Herbs & Spices

In the cantine or kitchens of Naples, you’re likely to see, hanging from strings, clusters of pomodorini (cherry tomatoes) put there at summer’s end to preserve their flavor for the cold winter months ahead. Because of their dry texture, these pomodorini are ideal for topping pizzas. If you’d like to approximate the texture and taste of cantina-dried pomodorini, cut ripe cherry tomatoes in half, arrange them, cut side down, on a baking sheet, and dry them overnight in the oven with only the pilot light lit. If you’re using regular or plum tomatoes, be sure to slice them thin and not to cover them with slices of mozzarella, or else they won’t dry and will make the crust soggy and undercooked.

If you want a really crispy, evenly baked crust, take the time to squeeze the tomatoes of excess liquid when you make the sauce (see following recipe) and drain the mozzarella briefly in a sieve before you put the pizzas together.

To keep them both intact, add the little “pockets” of ricotta and the eggplant pieces just before serving the pasta or turning it into the baking dish. It is one of the nuances in cooking that make a difference. When you take a bite of the finished pasta, you’ll get little bursts of different tastes, which you wouldn’t enjoy if the eggplant pieces were broken apart and the ricotta was mixed in with the pasta. If you choose to bake the pasta, make sure the pasta is well moistened when it goes into the baking dish—the heat of the oven will dry it out a little. You can toss little pieces of mozzarella or Fontina cheese in with the pasta before adding the ricotta and eggplant if you like. Just make sure the consistency of the pasta stays fluid and creamy.

Pesto is at its best when used immediately after it is made. However, it can be refrigerated for up to a few weeks if it’s spooned into a container, topped with olive oil, and sealed tight. If you find yourself with an abundance of basil in summer, make some pesto and store it in small portions in the freezer, where it will last for up to a few months. Frozen pesto gives great freshness of taste to hearty winter soups and pasta sauces. Long pasta shapes, like fresh tagliatelle or dried spaghetti or linguine, pair well with pesto. When dressing pasta with pesto, remember these important points: Don’t actually cook the pesto—you’ll lose its fresh quality—but warm it together with the cooked pasta for a minute over low heat. There should be just enough pesto to coat the pasta lightly. If necessary, spoon in a little of the pasta-cooking water to help the pasta and pesto glide into a bowl.

Make this sauce with fresh tomatoes only when the juiciest, most flavorful ripe tomatoes are available. (Increase the amount of olive oil a little if you make the sauce with fresh tomatoes.) Otherwise, canned plum tomatoes make a delicious marinara sauce.

Although this method for cooking capellini in a small amount of liquid is a little tricky—and somehow the opposite of everything I have told you about cooking pasta—the end result is a richly flavored pasta with a velvety texture. Be patient and thorough when you stir the capellini into the broth, making sure to separate the strands as they cook.

Picking the mussels from their shells before you toss the pasta together with the sauce means less work for your guests, but feel free to skip that step. If you do skip it, put the pasta on to boil just before you start the sauce. Both will be done at about the same time.

Bocconcini, literally “little mouthfuls,” are small rounds of fresh mozzarella that are often sold wherever larger rounds of fresh mozzarella are made. (If you can find bocconcini made from water buffalo’s milk, they’re even better for this pasta.) Bocconcini can vary in size from store to store. If yours are larger than the type called ciliege (cherries), you may want to cut them into quarters, so they fit neatly on a spoon alongside the pasta. If you can’t find bocconcini of any type, cut larger pieces of fresh mozzarella into 1-inch cubes.

I like to eat the pasta hot with room-temperature sauce, but you could just as well serve it all cold. In that case, toss the tomatoes and pasta while still hot, then set them aside until you’re ready to serve them. Finish the pasta by tossing in the basil and bocconcini and serve. I can go on detailing recipes with minimal changes in the ingredient list or techniques, but what I want to leave with you is not only recipes but the understanding, and hence the liberty and confidence, to deviate from the recipe path and come up with a version of the plate that reflects your personal taste and local produce. When you reach this point, cooking is truly a joy.

Spaghettini is very similar to vermicelli, and both are somewhere between capellini and spaghetti when it comes to thickness. Because they cook quickly, it’s best to remove them from the boiling water when they are still undercooked, and to let them finish cooking in the sauce. I find this pasta very delicate but zesty and wouldn’t serve it with cheese. But if you love cheese in your pasta, have it.

Rice salad can be made with long- or short-grain rice. I prefer short-grain rice, like Arborio, because it cooks up fluffier and absorbs more of the flavors of the other ingredients in the salad. Long-grain rice, like Carolina and Uncle Ben’s, stays firmer and has a more “staccato” effect—that is, it’ll stand more separately and distinctly from the other ingredients. The one good thing I can say about pasta salads is that people feel comfortable improvising with them. Feel free to treat rice salads the same way. Although there are some traditional combinations, like seafood rice salad or shrimp-and-asparagus rice salad, you can really be creative and make any combination. And they are a great way to use leftovers. For this dish, I took the classic salad of mozzarella, tomato, and basil from Capri, added rice, and dressed it with virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Some of my other favorite combinations are shredded grilled chicken, tomatoes, and arugula; cubes of grilled fresh tuna, Gaeta olives, Cerignola olives, cherry tomatoes, sliced red onion, and basil; grilled vegetables like peppers, zucchini, eggplant, and mushrooms with shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano; thinly sliced raw baby artichokes, diced celery, and shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano; rice-salad “antipasto” with cubed prosciutto, mortadella, cacciatorino, provola, Pecorino, Gaeta olives, roasted peppers, pickled mushrooms, and pickled artichokes.

To use in desserts—strudels, crusts, tarts, etc.

To top baked fish fillets, scallops, shrimp, or chicken breasts

I always add diced fresh tomato to this dish, because I think it contributes a little freshness. Now is the time to try to find the Greek or Sicilian oregano dried right on the branch—it makes a difference. Many Greek and Italian groceries will have it. You can buy powdered hot red pepper, but I like to chop up the flakes myself.