European

This is one of the most delicious tarts there is. The apples caramelize on the bottom of the pan, the pastry bakes crisp and brown on top of the fruit, and the whole tart is flipped upside down, revealing the dark caramel-drenched apples.

I like to make these meatballs about the size of Ping-Pong balls and toss them with tomato sauce and spaghetti. Sometimes I make them a bit smaller, roll them while still hot in grated Parmesan cheese, and serve them as an hors d’oeuvre.

This is more than a soup; it is a generous meal fit for a gathering, and it has everything I love about food and flavor. I learned to make it from my French “mother,” Lulu. It’s one of the longest recipes in the book, but taken in parts it is not hard to make. I think of it as several steps: first make a fish stock, then prepare the fish and shellfish; make the rouille (garlic mayonnaise flavored with pepper purée); make the soup base with vegetables and the fish stock; toast garlic croutons; and finally put it all together, cooking the fish and shellfish in the deeply flavored soup base, and serve it with rouille and croutons to pass at the table.

Bourride is another Provençal fish soup, this one thickened with garlic mayonnaise. The broth is smooth, luxurious, and redolent of garlic.

A court bouillon is a quickly made aromatic vegetable broth for poaching fish. (In French, bouillon means “broth,” and court means “short.”)

For a very colorful ratatouille use different colored peppers, squash, and tomatoes. Don’t hesitate to double this recipe, as any ratatouille left over will taste even better the next day.

This recipe is for a simple filling that works equally well as a stuffing for cannelloni or squash blossoms. The stuffed blossoms can be poached or baked.

The difference between good lasagna and divine lasagna is making it with silky, fresh pasta.

This pasta works well with little clams in their shells or with large clams steamed open, removed from their shells, and chopped.

The trick to saucing pasta with pesto is to loosen the noodles with hot pasta water. It makes all the difference.

I love the flavors of spicy garlicky sausage together with nutty greens such as broccoli rabe. Besides fusilli noodles, penne rigate, orecchiette, or any other large toothy pasta shape is good for this sauce.

The wide, hand-cut fresh egg noodles called pappardelle are classically sauced with ragùs and hearty sauces like this one.

Bucatini is the classic pasta for this sauce.

This is the sauce you need to make pasta alla puttanesca, a specialty of Naples.

This is not a particularly traditional version of this recipe, but if you have ripe delicious tomatoes, it makes a beautiful piquant summer soup—a sort of liquid salad—that’s worth all the grating, pounding, and dicing. For a light summer meal, add a few shrimp—or other fish or shellfish—to the soup.

A panade is a thick soup made of layers of bread, vegetables, and cheese moistened with broth or water and baked until soft and golden. This onion panade is a hearty, homey soup bursting with sweet onion flavor.

Italy’s national dish, pasta e fagioli, is easy to make and is a wonderful way to serve fresh shell beans (see page 76). Most any kind of fresh shell bean will do, but cranberry and cannellini beans are traditional choices.