Italian

This pizza is made with no toppings other than oil and salt and should be served as a snack. It's not really a cracker, but it's crisper than focaccia. Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 25 min

(Viscotti di'Mandorla Banana) These viscotti—Sicilian biscotti—come in many flavors; bakeries use food coloring to give customers a visual clue. In this case, yellow equals banana.

Serve with: Crudités dipped into creamy Italian dressing. Dessert: Sliced apricots drizzled with anisette liqueur.

This float was inspired by the Italian dessert affogato al caffé, which consists of ice cream that has been "drowned" in hot coffee. We added caramelized sugar to the coffee for extra depth and topped it all off with whipped cream, toasted nuts, and chocolate shavings. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 30 min

Carrot Torte This cake is from the Veneto region in northern Italy. Use the sweetest, most flavorful organic carrots you can find—otherwise it will be a big "so what."

(Fagioli all'Olio e Salvia) This is just one of several regional specialties that feature white beans. In fact, beans are such an important historic ingredient in Tuscan cooking that people of the region are called mangiafagioli (bean eaters). Traditionally, the beans in this side dish were cooked in a wine bottle; in modern versions, they are simply baked in the oven or simmered on the stove, as they are in this recipe.

"This favorite was inspired by my wife's penchant for sweet onions and mine for bitter greens," says Joe Archibald of Kensington, Connecticut. "The creaminess of the chèvre is set off nicely by the tartness of the vinegar." Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

This recipe is used to prepare Cod Cannelloni with Swiss Chard and Roasted Peppers . Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

A little grated Parmesan sprinkled on top is a nice addition.

"Biscotti have become very popular recently, but my mother-in-law, Helen, has been baking them for years," says Janet Mercuri of North Royalton Ohio. "Now that I've started using her recipe, friends tell me that my biscotti taste just like their grandmothers' —and I'm not even Italian." These have a subtle anise flavor and would be nice with a caffè latte.

Cioppino is San Francisco's answer to bouillabaisse and, like that famous Provencal seafood soup, is made with a variety of the freshest fish possible. In San Francisco the mixture included Dungeness crab, which adds a unique flavor, but any regional crab will do. If crab is not available, substitute another shellfish. No clams? Try mussels. The point is to treat the following recipe as a guide and use whatever looks best in the market the day you make the soup.

Chris Bianco, the owner of Pizzeria Bianco, in Phoenix, makes our favorite pizza dough. He showed us his technique for our October 1999 issue, and we've been building on it ever since. Here, we've adapted his recipe slightly to make it work on the grill. This recipe is an accompaniment for Grilled Pizza Margherita .

(Spinaci con Pinoli e Passerine) Spinach with pine nuts and raisins is a classic Sephardic dish that appears on tables in Greece, Spain, Turkey, and Italy, where it is a staple on Venetian and Genoese menus. It is a perfect accompaniment to delicate fish or poultry dishes and is often served at room temperature.

(Stufadin di Zuca Zala) As many Ashkenazic Jews emigrated to the Veneto, it's not surprising to find a Venetian recipe for a stew reminiscent of the familiar Ashkenazic tsimmes, in which sweet potatoes or squash are paired with meat for a savory one-dish meal. In Mantua, a similar dish made with a beef rump roast is called brasato Rachele. Despite the use of the squash and Marsala, the stufadin is not overly sweet.