Epicurious

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Sardinian chef Raffaele Solinas. Solinas also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. In this recipe, a simple fish broth enhances the flavor of the shrimp. Though head-on shrimp can be difficult to find, it's worth the extra effort to seek them out — they contribute depth and richness. The fregola should absorb enough broth to swell and soften, but the dish should retain a soupy consistency. This dish is traditionally served with carta da musica, a crisp Sardinian flatbread, and accompanied by a flavorful dry white wine such as Vermentino.

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Sardinian chef Raffaele Solinas. Solinas also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Solinas and Sardinian cuisine, click here. This pasta dish, similar to a ragù, features wild boar, a common Sardinian ingredient with a distinctively rich and gamy flavor. "A good butcher will carry wild boar," says Solinas. But in a pinch, the best alternative would be duck breast.

This drink was featured as a Cocktail of the Month. Click here to learn more about the Ti Punch.

This recipe adapts a classic outdoor clambake for the stovetop. The ingredients are steamed together in mesh bags that fit easily into a large lobster pot. Although the beauty and drama of unveiling an outdoor clambake cannot be duplicated, this method produces a mingling of flavors that's nearly indistinguishable from the original. "At my Summer Shack restaurants, we literally sell thousands of these indoor clambakes each week," says White. Clambakes vary up and down the New England coast. In Maine you might find chicken and hotdogs, on Cape Cod a whole fish, in other places crabs. One famous clambake held for over 100 years by the "Friends" from Allen's Neck in Westport, MA, features tripe that's braised and wrapped in little foil packages. "In this recipe," says White, "I add Portuguese sausage, which is common around the 'South Coast' area of Massachusetts and Rhode Island." Read more about White and clambakes >.

This is a classic recipe for a Midwest favorite. For a flavorful filling, it's important to use sour (or tart) cherries, rather than sweet.

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Justin Rashid of American Spoon Foods in Petoskey, Michigan. To read more about Rashid and the northwestern Michigan cherry harvest, click here. "This is a fresh, colorful salsa that I make at home — a nice alternative to cooked versions like the cherry-peach that we sell at American Spoon Foods," says Rashid. "Feel free to substitute sweet cherries such as Bings — you'll just need to reduce the sugar to 2 tablespoons."

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Justin Rashid of American Spoon Foods in Petoskey, Michigan. To read more about Rashid and the northwestern Michigan cherry harvest, click here. "In northwestern Michigan, we have more cherries than we know what to do with, so everyone cans to preserve the summer harvest," says Rashid. "I usually make this conserve with our local Schmidts, which are very black and sweet. But regular Bings, or any sweet variety, can be substituted. Be sure they're ripe, but not overripe — plump, glossy, and firm." The conserve is great on toast, croissants, or biscuits, or with bagels and cream cheese. It can even be thinned with a little red wine and used to glaze a roasted duck.

To make this fresh American rendition of panzanella (the Italian bread-and-tomato salad), bake the cornbread one day ahead so that it will be firm enough to toast on the grill.

Homemade ginger beer is concentrated, dry, and noncarbonated, making it ideal for mixing directly into cocktails. The ginger beer's appearance will be cloudy; this is natural.

This drink contains a refreshing combination of ingredients — the herbaceous mint, the tart lime, the hot, spicy ginger, and the crisp, bright gin. When used in drinks, gin's botanicals have the ability to cut through the sweetness of liqueurs and sugar. The botanicals stimulate the palate and keep it feeling fresh and clean. Gin also pushes flavors "forward" (much the way a squeeze of lemon does) without altering the flavor profiles. This recipe makes 1 gallon, which yields approximately 25 to 30 drinks, depending on the size of the highball glasses. This sounds like a lot, but it's not. A gallon would go very quickly for a party of 6 people. For home entertaining, you can premix all of the liquids a couple of hours ahead and then store in the refrigerator. When you're ready to serve the drinks, just mete out the liquid into a mixing glass and muddle a sprig of mint into each. It makes enjoying your own party a lot easier, rather than having to worry about continual prep. And please, no shortcuts here: Do not presqueeze the lime juice more than only a few hours ahead. It loses its vitality quickly. And do not infuse the mint into this (or any drink). It takes on a funky, vegetal quality, which mars the taste of the drink. Using commercial ginger beer is not recommended, as it is too sweet. Nonalcoholic note: Without gin, this makes a very refreshing nonalcoholic beverage!

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Gabrielle Carbone, coproprietor of The Bent Spoon ice cream parlor in Princeton, New Jersey. My husband Matt and I created this recipe long before we opened The Bent Spoon. We have such special memories of picking baskets full of strawberries and making them into this bright reddish-pink sorbet, which captures their fresh-picked essence. We now use it in the top layer in our red, white, and blue cake. Because it's such a simple recipe, it's important to get fresh, organic berries picked at the height of their flavor. At the shop, we don't strain them — we like to keep the fruit as close to its natural state as possible. But if you dislike bits of seeds in your sorbet, feel free to strain the base before chilling it. The quality of the water is important as well — if your water has a bad aftertaste, so will your sorbet — so we recommend using bottled. The optional egg white helps to stabilize, emulsify, and preserve the texture of the sorbet if you are going to keep it in your freezer for a few days.

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Gabrielle Carbone, coproprietor of The Bent Spoon ice cream parlor in Princeton, New Jersey. These peels add a wonderful, bright flavor to our Lemon Ice Cream, but this technique can also be used to make candied lime or grapefruit peel. The recipe can be doubled or tripled to make a bigger batch. Try dipping the peels in bittersweet chocolate for a delicious treat. Because you'll be eating the peel, it's especially important to use an organic lemon (which won't have been sprayed with pesticides) in this recipe. If you must use a regular lemon, scrub it vigorously to clean the outside as thoroughly as possible.

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Gabrielle Carbone, coproprietor of The Bent Spoon ice cream parlor in Princeton, New Jersey. This refreshing ice cream makes a white, creamy layer in the middle of our red, white, and blue cake. As with all cooking, if you start with great ingredients, you'll get great results. Hormone-free milk, fresh cream, and organic lemons make all the difference. If Meyer lemons are in season, try using them for both the juice and the candied peel — you'll be amazed by the wonderful depth of flavor. The candied lemon peels are optional — regular zest can be used instead. But the peels make delicious yellow chunks in the ice cream and are surprisingly simple to make.

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Gabrielle Carbone, coproprietor of The Bent Spoon ice cream parlor in Princeton, New Jersey. This recipe makes a luscious, blue-purple sorbet that's perfect for our red, white, and blue cake. It's a pretty simple recipe — the quality comes from fresh, organic berries picked at the height of their flavor. The quality of the water is important as well — if your water has a bad aftertaste, so will your sorbet — so we recommend using bottled. The optional egg white helps to stabilize, emulsify, and preserve the texture of the sorbet if you are going to keep it in your freezer for a few days. Also optional is straining. At the shop, we don't strain — we like to keep the fruit as close to its natural state as possible. But if you dislike bits of seeds in your sorbet, feel free to strain the base before chilling it.