European
Whole-Wheat Pasta with Lentils, Spinach, and Leeks
If you like, grate some Parmesan cheese over the tossed pasta just before serving, or offer grated cheese on the side.
Basic Potato Gnocchi
You can use this recipe to make spinach gnocchi: Thaw 1 10-ounce package frozen spinach, very finely chop the leaves, and squeeze out the moisture. Add it to the potatoes in the bowl, and sprinkle with an additional 2 tablespoons flour. Formed gnocchi can be refrigerated on a floured baking sheet, uncovered, up to 12 hours.
Penne with Basil and Caciocavallo
If you have trouble finding caciocavallo cheese, you can substitute grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Ravioli Stuffed with Fava Beans, Ricotta, and Mint with Brown Butter Sauce
You can substitute fresh or frozen peas for the fava beans. Drain the ricotta in a sieve set over a bowl for about 10 minutes to remove excess liquid. Try to find the denser buffalo ricotta for this recipe. If you use regular ricotta, the filling won’t be as thick.
Grilled Quattro Formaggi Pizzas
This Italian classic typically showcases four cheeses (“quattro formaggi”) with different characteristics. For our rendition, we topped the crust with fontina (semifirm), mozzarella (soft and fresh), Gorgonzola (blue-veined), and Pecorino Romano (hard and aged).
Pizza Dough
The dough is easiest to handle when it’s well chilled—keep it in the refrigerator until right before it hits the grill. Depending on the size of your grill, you can make more than one pizza at a time. (Instead of making six pizzas, another option is to make four large ones; cut the dough into quarters before rolling it out.) If you don’t own a grill, you can make the pizzas on a grill pan.