For the love of pasta!

Few dishes are as comforting as a bowl of pasta. Here are six recipes for everything from a quick dinner to a long kuier.

- JOHANÉ NEILSON

Date night carbonara

Serves 2

Preparation time 25 minutes

Cooking time 10 minutes

You need

• 200 g dried egg tagliatelle or spaghetti

• 100 g pancetta strips, cut into pieces (I used the Forage and Feast pancetta from Checkers)

• 2 egg yolks

• 125 ml grated pecorino or parmesan

• lots of freshly ground black pepper

Here’s how

1 Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente – follow the directions on the packet.

2 In the meantime, fry the pancetta pieces in a big pan until crispy. You want to render the fat rather than adding extra oil so regulate the heat and don’t make it too hot.

3 Beat the egg yolks, half of the cheese and ¼ cup warm pasta water (from the pot) together in a bowl and set aside.

4 Scoop the cooked pasta directly from the water into the pancetta pan and toss. Remove the pan from the heat and stir the egg yolk mixture through the pasta. The heat of the pan and the pasta will be enough to cook the egg yolks and form a silky sauce. Serve immediately with the rest of the cheese and black pepper.

Mac and cheese bites

Makes about 20 bites

Preparation time 40 minutes, plus time to refrigerate

Cooking time 20 minutes for the mac and cheese; a few minutes to fry the bites

You need

• 250 g short macaroni

• about 4 cups Panko breadcrumbs

• 4 eggs, beaten

• vegetable oil, for frying

For the sauce

• 3 tablespoons butter

• 1 small onion, finely chopped

• 3 tablespoons flour

• 2 cups milk, warm

• pinch of grated nutmeg

• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• dash of hot sauce (like Tabasco)

• 3 ml smoked paprika

• 3 ml red chilli flakes