Canned Tomato

This cioppino recipe uses bottled clam juice, a smart shortcut to a robust broth. Recipe by Tom Moorman and Larry McGuire, Clark’s Oyster Bar, Austin

The only thing better than Sloppy Joes for dinner is taco night. This hybrid is the best of both worlds.

Keep a resealable bag of leftover Parmesan rinds in the freezer for recipes like this; they add great depth to tomato sauces and vegetable-centric soups, too.

Named for Amatrice, a town northeast of Rome, this pasta is traditionally served with a long noodle like bucatini, but we like how shorter penne captures the spicy, meaty bits of sauce inside the tube.

We love the flavor and texture of dried butter beans, but you can make this recipe with three 15-ounce cans of butter beans instead.

For this chicken tikka masala recipe, the yogurt helps tenderize the chicken; the garlic, ginger, and spices in the marinade infuse it with lots of flavor.

Any short, tubular pasta will work with this meaty ragù. We used sedanini ("little celery") on the cover, but easier-to-find rigatoni and penne are great, too.

Butternut adds heft and sweetness to this season-blurring beauty.

Saganaki, a traditional Greek preparation named after the pan in which it’s prepared, is best served straight from the skillet, with plenty of toasted bread for scooping up the savory tomato sauce. If you can find them, wild American shrimp and high-quality Greek feta really make this dish special.

This recipe can easily be doubled to feed a larger group—and makes for great leftovers. For a lighter soup, omit the cream; or for a little decadence, add more cream or swirl in a little crème fraîche.

Hominy, or hulled corn kernels, is the backbone of this Mexican posole soup (pronounced pho-soh-lay), which can easily be made vegetarian by using vegetable stock and omitting the pork. Either way, it's best garnished with lots of cilantro, cheese, and lime and served with warm flour tortillas.