Italian

Acini di pepe, the Italian term for "peppercorns," also refers to tiny pearls of pasta. This dish goes well with lamb chops or grilled chicken.

This recipe serves 4 as a main course after you set aside 3 cups to make the mushroom and mozzarella arancini or the mushroom risotto cakes. Otherwise, it serves 6.

Lamb with anchovy herb paste is a classic Italian preparation. The anchovy doesn't come across as fishy tasting — it simply lends a savory note that blends beautifully with the meat.

This fun dish combines classic antipasto platter ingredients with pasta. If you're in a hurry, omit the sautéed mushrooms.

The classic dish is updated by adding oven-roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, and onions to deepen the flavors. What to drink: A soft, fruity Sangiovese.

We used a food mill to coarsely purée the tomatoes, but you could use a blender.

Fresh pizza dough is now available at some supermarkets; look for it in the refrigerated deli case or use thin Boboli crusts. Piave is similar to, but a bit creamier than, Parmigiano-Reggiano. Look for it at Italian markets and specialty cheese stores.

Goes great with: Salad of butter lettuce, radicchio, roasted pears, and toasted walnuts. What to drink: Red Burgundy or Pinot Gris.

I grew up in a household where we didn't eat meat on Friday, which presented a problem because when I was a child, I didn't like most fish or shellfish. My mother solved this dilemma by making me pasta with canned tuna and tomato sauce. This is my adult version of that recipe, made with high-quality preserved tuna with capers and anchovies added to hit the notes one expects in such a classic seafood pasta.

This beautiful pasta dish features a classic trio of Italian ingredients. Bottled roasted chestnuts make preparation surprisingly quick.

Semifreddo al Torrone e Cioccolato The frozen dessert that Italians make at home is usually a semifreddo, which translates literally as half-cold. It comes by its name because a semifreddo always contains some ingredient such as biscuits, candied fruits, nuts, or ricotta that does not freeze solid and hence does not require the freezing power of an ice cream machine. All it needs is an overnight stay in the freezer. The key ingredient in this semifreddo is torrone, the hard Piedmontese nougat bar made from egg whites and almonds that in northern Italy is an inseparable part of any well-stuffed Christmas basket.

Zuppa di Cozze Come la Fanno a Bosa Like other coastal towns on Sardinia, Bosa also has an excellent maritime cuisine. An example is this excellent mussels soup. Two ingredients unique to it are the grated sheep's milk cheese that cooks along with the mussels, deepening their flavor, and the bread crumbs—some Sardinian cooks use couscous instead—that add texture and density to the mussel juices.

Salmone Sockeye al Forno con Peperoni e Capperi Fresh wild salmon, including the late-season ones from Alaska, would be the best choice for this preparation. What to do when the season ends? Well, there are always available steelhead trout and Arctic char and, of course, farmed Atlantic salmon.