Quick

In my more rebellious stages, I wouldn’t have touched a zucchini muffin with a 10-foot spiked-leather glove. But as Black Sabbath tendencies have given way to Doobie Brothers practices, this comforting spiced muffin has become a staple. By adjusting the amount of zucchini, you can alter the loaf’s moisture. For a lighter bread, reduce the zucchini by 1/2 cup. (Before you do, though, keep in mind that this versatile vegetable is rich in potassium, which keeps muscles strong, regulates blood pressure, and mellows anxieties—it’s something we could all do with a little more of.)

This nutty powder is a great garnish. I use powders like this whenever I want to add flavor to a dessert without adding heaviness. My buddy and fellow pastry chef Sam Mason developed this as peanut butter powder when he was working at the restaurant wd-50 in New York. He shared the technique with me, and I’ve adapted it to make a praline powder perfumed with citrus.

Sure you can spoon this sauce over ice cream, but you can also make it to serve with waffles or pancakes. Or even as a dip for toasted Brioche (page 194).

Sometimes you don’t need to manipulate an ingredient to get the most out of it. The simple roasting here gets to the best flavors in the apricots.

I love champagne and it’s a natural in desserts. This sorbet captures the airiness and effervescence of the wine, and adding a hint of lemon makes it super-refreshing. Champagnes differ in their sugar contents, which will affect whether or not the sorbet will freeze, so be sure to use Veuve Clicquot yellow label for this recipe.

I often put these nuts under ice cream, but they make a great bar snack, too.

I use a lot of vanilla beans in the restaurant, and I always reuse the pods, rinsing and drying them before storing. Sometimes they become a garnish (see page 186), but often I use them to make this perfumed sugar.

This is an important building block in so many dessert recipes. Since the sugar has been dissolved, you can add sweetness to delicate fruits such as berries or citrus without heating them, thus keeping their flavors fresh and pure. This keeps practically forever in the refrigerator.

The tang of crème fraîche works as a balancing agent in this vanilla-speckled cream, making it a great contrast to sweet things like fruit.

I really like the combinations of flavors and textures that result when soft-curd cheeses are served with poached fruit. In this dessert, I add to that by layering on an icy granité and a crisp cracker. I’m not giving you a yield here, since this is more of a combination of flavors than anything, and you can make as many as you like.

Chef Alex Lee used to serve a tomato mosaic at Daniel, and when I got two super-ripe watermelons, one yellow and one red, I mimicked the appearance of his savory dish on my dessert menu. The cheese and granité add depth of flavor. I’m not giving you a yield here, since this is more of a combination of flavors than anything, and you can make as many as you like.

So this, my finale, is the ultimate in Everyday Italian cooking. Sure, there’s some cheating involved—I’m not asking you to bake a pound cake. But this distinct combination of Italian flavors will transport you to a piazza-side café, nibbling this great dessert, sipping espressos, and people-watching, instead of struggling in the kitchen for hours upon end. That’s been my goal in this book. I hope I’ve succeeded

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.

A simple, light, and versatile dressing that can be used to top any salad. The honey adds a little sweetness and rounds out the flavors.

The beauty of a dish like this is that you get just enough meat to feel satisfied that you’ve had a substantial meal, but you’ve actually consumed a much greater proportion of healthy greens than of red meat. Plus, it can serve four people on the budget of one steak.

This classic Italian-American dish is a prime example of a versatile preparation—you’ll find Marsala recipes made with veal, pork, chicken, and even steak. Not surprisingly, the key is the Marsala wine, which for centuries has been one of the prized treasures of Sicily. It’s a fortified wine—like Portugal’s port or Spain’s sherry—and can be either sweet, which is the type used for cooking, or dry.

This famous T-bone recipe from Florence is the perfect steak: The outside of the meat caramelizes when it hits the hot grill, and the light garlic aroma and final drizzle of olive oil provide just the flavor elements to make a great piece of meat into a fantastic entrée.

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.

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.

This is not merely everyday Italian, but Italian food in a flash. This dish would also work with penne, but definitely try to use one of these short tube shapes, which mimic the shape of the asparagus pieces and make for a beautiful presentation; with spaghetti, it’s just not the same.