Fruit

When I meet with fans I often hear this recipe mentioned as a favorite. People really seem to enjoy the bright combination of flavors in the salsa topping.

Traditionally saltimbocca is made with veal cutlets, rather than chops, but a thicker cut of meat makes for a heartier dish. When you sauté the chops the prosciutto forms a great, salty crust on the outside and the lemon gets caramelized, making a yummy, savory package.

Here’s an osso buco everyone will love. Consider this a nontraditional Thanksgiving meal; you’ll get both dark and light meat without having to cook a whole turkey. Using a gremolata to spark up the flavor of a long-cooked dish like this one is a very traditional Italian touch that makes a huge difference in the finished dish.

This variation on my favorite arugula and shrimp salad—served over pasta—tastes as good as it looks. If you keep frozen shrimp in the freezer, a practice I always recommend, this is actually a quick pantry meal, perfect for those late winter/early spring days when everyone wants to start eating a bit lighter.

Creamy, lemony, and delicious, either as an entrée or a side dish. For a fun, elegant touch, serve individual side-dish portions in a hollowed-out lemon cup (see Note). It would make a pretty, festive accompaniment to almost any springtime meal.

If you’re looking for a healthy pasta dish, you can’t go wrong with this one. The spinach doesn’t really cook, it just gets wilted by the heat of the warm pasta. When I eat this I feel I’ve both indulged a craving for pasta and treated myself to something especially healthful and nutritious!

Fregola is a toasted semolina pasta that is very popular in Sardinia. You can substitute any small shape pasta, such as orzo, which it resembles, but do make the effort to seek it out at a specialty food shop; its nutty flavor makes this pasta salad really unusual and delicious.

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 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.

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.

Pomegranates and cranberries are both widely available in the fall, making this the perfect cocktail for any holiday party.

In Seattle, where I first had a version of this drink, martinis come garnished with a sprig of Douglas fir. Thyme syrup contributes a similar herbaceous zing, and little balls of apple are a whimsical touch. This is a great cocktail.

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.

Honestly, there’s not much that’s better than fried mozzarella with something sweet drizzled on top. In Santorini I tasted a dish like this, but made with feta; here I’ve substituted smoked mozzarella, which has a similar salty flavor but is a bit creamier. The smokiness plays off the sweetness of the figs beautifully.

Everyone seems to love this simple combination of clean, fresh flavors. If watermelon is not in season you can substitute cantaloupe, but for a burst of pure flavor that really plays off the herbal flavor of the tomatoes, you can’t beat watermelon. Stacking the skewers vertically and serving them upright looks especially elegant.

Here’s why I love this dish: it looks gorgeous on the plate, and it’s much more sophisticated than the simplicity of the ingredients would suggest. It’s a two-biter with lots of strong layers of flavor: first the bite of the cheese, then the crisp lemony tang of the apple and the sweet jammy aftertaste of the figs. Together, the combination is amazing. Use the fig jam on anything from pancakes to pork chops.