Linguine

Be a bean counter! The new USDA guidelines recommend having 1 1/2 cups of legumes weekly for their protein, fiber, iron and more. This hearty, lightly tangy dish gets you a third of the way to your goal.

This dish has fresh, clean flavors, and is best eaten with fresh crusty bread and a glass of chilled white wine.

This countrified soup is often served in late March for Nowruz, the Persian new year. With beans, vegetables, noodles, and yogurt, it is a meal in itself. If you can't find fava beans, use limas. Start this recipe the night before to soak the chickpeas, kidneys beans, and fava beans. Boil them in a pot with four cups of water for one minute, then turn off the heat and add a splash of apple cider vinegar. Cover the pot and let them soak overnight

Cooking by color might not be the surest way to devise holiday-appropriate recipes, but who can resist the lure of black linguine on Halloween? Tossing it with pumpkin-hued vegetables lusty with garlic and hot pepper might seem like hobgoblin overkill, except that the flavors work well together. Really well. So much so that you'll be making this pasta combination again and again, long after the jack-o-lanterns have disappeared.

Look for Asian noodles in natural foods stores as well as in the Asian foods section of well-stocked supermarkets.

Cook your mussels in one pot with garlic, fennel seeds, and white wine while your linguine cooks in another pot. Combine the two and then toss them with your favorite herbs from the garden and some grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Now make believe you're vacationing on the Italian coast.

Clams are excellent on the grill. The tinge of smokiness perfectly complements their briny flavor, and, conveniently enough, they pop open when they are done cooking. Combined with crisp bacon, they’re the foundation of a very easy yet very flavorful pasta sauce.

A Provençal barigoule is almost always applied to artichokes, but why limit yourself? Nutty-sweet Brussels sprouts take beautifully to the wine-lemon broth.

Here we combine some favorite flavors in an eclectic pasta dish. We don't think you'll mind the loose definition of meatball: Free-form versions are terrifically satisfying and don't require any shaping.

Wake up your taste buds with this lowfat recipe. It is sure to satisfy — and provide a spicy kick!

Ji Geung Lo Mein Editor's note: This recipe is reprinted from My Grandmother's Chinese Kitchen: 100 Family Recipes and Life Lessons, by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo. At the New Year, noodles represent longevity. Because of this they were never cut when preparing them, and to serve them was to wish those who ate them a long life. In Sah Gau there were many varieties and shapes of noodles, and for vegetarians there were noodles made without eggs. These are what were served to the nuns, along with that special food that came usually with the onset of the New Year, young ginger, more subtle, less hot than the customary kind. These days this young, often pinkish gingerroot is available year-round. This dish illustrates what a "lo mein" is — that is, a dish tossed together, not precisely stir-fried.

A light sauce of white wine and tomatoes lets the seafood shine in this iconic Italian pasta dish.

Our take on this dish, famously named for the fact that Italy's "ladies of the evening" quickly made it between clients, is just as fast and easy as the original and requires nothing more than some everyday items you probably have in your pantry already.

Mixing aromatic herbs like mint and basil with asparagus and peas creates a beautiful green dish. Salty feta sparks it up.

If you like cauliflower, you'll love this pasta, with its slightly spicy mix of crisp, savory toppings.

Sophisticated yet incredibly easy, this dish brings the flavors of Sicily to your table.

This hearty — and heart-healthy — pasta comes together in a flash. Mangia! Puttanesca may sound like an Italian specialty to slave over, but don't be intimidated — you can make this sauce in minutes. Michael Collins, chef and co-owner of the Green Emporium in Colrain, Massachusetts, designed this dish, which marries old-world flavor with modern-day convenience. Its healthy ingredients — lycopene-loaded tomatoes, heart-smart olive oil, exotic olives, and capers — are as easy to keep on hand as that emergency jar of sauce.

Eastern expert: Ming Tsai, chef-owner of Blue Ginger in Wellesley, Massachusetts, star and creator of the show East Meets West With Ming Tsai on the Food Network. What you'll love: The fresh and healthy idea of combining raw greens with pasta. Said one taster, "I'd never thought to do that before, but I'd do it again."

Lightly frying the zucchini for this dish is the only step that takes a bit of time. And the result is wonderful; the thin slices, accented with garlic, mint, and lemon, meld perfectly with the pasta.

his delicious vegetarian soup is a take on the Persian dish ash-e reshteh.