Starter

This recipe is from Willinger's cookbook Red, White & Greens. She was inspired by chef Fabio Picchi of the Florentine restaurant Cibréo, where creamy-yet-creamless soup is his signature first course. Picchi likes to use meat stock as the base for the soup, but Willinger thinks the flavor is nearly as rich using only water. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 1 hr

(Crostini di Fegatini) Crostini means "little crusts," and in Tuscany, almost every meal begins with a platter of toasted bread slices topped with chopped tomatoes, olive paste or this all-time favorite spread made with chicken livers. Use thin slices of an Italian or French country-style loaf, and serve these crostini with the chicken liver spread on top, or just present the pâté in a pretty bowl surrounded by the toasted baguette slices. Salami and prosciutto would be delicious accompaniments.

These pistachios make an unusual but addictive cocktail snack. The recipe was inspired by some versions we tried at Restaurant Sent Sov‭, in Saratoga, California.

"While in Sarnia, Ontario, on business, I stayed at the Village Inn and had dinner at its restaurant, Monet's Table," says Melanie Cooke of Calgary, Alberta. "I thought I was being adventurous when I ordered the mussel appetizer my first night there. Obviously I'd lost my sense of adventure when I went back the second night and ordered it again."

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

A splash of aquavit is the finishing touch to this practically-no-fat starter.

To make this easy appetizer even easier, substitute store-bought roasted red bell peppers for the home-roasted ones.

(MINESTRA DI CAMPAGNA) Creativity with simple ingredients is one of the themes of Sicilian cooking. There's no better example than this bean and vegetable soup, which some say evolved from food that fifteenth-century galley cooks made for mariners. Serve an island dry red wine such as Corvo with this.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 30 min

Serve these over rice as a main course, or offer as an hors d'oeuvre.

Try these inside an omelet, with steak or on toast as a first course or snack.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

In Sweden various combinations of matjes herring — a type of herring cured in a spiced sweet-and-sour brine — are eaten with the first tender white potatoes of the season. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

A delicious take on lasagne, made with tube-shaped pasta instead of long noodles.