Herbs & Spices

No special equipment needed here. Leave the paella pan at the store and let your casserole dish do the work. Packed with fresh seafood and accentuated with the alluring flavor of saffron, your kids may call this pimpin’ dish “The Bomb,” which means it’s good. This dish lives or dies by the freshness of the fish. The beauty of paella is that it is a flexible dish, so talk to your local fishmonger to get recommendations on the best catch of the day. If you don’t like seafood, the dish actually works really well without it, too.

Every time I go to a street fair or the New York state fair, I breathe in the smell of fried dough as it wafts through the crowd and just go crazy for it. So I couldn’t help but come up with my own version of the classic zeppole. But of course I added my own sexy twist: a delicious chocolate dipper! With this dessert, your kitchen will be as popular as the zeppole stand at the state fair.

Think of this sweetie as a giant Linzer tart cookie. Use any flavor of fruit preserves that you want, add a bit of fresh fruit if you like, and have fun making a little crisscross lattice top! It’s super-cinchy—the only thing to remember is to use really high-quality preserves.

I remember these cookies with annoyance and affection. Growing up, every year for my birthday my mother would send me to school with her anise seed cookies. Other kids got to bring cupcakes. I was the kid with the anise seed cookies. It’s not that I didn’t like these cookies—I loved them then and I still do. But back then I just wanted cupcakes like everyone else! Today I’m pretty psyched whenever I get a chance to munch on these lovelies. I even made a version of this recipe during an Iron Chef battle and they helped us win!

Roasted potatoes can be snore city. But when you do them well, they’re simple, totally rustic, and super-delicious. Fingerlings are perfect for roasting because they’re small and creamy, but a mix of red bliss and white new potatoes cut into bite-size pieces works well too. Don’t be afraid to use lots of olive oil, salt, and herbs here—and roast these lovelies until they’re brown, brown, brown. Remember, brown food tastes GOOD!

I’m a fan of anything called hash. When I was a kid my parents would make fried eggs for breakfast and bust out a can of corned beef hash—it was a huge treat. Now I jump at anything that reminds me of hash. In this recipe I mix together sweet potatoes, apple, onion, and, of course, a bit of bacon for my own take on hash—a bit sweeter and certainly healthier than anything from a can!

Some people think of lentils only in terms of soup, but you can do a lot with the lowly lentil. Here I go for a classic flavor combo and add some beautiful bacon into the mix . . . as I always say, everything tastes better with bacon!

This dish reminds me of summertime as a kid. Growing up we had a vegetable garden and we always grew zucchini—one of those veggies that if you grow some, you get a ton. So my mom was constantly coming up with different ways to use all the zucchini we had hanging around—we had stuffed zucchini, grilled zucchini, zucchini bread, you name it. (I took more zucchini bread to my teachers at school than you can imagine!) This preparation of stewed zucchini was one my favorites. Zucchini with tomatoes and cheese . . . HELLO? What’s not to love???

For years polenta reminded me of the Cream of Wheat my mother used to send me off to school with in the morning. It was totally boring. But once I started making polenta for myself I discovered I LOVED it. My special twist? I fat it up with milk, Parm, Fontina cheese, and mascarpone until it’s creamy, decadent, and delicious. Just remember, the kicker here is to season the liquid with plenty of salt in the beginning—it makes all the difference.

I don’t know if my love of beans comes from living in Tuscany or if I was Tuscan in another life, but I adore beans. And when I want a stick-to-your-ribs side dish, I immediately think of Tuscan white beans. They’re creamy and delicious, and they say, “Put me with pancetta!” And I say, “Sure, I’d be happy to.” Then I toss in a bit of rosemary (but sage would be SOOOOO good here too!) and serve these with a yummy porky main—or just on their own for lunch.

Making a whole fish is so cinchy that it’s almost not fair. It looks like you’ve put so much time and effort into it, and it’s so elegant and beautiful on a serving platter, but really, all you have to do is jam a fish full of herbs and lemon and toss it in the oven until its eyeball pops out! I think this is the coolest part—Mother Nature’s own pop-up timer—I bet that’s how they invented the pop-up turkey timer!

To me cauliflower is an underappreciated vegetable, and for no good reason. It’s one of my very favorites and I return to it again and again for many different preparations. I love it because you can cook it to death, literally hammer it, and it just gets better! I find it goes absolutely beautifully with seared fish and a bright parsley salad—this dish is ballsy, bold, and rustic all at the same time.

When I was working in Tuscany I made this dish every day. It’s a traditional osso bucco, but instead of using cross-sections, it uses the whole shank. I love it this way—big and meaty—but if you want to make these into individual portions, have the butcher cut the shanks into cross-sections for you. Because it’s a basic braise, you get started the way you would with any braise—by browning the meat really well and then browning the veggies. The big difference here is I’ve added apples to the soffritto for a little something special. SWEET!

I’m a big fan of nice, thick lamb chops—and I’m an even bigger fan of nice, thick lamb chops deliciously browned all over! That’s exactly what you get with this recipe. Since you remove two bones from an eight-bone rack, these babies are thicker than a normal lamb chop. And, because you sear the chops on both sides—and the fat edge—before schmearing them with the lovely olive purée and finishing them in the oven, the inside stays tender and juicy, and the outside gets a beautiful, delicious, brown crust. Why is that so important? Because brown food tastes good!

Historically, short ribs have been a throwaway piece of meat. But in the restaurant business, part of the job is figuring out how to make the most of every ingredient—which means turning a cheap cut of meat into a super-special meal. However, the secret to braising is out, which means short ribs are no longer an inexpensive cut. Still, with my big brown braising technique, they are totally amazing and well worth splurging on. Be sure to cook these LOW and SLOW—that’s the secret. Take your time getting these lovelies nice and brown, then shoot them in the oven and treat them like a stepchild. Just forget about ’em until they’re tender and crazy delicious!

Rib eye is my favorite cut of steak, especially when it’s on the bone. It’s big and fatty and luscious. And when you add a dry rub, it goes from delicious to delicious-PLUS. Enough said.

Even the simplest roasted chicken always seems like a special dinner to me. I’m not sure why; maybe it’s because making a whole bird is like having a mini-Thanksgiving. The irony, of course, is that Thanksgiving is a huge deal and a ton of work, while there are few dinners faster or easier than roast chicken. All you have to do is buy a nice bird, lube it up, shoot it in the oven, and voilà! You have a beautiful chicken dinner. Add some gravy to that and mmmmm . . . Just for the record, I’m not a gravy strainer, but if you are, knock yourself out!

Grilled chicken is totally ubiquitous—it’s on every menu and it’s usually no big whoop. In fact, it’s often totally boring. But this grilled chicken is SOOOOO worth getting excited about! It’s slathered in mustard, lemon, rosemary, and spicy crushed red pepper so it just titillates your palate with flavor. Then it’s grilled until the outside is tangy, crusty, and crispy while the inside stays nice and moist. To make this as super-sexy as possible, it’s served with a perfectly charred and caramelized lemon half for an extra squeeze of flavor.

When you use my Risotto-Without-a-Recipe technique (opposite), you can flavor it with anything you like. Sweet little rock shrimp, bright lemon, and fresh herbs are one of my favorite combos.

Farro is an ancient grain that’s used in traditional Tuscan and Umbrian cooking—kind of like a cross between barley and wheat berries. I love making farro in the style of risotto—a.k.a. farrotto. By using my Risotto-Without-a-Recipe technique (page 136) and substituting farro for rice, you end up with something rich and chewy and nutty all at the same time. Like risotto, farrotto is a blank canvas for whatever you’re feeling passionate about. Whatever ingredients are in season, whatever flavors you’re in the mood for, whatever’s freshest. Whenever I cook for big events and have to feed a lot of people, I always make farrotto because it’s quick, it doesn’t cost a lot, and it’s a huge crowd pleaser. It’s a win-win-win.