Starter

My mom is a florist so I love flowers—especially big orange ones like zucchini blossoms! I make zucchini blossoms stuffed full of creamy ricotta cheese and then fry them until they’re golden and crispy. In my opinion, zucchini blossoms are nature’s perfect little packages. What’s better than a crispy, crunchy, cheesy flower? A crispy, crunchy, cheesy flower on a bread salad—a gorgeous mix of perfectly ripe tomatoes, basil, cucumber, red onion, and bread, which softens when it absorbs all the veggies’ wonderful juices.

This is a classic that everyone should know how to do well. The trick here has nothing to do with cooking and everything to do with using only seasonal ingredients. When summer tomatoes are pristine and basil is at its peak, that’s when you want to whip this baby up. By the way, it’s pronounced “broo-SKET-ta”—NOT “broo-SHETT-ta.”

This is another super-cinchy piccolini that packs a big wow factor. Start with high-quality ricotta, mix it up with lots of other yummy stuff, put it in a cute dish, and bake until it’s all warm and melty. Serve this cheesy pot of deliciousness with lots of warm bread, and I guarantee people will call you a rock star!

I always say everything tastes better with bacon. And when fresh corn is at its peak and just screaming to be eaten, this recipe is unbeatable (it also reminds me of summer as a kid because it was always my job to shuck the corn). It’s the perfect combination of smoky, sweet, spicy, and bright—what more could you ask for, except maybe MORE!

This is not your ordinary bean dip. A lovely combo of beans, veggies, rosemary, and prosciutto makes this a simple but sophisticated twist on an old standby—and, while I recommend cooking your own beans, popping open a can instead is totally acceptable in a pinch.

Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables. I love to jack it up with some bread crumbs and Parm and deep-fry it till it’s nice and brown. These are little bites of crunchy, cheesy, salty, heavenly loveliness. Add some garlicky goodness in the form of a dipping sauce and you have a showstopper!

Cipolline are flat, sweet Italian onions that look like little flying saucers. I love these guys because they’re like onion rings with no holes. Perfectly fried baby onions and garlic mayonnaise to dip them in—they’re out of this world!

I love to make these for company because the polenta can be made WAY in advance. And you can top the cakes with almost anything—I like to use a nice stinky cheese, but after that really anything goes. Tomatoes give you a nice burst of sweetness, but dried fruit is fun, some fresh herbs, whatever you want! No matter how you top them, these corn cakes are little bites of melty, cheesy deliciousness.

Polpettini are delightful little Tuscan meatballs. I love them bite-size, but you can also take this mix and make one big log called a polpettone—either way, it’s delicious! And here’s a tip: For cute and easy serving, cut 1-inch rosemary sprigs to use as toothpicks.

If you think you don’t like eggplant, I bet this recipe will change your mind. And if you do like eggplant, feel free to make these bigger for a yummy eggplant burger!

Who doesn’t love a breadstick? And a breadstick wrapped up with yummy stuff is even better. My recipe for homemade grissini (skinny little breadsticks) is really good, but as I always say, pick your battles. If you don’t feel like making them, go ahead and buy some packaged ones—I promise this will still be a crowd pleaser!

These are one of my favorite things to make: oyster mushrooms tossed with olive oil, salt, and crushed red pepper. They’re salty and spicy and they taste like bacon! To me they’re kind of like mushroom jerky. Who knew an oyster mushroom could be so delicious?

These mushrooms are double-stuffed with pork so even if you think you don’t like mushrooms, remember, they’re just the vessel for a double dose of porky deliciousness! I make these all the time and here’s a tip: Always make a small tester patty out of the stuffing before filling all the caps. Cook the patty and taste it to make sure it’s delicious. It may sound like an unnecessary step, but it’s one you don’t want to skip. There’s nothing fun about an underseasoned mushroom!

For me, peppers are the gift that keeps on giving. Whenever I eat a roasted pepper it seems to stay with me forever. My sister, who’s a dietician, told me it’s because they have so little acid in them. Knowing this, I came up with a way to do two cool things—eat peppers without having them stick around all day and make a yummy peperonata—simply by adding a bit of sherry vinegar (a.k.a. acid) to the mix. The vinegar adds a lovely brightness to this dish, and the pimentón (smoked paprika) gives it a rich smokiness—both of which are unbelievably good with the creaminess of the goat cheese. Of course, you don’t have to serve this with goat cheese the way I do; you can make a batch of peperonata just to have in the fridge to throw on a sandwich—like a condiment—or to pull out and serve on bread when someone comes over for a drink. This is one of my personal super-secret flavor weapons!

I learned how to make this recipe in Tuscany, and who knew all these funky ingredients put together could taste SOOOOO delightful? Chicken livers? Anchovies? Capers? Believe it or not, all these super-strong personalities come together to make one really delicious pâté—and it’s so easy. Top this combo with some onions braised in balsamic vinegar and you’ve got yourself a super Tuscan!

People think fresh figs are elegant—and this preparation definitely is. To be honest, figs are not my favorite fruit, but when I make them this way I really love ’em. They are a quick and easy (Q&E) piccolino. Cut ’em, stuff ’em, and roast ’em until everything melts and gets all toasty—it’s SOOOOO easy!

Lots of restaurants put a dish of olives on the table, which always seems like a great idea. The bummer is that the olives usually aren’t marinated very well and so they’re boring. These olives are different: I use all different colors and sizes and add yummy things like big pieces of citrus zest, fennel and coriander seeds, garlic, herbs, and even a little kick of crushed red pepper. The secret is to first warm everything together slowly so the flavors marry; then, once they’re marinated, stir-fry them in a SCREAMING hot pan until they blister and frizzle on the outside. (And here’s a tip: These olives will hold forever in the fridge and it’s just as easy to make a lot as a little—so whip up a big batch, and you’ll always have some on hand.) These are SOOOOO delicious you want to eat them right away, but watch out—they’re hot stuff!

Everybody likes fried food (if you say you don’t, you’re lying!), and these little guys are fried food done beautifully: a ton of zucchini held together by just a little bit of batter. They’re the perfect combination of salty, crispy, cheesy, and spicy all rolled into one. And, they’re a cinch to make: Do all your mise en place ahead of time; then you can make the sauce and the batter at the same time. Once you’re prepped, fry these babies until they’re really dark and crunchy. What we want here is crispy, crunchy, and dark. Woo-hoo!

Mortadella is a super-high-quality baloney. In fact, it’s probably the most delicious baloney you’ve ever had. At one of my dinner parties I was serving mortadella and one of my guests said, “Hey, this baloney has nuts in it!” And it does: Mortadella is full of pistachios and chunky bits of fat, both of which make it super-flavorful. My mortadella pâté is puréed, mixed with whipped cream, and topped with pistachios—think of it as baloney mousse.

This one earned a higher place on the BabyCakes Piece of Cake scale simply because it requires pastry assemblage, which always complicates matters. It might take a little while for you sophomores to get your rhythm down, and your first few straws will probably look more like craggy witch fingers, but it’s all going to pay off if you stick with it. Once it does, you should host a dinner party and set these out early by the pintful.