Julia Moskin

Pasta With Bacon, Cheese, Lemon and Pine Nuts
Julia Moskin

Yield 4 to 8 servings Time 30 minutes

For home cooks, the most useful recipe is the one that lets you feed many tastes with a single dish. This one starts out small -- pasta with butter and cheese -- but can be expanded with pine nuts, lemon zest, brown butter, bacon and herbs into something satisfying.

This kind of "modular" meal, which everyone at the table can add to or subtract from, is a great family dinner solution. You prepare one tasty base element, like warm tortillas or pasta or salad greens. After that, it’s about piling on -- or politely passing on -- all the garnishes at the table.