European

This Italian-style stew — called cioppino — makes a hearty supper. Serve it with a green salad, garlic bread and a crisp white wine.

Caffelatte is what Italians of all ages have for breakfast at home. For small children it is a cupful of warm milk lightly stained with coffee, the ratio of coffee to milk increasing with one's years. It is often accompanied by some store-bought biscuits, but not in my assistant Nadia's family. She lives on her father's farm outside Venice with her husband and small boy, and for her son Tommaso she bakes wholesome cakes with fresh fruit. He has some with his caffeelatte and takes another piece to school to eat for merenda, recess. I was particularly taken with the cake Nadia makes when there is no more summer fruit on the farm. She uses pears and apples and always adds a banana she buys in town. The proportions of one fruit to another may vary, and indeed Nadia says they always do, but nothing much can go wrong or affect the cake's plainspoken, engagingly fresh taste.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Here, meltingly rich veal shanks combine wonderfully with the chewiness of orecchiette, ear-shaped pasta shells made of semolina (coarsely ground durum wheat).

The pleasingly chewy biscotti are coated on one end with white chocolate. In our test kitchen, imported white chocolate, such as Perugina or Lindt, yielded the best results.

Active time: 35 min Start to finish: 35 min This recipe makes good use of the tail-end portion of a tenderloin.

Speculoos, a specialty of Belgium in which flat gingerbread cakes are cut into different shapes, are the inspiration for this recipe. Similar cookies called speculaas are made in Holland, Germany and Austria. These are decorated with melted white chocolate and some pretty red sugar.

In Rome, this pasta would be served as a first course, but we prefer it as a main course. Traditionally, Romans don't use heavy cream in this dish, so you won't find any here either. Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 25 min

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Squid is popular all over the Mediterranean; it's especially good in this tangy dish, which is nice as an appetizer. If you would like it to be less tart, just stir in a little extra olive oil before serving.

These bruschette from the cookbook Simple to Spectacular by Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman (Broadway Books), look both simple and beautiful. Each is topped with an array of mushrooms—shiitake, cremini, and chanterelle —that is set off by fresh tarragon. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 45 min

As with many widely made classic dishes, the recipe for alubias de Tolosa will vary with each Basque cook; however, this version is fairly representative.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.<P> This recipe originally accompanied epi:recipeLink=101054"Pineapple Rum Trifle Cake</epi:recipeLink>.