I first encountered the combination of squid and white beans in the famous tapas bar Bar Pintxo in the Boqueria market of Barcelona. There, tiny white runner beans are the bed for squid seared on a screaming hot flattop; a sauce of olive oil and the squid's ink gives the whole plate a round, salty tang. In a country of incredible food, it remains one of the best things I've eaten. More

[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt] About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at... More

There's something so... cowboy about cooking spaghetti over an open flame. Fortunately, it's tasty, too. [Photograph: Jennifer Olvera] Note: This recipe calls for a disposable grill pan—the kind of perforated pan designed to fit over your grill to allow you... More

[Photograph: David Loftus] What Worked: Starting a recipe three days in advance is going to require some planning but it's worth it for these out of this world Gnudi. Just make sure to read the direction well before beginning the... More

Fresh herb pesto makes a flavorful dressing for a springy pasta salad studded with green peas. Chopped walnuts add delicious crunch and fresh lemon juice brightens it up. More

Sure, shellfish and cured pork almost always go well together—something I learned from Bill Buford's book Heat, a point he drives home over and over again. But then you take crème fraîche and mix in horseradish, then amp up the whole thing with spicy sambal paste? Too intriguing to pass up. More

This Eggplant Romesco Rigatoni treats the meaty eggplant very well indeed, roasting it with onions and peppers before blending it with tomatoes and toasted almonds for an out of this world pasta sauce that just to happens to be vegan. More

This light Provençal lasagna is made from roasted planks of ratatouille, fresh pasta sheets, layers of unexpected herbs, and a gratinéed crust of gooey cheese. More

Though uncooked pasta sauces sound spectacularly easy, pulling them off isn't as easy as you'd think, as most sauces come off bland and watery. Add fresh mozzarella to the mix, and you just might end up with a gloopy mess of half melted nuggets of mozz, which stick to the pasta like laffy taffy. But leave it to Mollie Katzen to figure it all out. More

Think of this Penne with Popped Tomatoes and Bacon from Suvir Saran's Masala Farm as the rustic farmer cousin of bucatini all'amatriciana. It's got the tomatoes, onions, and bacon, but it's also loaded up with fresh herbs that pack a punch. Instead of a smooth, long simmered tomato sauce, this one is made by cooking down cherry tomatoes until they literally pop, making for a hearty chunky sauce with all shapes and sizes of tomatoes and generous cubes of bacon. More