5 Delicious Ways to Celebrate National Pasta Day

This guaranteed crowd-pleasure is perhaps the definition of comfort food. Perfect for the novice cook, this recipes comes from former Food & Wine Editor-in-chief Dana Cowin's culinary tome Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen ($27; amazon.com). It even includes a foolproof tip for making the béchamel sauce from celebrity chef Mario Batali. Get the recipe here.

Chef Scott Conant, of the much-lauded Scarpetta restaurants (in N.Y.C., Beverly Hills, Miami, Las Vegas, or Toronto), knows his way around a pot of pasta. Plucked from the pages of The Scarpetta Cookbook ($25; amazon.com), Conant shares a delightful dish, replete with fresh herbs and salty clams. Get the recipe here.

This outrageously yummy riff on spaghetti and meatballs is one of restaurateur-cum-celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich's go-to recipes. "The earthy flavor of eggplant, mixed with the acidity and sweetness of the tomatoes, makes for harmony in a pot," she says. Get the recipe here.

From the beautiful mind of Justin Smillie, renowned chef behind popular N.Y.C. eatery Upland, comes a flavor-packed spaghetti with walnut-onion jam, savory (an aromatic plant in the mint family), and anchovy. Feast your eyes on his genius, then dig in! Get the recipe here.

Considering Audrey Hepburn's slim figure, it's hard to believe that she ate pasta on a regular basis. In Audrey at Home: Memories of My Mother's Kitchen ($21; amazon.com), her son Luca Dotti recalls, "When she returned from a trip, a plate of spaghetti al pomodoro was always waiting for her." Get the recipe for Hepburn's favorite dish here.