Herbs & Spices

I first encountered this sauce while working in Umbria, and it’s one of my favorite summertime pastas. To me, this is Mother Nature’s last blast, her crescendo before fall. This is where you take everything she has to give, all those glorious summer ingredients, and toss them together to let the wonderful flavors marry. Then you just barely heat everything up, never actually letting the veggies cook, so they maintain their fresh flavors. Punctuate this with a salty grate of ricotta salata and say, “Mmmmm . . .”

After culinary school, I spent a year in Italy learning to cook Italian food the way the Italians do, the right way. That year was probably one of the most important of my education; I learned a ton from the chefs I worked for—techniques and methods I still rely on every day. I also learned how to make this dish—which is a total showstopper. Uovo means “egg,” and that’s what this dish is all about: a lovely golden egg yolk nestled in a bed of creamy ricotta cheese all wrapped up in a tender blanket of pasta. Cut these lovelies open and the yolk flows out of the center. It’s an incredibly sophisticated and sexy dish, but deceivingly easy to make—the only catch is you have to cook the raviolis in batches. I realize this may seem like a pain, but it’s really the best approach as these ravs are very fragile (and they do cook really quickly, so it’s actually not that big a deal). I promise it’s worth it, because this recipe will make you a rock star!

I love sugar snaps because they’re crispy, they’re crunchy, and they’re snappy! Just blanch, shock, and cut them into little slivers to enjoy the full sugar snappy experience. To keep things interesting, toss in some minty fresh deliciousness and some salty, crispy prosciutto! Now that’s what I call a summertime salad.

I’m a bean lover but chickpeas are my favorite, so I make them the star of this spicy, satisfying rustic soup. I top off this bowl of comfort with some crispy, crunchy croutons and a drizzle of big fat finishing oil, and it takes me right back to Tuscany!

Mussels are the unsung heroes of the shellfish world; they’re cheap, fast, and satisfying. (I wish more things in life were like this!) My favorite part of making a big pot of mussels is dipping a hunk of crusty bread in the broth. That’s why I add this lovely aïoli to the mix right before serving. This sexy sauce drips down into the mussel juice, giving it a spectacular flavor and the illusion that it’s a cream sauce. It’s super-dunkable!

This is a classic that everyone should know how to do well. The trick here has nothing to do with cooking and everything to do with using only seasonal ingredients. When summer tomatoes are pristine and basil is at its peak, that’s when you want to whip this baby up. By the way, it’s pronounced “broo-SKET-ta”—NOT “broo-SHETT-ta.”

This is another super-cinchy piccolini that packs a big wow factor. Start with high-quality ricotta, mix it up with lots of other yummy stuff, put it in a cute dish, and bake until it’s all warm and melty. Serve this cheesy pot of deliciousness with lots of warm bread, and I guarantee people will call you a rock star!

This is not your ordinary bean dip. A lovely combo of beans, veggies, rosemary, and prosciutto makes this a simple but sophisticated twist on an old standby—and, while I recommend cooking your own beans, popping open a can instead is totally acceptable in a pinch.

Polpettini are delightful little Tuscan meatballs. I love them bite-size, but you can also take this mix and make one big log called a polpettone—either way, it’s delicious! And here’s a tip: For cute and easy serving, cut 1-inch rosemary sprigs to use as toothpicks.

For me, peppers are the gift that keeps on giving. Whenever I eat a roasted pepper it seems to stay with me forever. My sister, who’s a dietician, told me it’s because they have so little acid in them. Knowing this, I came up with a way to do two cool things—eat peppers without having them stick around all day and make a yummy peperonata—simply by adding a bit of sherry vinegar (a.k.a. acid) to the mix. The vinegar adds a lovely brightness to this dish, and the pimentón (smoked paprika) gives it a rich smokiness—both of which are unbelievably good with the creaminess of the goat cheese. Of course, you don’t have to serve this with goat cheese the way I do; you can make a batch of peperonata just to have in the fridge to throw on a sandwich—like a condiment—or to pull out and serve on bread when someone comes over for a drink. This is one of my personal super-secret flavor weapons!

Lots of restaurants put a dish of olives on the table, which always seems like a great idea. The bummer is that the olives usually aren’t marinated very well and so they’re boring. These olives are different: I use all different colors and sizes and add yummy things like big pieces of citrus zest, fennel and coriander seeds, garlic, herbs, and even a little kick of crushed red pepper. The secret is to first warm everything together slowly so the flavors marry; then, once they’re marinated, stir-fry them in a SCREAMING hot pan until they blister and frizzle on the outside. (And here’s a tip: These olives will hold forever in the fridge and it’s just as easy to make a lot as a little—so whip up a big batch, and you’ll always have some on hand.) These are SOOOOO delicious you want to eat them right away, but watch out—they’re hot stuff!

Donuts are usually fairly judged by both the quality of their crumb and the imagination of their topping, but this is one donut you will want to eat straight out of the oven as is. The chocolate swirl creates an interesting balance to all the spice, while also adding a smooth yet crunchy texture.

You may as well commit this recipe to memory because I guarantee you will return to it when you’re looking for that little something extra to add to recipes in this book and beyond. You’ll use it to dunk donuts, drizzle it on Wonder Buns, even slather it on pancakes.

Creamy, light, and sweet—you’ll want to smother this all over pretty much everything. Way overeager one ambitious morning, I even tried it in a cup of coffee. Please do not do that. It is, however, perfect on just about anything else.

Although replacing the sugar in the donut recipe with agave nectar takes the crunch factor down a level, these are equally as important to your breakfast arsenal. If you still want that crispiness and are open to experimenting, try switching out the agave for coconut sugar (helpful substitution suggestions on page 24!). Either way, you can’t go wrong. The donut here is shown topped with the Agave-Sweetened Chocolate Glaze (page 124).

To be fair, bread pudding is an extremely delicious dish that was simply tagged with a terrible name and a rather unfortunate look. As a youngster I could hardly stomach the sight of it, all soggy and sad in its bowl, like a sandwich that had fallen into the pool and then been tossed in the blender. Now that I’m older and smarter, I see the beauty of bread pudding. It’s a day-old visionary’s dream that delivers so much texture and spice it’s suddenly not so hard to understand what keeps it shuffling down through the generations. You can use any bread you choose, just make sure it’s something sturdy.

Making your own tomato-based sauce to dip your cheese straws into or to spread on your pizza is super-easy. At the bakery, we usually toss something together with whatever spare veggies and tidbits we have lying around. The foundation, however, goes a little something like this.

Have you noticed all the gluten-free pizza parlors popping up in major cities lately? I have, and pizza makes me incredibly excited! The end result of my version is simple and traditional—tomatoes, garlic, and a little basil atop a thin crust—even if the crust’s instructions do take some careful minding. Above all else, be absolutely sure to get the finest tomatoes you can find. If you must (and often I must), throw some cheese on top and start piling on as many vegetables as you like—just make sure to roll your dough a little thicker to bear any extra weight. For you traditionalists out there, I have included a time-tested tomato sauce (page 90) as well.

I take my graham crackers extremely buttery and very crunchy, so that’s what you’re getting with this recipe. In fact, this graham cracker is so decadent, you may want to double the recipe so you can deliberately have leftovers. There’s tons of mileage to be gained out of these. Like piecrust, for one! Or donut toppings, for two!

I don’t think I’m alone in my ever-so-slight embarrassment about being a fan of the Nilla Wafer. They are like the frozen burritos of cookies: You don’t particularly crave them, yet every time you’re checking out at the grocery store, there they are. They get eaten. And not because they’re the only things available; it’s because they are sneakily delicious. This is a tried-and-true cookie icon, no matter what anyone says.