Italian

Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

This simple union of two splendid regional specialties is eaten throughout Emilia-Romagna.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Nudies? In Florentine dialect they’re called gnudi, nudies, poking fun at a dish from the Casentino, a neighboring area that makes their greens and ricotta gnocchi with the same filling Florentines use for ravioli. Nudies because they’re not wearing pasta. Pronounced YNOO-dees. Spinach is used in Florence but wild greens are common in the mountainous Casentino. And ravioli are stuffed with wild greens in many regional recipes. Use wild greens if you can get them, otherwise use chard or spinach, whichever is fresh and tender. Traditionalists may want to search for sheep’s milk ricotta, which yields richer results, but everyone else can get by with whole cow’s milk ricotta. Drain watery ricotta in a metal sieve for 30 minutes if necessary. Cooks in search of a labor-intensive experience can form nudies by hand, one at a time, or use the 2-spoon French quenelle method. I prefer to pipe the mixture from a plastic bag onto a floured countertop, sprinkle the blobs with flour, and lightly roll to form walnut-sized, roughly shaped balls. Serve the nudies with melted butter or tomato or meat sauce, sprinkled with Parmigiano, and baked in the oven to melt the cheese.

This recipe, from Lord and Baroncini's cookbook, calls for simmering a small amount of tomatoes for over an hour. The result is a rich, concentrated sauce. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

Caramelized Fresh Fruit These crackly-coated fruits bring back childhood memories of candied apples. I've given the Roman recipe here; in Venice, where they're coated with a thicker layer of caramel, they are called golosezzi veneziani. Set aside about 1/2 hour for the caramelizing and finish the procedure no more than 1 1/2 hours before serving so that the fruit remains crisp.

Cornmeal may be either fine- or coarse-grained. Both work well in the following recipe; we used a fine-grained variety found in most supermarkets.

The dinner menu at the Terrace Dining Room in Phoenix includes this elegant selection. Orechiette, which means "little ears," is a small, round pasta that resembles-little ears.

Stuffed pastas such as ravioli are simple to make, but it is important to keep the dough soft enough to be worked easily. Always roll out and fill 1 sheet of dough at a time, keeping the remaining dough wrapped in plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.

A classic Italian topping, gremolata is usually sprinkled over osso buco.

Although traditional Italian polenta is simmered for nearly an hour, resulting in a very creamy consistency, for the following recipe we preferred the more rustic texture of this quickly cooked version.

This hearty salad combines the richness of baked red onion with the freshness of ripe raw tomatoes. The dressing is a savory vinaigrette with capers and anchovies. It is an ideal dish for a buffet or, with the addition of some good canned tuna, for a light lunch or picnic.

Crema Pasticciera I Campanians are wild for pastry cream. Thickened with flour, rich with eggs, flavored with vanilla, lemon, chocolate, or coffee, it fills cream puffs, sponge cakes, and ladyfingers in all the composed desserts called delizie (delights), and the grandest of all, Zuppa Inglese. It goes under fruits and fruit preserves in tarts, which are called either crostate or pizze. It forms a topknot in the hole of the famous fried Zeppole di Guiseppe, the bignè — or French crullers, you might call them — made in honor of St. Joseph on March 19. Pastry cream is also one of the bases for frozen desserts. It can be lightened with whipped cream, thinned with loquid cream. It also makes a fine sauce, the same as the French crè anglaise. This recipe requires total concentration and a quick eye and hand. The eggs must be heated just to the point that they do their maximum thickening and never so much that they scramble. The starch must be kept in constant motion, too; otherwise it will lump. I find that even with the best technique it is always prudent to be prepared with a strainer placed over a bowl. No matter how careful you are, there are frequently at least a few lumps that need to be smoothed out.

To accompany Chicken and Vegetable Sauté .

"My father was a grilling fanatic,: Sandra says. "I remember him standing over the barbecue in a terrible rainstorm one day when he just had to have grilled chicken. He named this marinade after the village in Italy where he grew up."