Simmer

Maybe I like rhubarb so much because I started eating it when I was a child; my mother’s strawberry-rhubarb pie is one of my earliest memories. And I love summer fruit soups; that’s something I learned from François Payard. So this combination is a natural for me. You need just the pod from the vanilla bean for this dessert, so if you have saved some used pods, now is the time to recycle. And you will need a whipped cream charger (see page 279) for the foam. You will have leftover consommé (which you can freeze) and foam; you simply can’t successfully foam less liquid than is in the recipe.

Mochi are sweet, filled Japanese dumplings that are served chilled. I’ve been fascinated by them from the first time I had one, but I’d always been told that they could be made only in factories. And since the commercial ones are artificially flavored and colored and filled with ice-hard ice cream, that didn’t surprise me. One day, I promised my friend David Chang of Momofuku that I’ d make fresh mochi for him. It became a mission. Once I learned how to do it, I found that it really wasn’t difficult at all to make the tender, sweet rice dough and flavor it naturally. And since I fill mochi with a compote, they’re fork-tender. The basil fluid gel is an ideal herbal foil to the compote. I use 2-inch demisphere molds when I make mochi, but I’ve found that an egg carton works fine. The secret to the dough is working quickly. This recipe makes twice as much as you need for the fourplay, but I hardly consider leftover mochi a problem. The mochi will keep for 1 day in the refrigerator.

I had never seen a key lime when I was growing up; I thought the juice was something that just came in bottles. Once I discovered the real fruit, though, I wanted to do something with it. So here’s a fresh, brightly flavored version of key lime pie, with a crisp graham cracker sablé standing in for the usual soggy crust. The sauce would also be great over sliced fresh apricots or nectarines. A scale is a must for making this dessert. And you’ll need ten 2 x 2-inch ring molds.

This is the basic tomato sauce that I use the most. It takes a bit of time to make, but it’s worthwhile because the sauce is so versatile—and during the hour of simmering I can be doing other things out of the kitchen. So I double this recipe, freeze it, and use it all week. Store extra sauce by allowing it to cool completely, then pour two-cup portions into freezer bags and freeze for up to three months. The classic marinara sauce is great with any pasta shape. But when you’re keeping it simple, why not keep it truly simple? Go with the classic spaghetti.

The addition of orange and rum are what makes this a very different rice pudding than you’re probably used to. Of course, rum isn’t a typical flavoring in Italian cooking, but once again I’ve taken the liberty of infusing a little New World twist into an Old World classic.

Farro is a type of wheat that was an important component of the Roman Empire’s diet, but it fell somewhat out of favor when more refined wheat products became plentiful in Italy. You’ll still find it on a lot of Italian tables, though, and especially in soups and salads such as this one. Farro is available in Italian markets and gourmet grocery stores, but brown rice or barley could also be used in this recipe.

I love mashed potatoes as much as the next person, but most recipes take a long time—and a lot of elbow grease—to make. So I smash the unpeeled, cooked potatoes with a fork to save time, and I add olive oil and Parmesan cheese to make them rich and velvety. And that’s it!

Caponata is one of the great Sicilian vegetable dishes, often eaten as a relish alongside pork roast or fish. The eggplant-based recipe features a wonderful sweet-and-sour taste, one of the hallmarks of Sicilian cooking—a combination of sugar and vinegar that provides a tingling push-and-pull sensation in the mouth. In my family, we often ate caponata as an antipasto, spooned over toasted bread, and used any leftovers for wonderful sandwiches. It can be eaten hot, cold, or at room temperature, making it the ultimate vegetable dish for a casual party.

Brussels sprouts are a member of the cabbage family—and, in fact, they really do look like miniature cabbage. I think Brussels sprouts got a bad rap from the bad-cooking epidemic that seems to have swept America in the mid-twentieth-century: boiling veggies for so long that they became mushy, flavorless, and colorless. This is bad for nearly any vegetables, and particularly awful for the cabbage family, whose crisp texture (when cooked properly) is wonderful, especially when paired with the crisp, salty pancetta. Try this recipe, and see why the Belgians are proud to lend their capital’s name.

Fra Diavolo means “Brother Devil.” In Italy, this refers to a dish that’s sprinkled heavily with black pepper and grilled. But in America the term is associated with spicy hot-pepper sauces, like the lobster Fra Diavolo that became popular in the 1930s and has been a fixture on Italian-American menus ever since. (It is actually unknown in Italy, where they don’t have the same type of lobsters we do.) I make my version of Fra Diavolo with shrimp because it’s lighter and easier for everyday cooking.

The clam and mussel soups that are specialties of Naples and the nearby coastlines inspired this recipe. I’ve added shrimp for more meatiness and dried crushed red pepper flakes simply because I like it spicy, but they’re optional. Whatever you do, be sure to serve this with plenty of crusty bread; the broth is phenomenal to sop up.

Cacciatore means cooked in the “hunter’s style” (which, translated into French, is chasseur and in fact refers to a very similar dish). In many Italian-American restaurants this can be a greasy, overly sweet sauce with dry, overcooked chicken. But this recipe will make you fall in love with Chicken Cacciatore again; it’s really the ultimate in hearty, rustic Italian home cooking.

Italian stews are called spezzatini because the meat is cut into pieces; spezzare means “to cut up” or “break up.” This is the prototypical one-pot meal: Throw all the ingredients into a pot, and you have a great dinner.

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 is the lightest of the cutlet recipes, with the bright, acidic lemon juice perfectly complemented by the briny capers and the fresh parsley. Be sure to keep your dusting of flour light; you’re not making a thick egg-and-breadcrumb coating.

Saltimbocca means “leap in the mouth”—as in, this traditional Roman dish is so good that surprisingly it will just leap into your mouth. In Italy they make this dish with veal, but I find that the delicate flavors of veal get lost amid the strong tastes of the spinach and prosciutto, and I end up feeling like the very expensive veal cutlets were a waste of money. So I use chicken.

It may seem strange to have a dish using couscous (made of semolina flour) in an Italian cookbook, but couscous is actually a staple of Sicilian cooking. Over the centuries, southern Italian—and especially Sicilian—culture has been greatly influenced by North Africa and Greece, and this recipe is a perfect culinary example.

The secret to the intense mushroom flavor in this recipe is that not only are mushrooms themselves part of the mix, but the risotto is cooked with mushroom-flavored broth. In order to use dried porcini mushrooms—or any dried mushrooms for that matter—you have to reconstitute them by allowing them to sit in hot water for a few minutes, absorbing that water and plumping up. Then the mushrooms are ready to cook with, and you have all this flavorful liquid as a by-product. By all means, take advantage of it: Here, it works as a flavor booster to the chicken stock; but you can also use it as the base of a wonderful soup or sauce.

This is the most basic risotto. But just because it’s basic doesn’t mean it’s not great: This dish is all about the crunchy yet creamy rice combined with the nuttiness of Parmesan. I serve this basic version as a side to main dishes that have strong, flavored sauces, using the simplicity of the rice to offset the complexity of the entrée.

This is the most basic, fundamental version of polenta. It’s the perfect side to accompany a delicious, long-simmered stew. Or you can serve this basic recipe topped with your favorite sauce; I’m partial to bolognese.