Dairy

Empanadas de Bariloche This recipe is excerpted from Shirley Lomax Brooks's book Argentina Cooks! We've also added some tips of our own below. To read more about Argentine cuisine, click here. High in the Andes, near the border with Chile, is the all-season splendor of San Carlos de Bariloche. At Christmastime it's a fairyland of cobalt lakes, forested islands, and manicured parklands surrounded by snow-capped alpine peaks. In the center of a small peninsula stands the rustic but elegant Llao Llao Hotel, a holiday mecca for the elite of Buenos Aires, Santiago, and even Paris, Düsseldorf, London, Madrid and Milan. When not attending the hotel's casino (closed as of this writing), guests spend their time dining in exquisite surroundings on international cuisine as well as impeccably fresh seafood from the Pacific coast of Chile. Hence, recipes such as Empanadas de Bariloche frequently straddle the border.

Tender risotto is favored with Parmesan and Fontina cheeses in these addictively crispy cakes.

Preserved lemon, an essential ingredient in Moroccan cooking, is made by pickling lemons in salt, lemon juice, and olive oil. Here, preserving just the peel (begin at least a day ahead) is an easy way to add an exciting note to the crème fraäche.

This summer, Marino grew about 85 tomato varieties in his garden; he uses his harvest in this caprese. Burrata cheese, a fresh mozzarella filled with cream and curds, is available at some supermarkets, Italian markets, and cheese stores. Fresh whole-milk mozzarella can be substituted.

A great substitute for the truffle butter is an equal amount of plain butter seasoned with a drizzle of truffle oil. Parmesan cheese rinds are available at cheese counters and cheese shops.

This classic Italian dish is said to have been created in the 1800s after the opening night of Bellini's opera Norma.

At the restaurant, this dish is drizzled with tomato sauce, then garnished with salami and sautéed zucchini.

To make this dish even more decadent, add cooked chopped pancetta or cooked and crumbled smoked bacon.

In Big Timber, a town of seventeen hundred people just northeast of us, lives Susan Pauli, a great gal and wonderful cook who is in great demand as a caterer. She makes this unusual summer creation as soon as the local watermelons have ripened. The pink color is gorgeous, and the salad travels well. Who would have thought that feta cheese and black pepper together would enhance the taste of watermelon?

Taleggio is an Italian semisoft cheese. Its mildly piquant flavor sharpens with age and pairs especially well with the black truffles and prosciutto in this dish. Taleggio stands up to big Italian wines, like Barolo and Barbaresco.

This is an intriguing mix of sweet and savory. Sharp white cheddar is a good substitute for Manchego cheese.