I adore fresh pesto. It is so easy to make and brings incredible flavor to everything: pasta, sandwiches, grilled vegetables, rice, pizza—it’s an addition of something lovely every time. Traditional pesto calls for Parmesan cheese but this one simply omits it and ups the ante with extra pine nuts and lemon. Besides, shouldn’t the basil be the star?
Most people love and remember bruschetta for its bright, fresh tomato and basil components, not so much for the sprinkle of cheese on top. So why not omit the cheese altogether?
When I first tasted this soup, I was speechless. It was so delicious–fragrant, complex, and so, so flavorful. When I saw how simple the ingredients and instructions were, I was even more stunned. You must try this soup!
Vegetarian antipasto ingredients like peppers and artichokes are sliced and diced to make this substantial salad.
Sometimes, you just need things to be easy. You need lunch or dinner to take less than half an hour to prepare, and you want to make it early in the day so that it’s ready when you are. This pasta salad is for just such a day. (It doesn’t hurt that it’s cheerfully bright and ideal for eating outside in the sun.) This perfect pasta salad really only takes as long to make as your pasta takes to cook.
This is more a guideline than a recipe, but it’s what I use when the family is hankering for homemade pizza but nothing but a few pantry and fridge staples to make it happen. Try to use the best and freshest quality ingredients you have available, and dare to try intriguing combinations (I like fresh tomato sauce, minced garlic, cremini, shiitake, and button mushrooms, caramelized onions, and thyme).
Lovingly known as pasta e lenticchie (pasta and lentils) in Campania, a region in southern Italy, this is a dish that combines humble ingredient like brown lentils, canned tomatoes, and pasta of any shape or size, and creates something that somehow feels cozy and familiar with your first bite.
Schiacciata is the Tuscan word for what most English-speakers might recognize as “focaccia.” Aptly meaning “squashed” or “flattened,” schiacciata is flattened with the fingers of the baker, leaving characteristic pockets along the top of the dough that hold little dredges of olive oil and salt. This recipe for focaccia embeds a variety of herbs and thin slices of garlic in the dough before baking. It’s the perfect base for a heaping pile of fresh ingredients, like cherry tomatoes and torn basil.
Our take on a delicious Italian classic. Primavera means ‘spring’ so traditionally, it would contain spring vegetables but we suggest you feel free to use whichever veggies are in your fridge right now.
