Italian

A sophisticated main course.

Purchased Boboli crusts make these pizzas a snap to prepare. Offer prosciutto and melon as another appetizer.

In Alba, and throughout the region of Piedmont, a pumpkin-like squash called zucca is found on many fall menus. Butternut squash substitutes nicely here.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The ciabatta does require a simple sponge but it takes only a few minutes to put together the day before making the bread. Though the dough for ciabatta is very wet and sticky, resist the temptation to add more flour. For this recipe you will need a baking stone or unglazed "quarry" tiles. Baking stones are available at cookware shops and by mail order from The Baker's Catalogue, tel. (800) 827-6836. Tiles are also available at the above sources as well as at many tile stores listed in the Yellow Pages.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. If you have Arborio rice on hand, use it in place of long-grained rice.

In Italy, the panna cotta (molded cooked-cream dessert) at each restaurant was different: Some included hazelnuts; some were made with eggs and some without. Taking a few liberties of our own - most notably adding sour cream - we created the following superb rendition.

Team this dish with roasted potatoes, green beans tossed with shallot butter, and a bottle of Pinot Noir. To finish, buy a lemon cheesecake from your favorite bakery.

Ciabatta is a wonderfully chewy classic Italian bread that is being rediscovered by specialty bakers around the country. Look for a rather wide, flat, flour-dusted bread, whether shaped into rolls or loaves. The rolls we used were 4- to 5-inch rectangles, but one or two ciabatta loaves would work equally well. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

On the island of Corsica, whole fish is simply baked or grilled for maximum flavor. Local cooks often use mountain trout, sea bream, grouper or mullet, but you can use sea trout, lingcod or sea bass with good results.

An inviting first course would be grilled or roasted vegetables tossed with olive oil and arranged on a platter with olives and spicy peppers. Buy some tiramisu for dessert.

Creating her own versions of restaurant dishes is a hobby of Christina's. This is her interpretation of a pasta she had while dining out in San Francisco.