Dairy

Orecchiete are like little spoons that cup the ingredients and ensure you get a little bit of all the flavors in every bite. This is a particularly fast dish to put together.

My brother and sister and I craved this dish so often as kids that we finally learned to make it ourselves; it is actually one of the first dishes I ever made for myself. These days I consider it special-occasion food, not everyday fare, and it’s especially good for Sunday brunch. Add champagne and a fruit salad and you’re done. The basil aioli keeps for up to a week in the fridge and it works as a dip for veggies, or as a sandwich spread.

In my family, baked pastas were always the crowd-pleasers, and I still love them—especially the crusty, cheesy tops. Full of cream and butter, this is a rich indulgence. Put it together a day ahead of time and bake it just before serving if you like.

Todd loves frozen peas and he loves sausage, so this is his kind of recipe, and I created it with him in mind. When you smash the peas, they release their starches into the sauce, making it thick and creamy. To make life a little easier, use a potato masher to smash the peas.

When my family and I made trips back to Italy to visit my grandfather’s family in Naples, his sisters often made one of these impressive timbales. It looked a bit plain on the outside, but when you cut into it, it was always filled with a delicious mixture, and as a kid I thought it was just so cool. I still do.

If you find regular lasagna with a tomato sauce too heavy for summer meals, this is a great alternative, and it’s a real stunner on the plate. A sun-dried tomato pesto is layered between the pasta and vegetables, adding a bit of sweetness to the dish.

Artichokes take a little time to prepare, but it’s time well spent for a dish this extraordinary. The filling becomes hot, bubbly, and creamy, like an individual serving of warm artichoke dip for each diner. You can get most of the prep work out of the way well ahead of time, too; the artichokes can be boiled earlier in the morning and baked later or, if you prefer, the whole dish can be prepared a day in advance, as it reheats very well.

This is the kind of side dish you would find on a steakhouse menu, rich and decadent. Frozen artichokes make this impressive dish quite simple to create. I like to bake it in individual gratin dishes because each serving gets its own crusty browned top, my favorite part!

I know not everyone puts zucchini on their top ten vegetable list, but when you coat zucchini chunks in a delicious Parmesan crust and broil them, trust me, most people will become zucchini lovers. You can cook sweet potatoes or carrots the same way, but zucchini cooks more quickly.

This is comfort food that’s good for you. Farro is an ancient grain that was used to make cereals and pasta before wheat was widely available. It is somewhat similar to Israeli couscous in texture, but if you can’t find it, any small pasta shape, such as orzo, makes a good substitute. Don’t overwork the pesto; it should still have distinct pieces of the individual herbs, which keeps the flavors clearer and more distinct.

When I was a personal chef, a family for whom I worked often requested latkes, and though I hadn’t made them before, I totally fell in love with them. When I added Parmesan and basil to the mixture, they were even better. The Parmesan melts into a brittle web, like a frico, making these extra crisp and delicious.

I always serve this dish at Thanksgiving, but it’s good any time during the colder months. The kale and green beans make it vibrant and bright tasting, which is welcome at a time when not many green vegetables are in season.

This is a hearty meal in a bowl—like an antipasto with the added substance of the earthy grain.

It’s hard to believe a plate this beautiful is so easy to make. Crudi means “raw” and the freshness of raw vegetables is especially welcome as an accompaniment to a heavier pasta. The key to this dish is creating long, graceful ribbons of the raw zucchini; they should look almost like pale green fettuccine noodles.

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.

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.

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.