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In Italy, one of the most popular recipes for stuffed mushrooms hails from Liguria, the northern region that stretches along the Mediterranean coast (actually, the body of water here is called the Ligurian Sea) from the border of France all the way down to Tuscany. The capital of the region is Genoa, which on the one hand is the birthplace of pesto, and on the other is a port city where seafood is worked into recipes where you wouldn’t necessarily expect it. Like mushrooms, for example, which they stuff with salted anchovies, marjoram, and bread crumbs. That recipe is a little complex, so I’ve omitted the little fishes and simplified. This is not only a great side dish, but also the perfect antipasto for a casual get-together.

While a lexicographer might say that “jumbo shrimp” is an oxymoron, a chef knows it means something specific: Shrimp are marketed according to size, with different classifications depending on how many shrimp will constitute a pound. Jumbo shrimp are 11 to 15 per pound, and extra-large are 16 to 20 per pound; at the other end of the scale, miniature are 100 per pound, and small are 36 to 45. In general, the larger the shrimp, the more expensive they are; but if you’re peeling them or handling them in any way, the larger they are, the less work you have to do. A trade-off, like many things.

Another fantastic use for leftover risotto, and a great afternoon snack.

Arancini di Riso means “little orange rice balls”—orange, because the risotto was traditionally made with saffron (the version called Risotto Milanese), which gives the rice an orange tint. This recipe is one of the many brilliant ways that Italians have for using up leftovers.

Better than French fries—and a great snack or appetizer. You can use other dipping sauces, but the simplicity of a good marinara is hard to beat here.

This famous cream sauce is named after its creator, Alfredo Di Lelio, who made it for his wife when she lost her appetite after the birth of their son. Alfredo’s dish was made of egg-rich fettuccine, butter, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and it became a hit in his restaurant (Alfredo’s) in Rome. In 1927, two Hollywood movie stars also fell in love with it and brought the recipe back to the States. The dish had to be adapted because the butter and Parmesan that were available here weren’t as rich as they were in Italy. So chefs added heavy cream. I’ve added my own twist with the addition of lemon juice and zest. Fresh pasta is a must, because dried pasta can’t stand up to all the rich ingredients.

The literal translation of torta di pasta is “cake made of pasta.” What I particularly love about this recipe is that it makes for great finger food: All the ingredients bind together and can be cut up into easy little servings, and it can be served at room temperature. You probably won’t want to tell your guests that you’re serving them leftovers, and they’ll never know the difference.

Traditionally, this rich dish is served as a main course, and as a kid that’s the way I ate it. But it also works in our health-conscious world as a starter or a side with something fresher and lighter—say, grilled fish drizzled with lemon juice or grilled meat. A creamy, cheesy dish like this is just the thing to make you feel coddled, as if your dining room is the coziest spot on earth.

Primavera is Italian for “spring,” and that’s what this dish tastes like. It was created at Le Cirque, New York’s famed restaurant, in the 1970s because some high-flying and health-conscious patrons complained that they wanted lighter and healthier dishes. The original version was labor-intensive because you had to not only dice all the vegetables, but also blanch them in different pots. My version cuts out the blanching, and instead you roast the vegetables and end up with a sweet, caramelized, intensely flavored bite. Consider doubling the recipe; it only gets better the next day.

In this recipe I have you make ravioli from scratch—but without using fresh pasta! Don’t worry, it’s really not hard, and you’ll look like a professional chef. Trust me.

Pumpkin ravioli is easier to find in the fall through the holidays, when the Halloween mascot is in season and on the minds of cooks. The sauce can also work nicely with any ravioli filling, but the pairing of pumpkin (or another sweet squash) with sage is particularly perfect, especially with the nutmeg and hazelnut flavors. This is truly a seasonal dish; to me, it tastes like autumn—even autumn in Southern California, where I’m from.

Tortellini means “tiny cakes”; they’re small pasta nuggets filled with ingredients that range from plain cheese and vegetables to meats. They’re usually served at Sunday dinners, holidays (especially on Christmas Day), or on special occasions, because making them was a laborious task. But with the premade frozen stuffed pastas now available, you can make this dish in a flash any day of the week.

Any good pesto is a great topping for toasted bread—also called crostini—but I’m especially partial to the mushroom version, which is mellower than the more herb-focused varieties.

This is an Italian-American favorite, but I like to make my meatballs with turkey instead of the traditional pork, veal, and beef. It’s lighter and healthier, and that way I can eat it more often. Your guests will be so busy eating them that they won’t have time to ask what’s in them (they are that good), especially when they adorn a gigantic family-size platter of spaghetti or linguine.

This is a new way to serve the classic combination of prosciutto with melon, one of Italians’ famously favorite ways to start a meal. You could pierce the prosciutto purses with toothpicks to make them easier to eat. And to make the preparation easier, be sure to place the block of Parmesan in the freezer for a few minutes, so that when you shave it, it won’t crumble.

This is a great way to use up leftover roasted red peppers. When I and my two brothers and sister were kids, my parents often served it as an afternoon snack to ward off our hunger before dinner was ready.

This is one of those dishes that was born out of my years of catering and the necessity to come up with something new for cocktail parties. Roasting the asparagus is fast and easy and gives a lot more flavor than simply steaming.

I use only a few store-bought products. But this one, when wrapped in prosciutto or rolled in cheese, makes for a great-tasting and super-easy antipasto. And when you are making a large meal from scratch, a few shortcuts are always welcome. Your guests will thank you when the entrée is on time because you didn’t have a meltdown trying to bake your own bread.

The perfect snack food—sweet and spicy and crunchy and totally satisfying. The nuts can be made two days ahead; store airtight at room temperature.

For a quick and extremely easy antipasto, whip up this very simple recipe. You can use any single olive variety or combination you want; some are salty and briny, some fresh-tasting, some green or black or brown, some wrinkly and pungent, some smooth and mellow. I like a simple mix of one green and one black variety. This recipe can be made one week ahead and refrigerated.