

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 30 min

"Every time I visit my sister in Los Angeles, we make a point of having dinner at Mimosa, a popular French bistro," writes Frances Candler Brown of Birmingham, Alabama. "I like to think I'm an adventurous diner, but my order there has become only too predictable: a glass of wine, a salad and the restaurant's delectable version of macaroni and cheese." This French take on macaroni and cheese has a nice assertive flavor.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Bow tie-shaped pasta is mixed with Thai-flavored pesto sauce and tossed with cooked shrimp for a fast, colorful entrée.

The heat of the cooked spaghetti wilts the mixed greens in this lemony warm pasta salad. Dry Monterey Jack is an aged Jack cheese similar to Parmesan.

This zippy pasta features the best of Italy accented with Mexican serrano chilies. A Zinfandel or Italian Barolo is the right wine.

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.

Lighter, brighter flavors make this old-fashioned salad new again.

When tossed with the warm pasta, the blue cheese melts into a silky sauce. A Côtes du Rhône is just the right accompaniment.