Italian

I always prefer to use Japanese eggplants when I can because I find they are less bitter and don’t require salting the way bigger eggplants sometimes do. This is a very substantial salad and also very good looking, with pretty layers of eggplant, cheese, and nuts.

Fennel is best served from fall to spring, when it’s in season, and there are a million different ways to take advantage of its crunchy sweetness. Here, the raw bulbs are sliced and dressed with a nutty pistachio pesto and salty bites of prosciutto. The flavors just pair so well together.

In Sardinia melon, watermelon, and other sweet fruits often find their way into salads. Watermelon is used most commonly, but I find it’s easier to get good cantaloupe year-round. This is very fresh tasting and refreshing, and because I always like a little crunch in my salads, I’ve added some toasted walnuts. Sometimes I add some grated Pecorino cheese to this as well. Serve this after the meal as a palate cleanser before—or instead of—dessert.

As thick and creamy as the richest milkshake, this can also do double duty as a dessert. Serve half portions in pretty stemmed glasses with the cookie crumbles sprinkled on top. Be sure to make this in two batches, because the ingredients will overflow your blender container.

In the summertime this is a refreshing alternative to iced tea. I keep the cinnamon syrup in the fridge so when my girlfriends drop by we have something cool and delicious to sip in the yard under the hot California sun.

When the temperature is particularly frigid, only the promise of a cup of this steaming hot spiced coffee will get me up the mountain for a day of skiing. Fortunately, it is just as inviting on a damp rainy day!

In this frittata, pasta plays a supporting rather than starring role, giving the eggs a little body. It makes a very pretty, satisfying lunch served with a simple side salad.

Here’s a fun way to use up leftover pasta. When I was young, my mother would throw leftovers of any kind of pasta—red-sauced, white-sauced, whatever—into her frittata mixture for a quick snack for us kids. She generally made one large frittata, but I like to make them in individual servings; that way you can keep them in the fridge and grab one for a quick, nutritious snack, hot or cold.

In Italy the term panini refers to any sandwich, whether warm or cold, pressed or not. What makes this different from your average tuna salad sandwich is the garbanzo bean spread; it lends a creamy, earthy flavor that’s a thousand times better than any mayonnaise-y sauce and keeps the tuna from tasting dry.

Use a sweet, ripe (but not overripe) pear such as Bosc or Anjou; if it’s not ripe enough, the flavor won’t marry with the cheese. Taleggio is a mild, creamy Italian cheese; if you can’t find it, Brie is a perfectly fine substitute.

I could eat this sandwich every day for the rest of my life and never get tired of it. The heat of the panini press melts the chocolate and Brie together, and the salty-sweet-gooey goodness that results is my idea of heaven. Sometimes I make these for a cocktail party, cutting each sandwich into four small squares, and it’s always a conversation starter.

A hearty yet sophisticated sandwich with enough meat in it to satisfy big appetites. Don’t use your stale, leftover croissants for this; you want the butter to melt and crisp up the dough, making it even flakier and completely delicious.

Curry powder isn’t a traditional Italian ingredient, but over time it has found its way into Italian cuisine simply because of Italy’s geographic location and influences from its neighbors. I love the flavorful blend of spices in curry powder, which marries well with mayo and chicken. The radicchio adds a touch of bitterness and the pancetta a perfect crunch.

In Venice you’ll find this soup in nearly every restaurant, and every version is a little bit different. I use two kinds of beans because I like the different textures each contributes: the cannellini are creamy while the garbanzos (chickpeas) have a slightly firmer bite. The final herb sauce brightens and freshens the long-cooked flavors. You can substitute any mild white fish for the snapper, but try to keep the fillets whole as the soup cooks. I always feel if I’ve spent the money for a beautiful piece of fish, I want people to see it, not just find tiny flakes throughout the soup.

After tomato, basil, and mozzarella, prosciutto and melon just might be the most classic Italian flavor combination of all time. It gets a whole new lease on life, though, when served as a savory cold soup. The tomato contributes a bit of acidity that tones down the melon’s natural sweetness, and salty prosciutto makes the whole dish sing. If you can’t find canned San Marzano tomatoes, which are a bit sweeter than regular canned plum tomatoes, go for an organic brand such as Muir Glen.

If you love fried calamari, you’ll really like having a new way to serve squid. The soup is thicker than a cioppino but not quite a chowder, and it’s nice and light. My husband, Todd, loves this soup because it’s spicy and the calamari gives it a meaty quality. Don’t add the calamari until right before you’re ready to serve, though, or it will become rubbery.

I love the versatility of cannellini beans. I’ve puréed them to make a dip and have used them as a thickener for soups. They’ve made many appearances in salads and even pasta dishes. This time, though, the cannellini bean is the star, offering a creamy, buttery texture for the base of the soup, which perfectly absorbs the flavors of the aromatics.

I made this for an après-ski menu on Everyday Italian. It is quite hearty and the beans give it nice body without making it too thick. The whipped cream garnish is beautiful and becomes even more fragrant as it slowly melts into the soup.

Olive oil in a muffin? It may sound strange, but the first impression you’ll get from these muffins is the citrus zests and almonds, not the fruity flavor of the olive oil. What the oil contributes is a more delicate, cakey consistency and a moist, rich texture.