Light Dinner: Calzone and Sauteed Kale

If you have pizza dough on hand, it’s a snap to get an easy meal like this on the table on a weeknight. I recently found out how easy it is to make pizza dough and freeze it (here’s the recipe). I think frozen pizza dough works better for making calzones, because you don’t have [...]

How to Make Eggplant Parmesan

Now is the time for eggplant. If there is none in your garden, surely there is plenty at the farmers market. A lot of people don’t like eggplant, but I think that’s mainly because of how it’s cooked. Eggplant is the sponge of the vegetable world; when fried, it can absorb a lot of grease and [...]

Bruschetta with Cheese and Peppers

I made these bruschetta for a light supper last night, and I thought they were scrumptious. The combination of spicy, tangy peppers and flavorful cheese just hit the spot. I might make these again for a party, a snack or lunch.
These bruschetta were inspired by a much more complex recipe that involved three kinds of [...]

Homemade Pizza Is Easy — Really

Dear Mark Bittman, I have to apologize for having doubted you and not believing that it really is as easy as you say it is to make your own pizza dough. For a long time I have resisted because I believed that making all doughs is difficult. But I finally broke down and tried your [...]

Italian-Inspired Tuna Melt

Ah, the tuna melt. Nostalgia on a plate. It brings back vacation lunches and those carefree days of childhood when I could eat all the cheese and mayonnaise I wanted.
I have been having this more “grown-up” version of a tuna melt, inspired by Italian flavors, for lunch this week. While it’s still comfort food, it’s [...]

Fresh-from-the-Garden Minestrone

This minestrone recipe is designed to take advantage of whatever is growing fresh in your garden right now. While you may want to stick to the combination of root vegetable, squash, beans and greens, substitutions can and should be made depending on what’s available. What makes this soup really tasty is the “garnish” of bacon, [...]

Green Beans with Bacon and Sage

Image via Wikipedia

This is a super-simple side that is also delicious. Try it alongside any Italian-style dish. I enjoyed it with mushroom-stuffed ravioli in a simple tomato sauce. To be really authentic, you could substitute pancetta for the bacon, of course, but sometimes we must make do with what we have on hand. Still, as [...]

Pasta with Broccoli & Mozzarella

Pasta with garlic and oil is one of the most basic pasta dishes, which I imagine most people can make without even consulting a recipe. Because it is so simple, it lends itself well to variations. This is one of my favorites.
Although I make pasta about once a week, I do not like the time [...]

Pasta with Spinach and Tomatoes

Just as there are five basic plots in literature*, I believe there are five basic pasta sauces. They are garlic and oil, butter, white sauce, vegetable sauce and tomato sauce. But for each of these sauces, there are endless variations. Once you know how to make these five recipes — and they are all very [...]

A Light Green Frittata for Spring

Usually, when I make frittata, it’s a last-minute dinner designed to minimize cooking while using up the odds and ends in the vegetable crisper. But last night, I decided to make a frittata that celebrates the bounty of fresh herbs returning to my garden, and it was so good, I wanted to share the recipe. [...]