Italian American

The heat of the cooked spaghetti wilts the mixed greens in this lemony warm pasta salad. Dry Monterey Jack is an aged Jack cheese similar to Parmesan.

At the restaurant, the gnocchi are shaped in a time-honored manner that includes pressing each short dough piece against the tines of a fork. Home cooks may find it simpler to roll the dough along the wires of a whisk, as outlined here. Also, if you can't get ground chuck, buy a boneless chuck roast, and ask the butcher to grind it for you.

A salad, some crusty bread and wine are all that's needed with this hearty pasta dish. For the wine, consider serving a bottle of Chianti or Sangiovese.

If you cannot get turkey breast already packed, buy a whole turkey and use the breasts for this dish and the thighs for Turkey Chili.

Coffee Semifreddo "Drowned" in Coffee We have served this dessert at Pó for six years and it is consistently my favorite—a kind of adult milkshake. Be careful to use decaf for the bathing liquid, or your guests may be up yakking all night.

Healthy bonus: Vitamin C and beta-carotene from the squash

Serve this with crusty bread to soak up the delicious olive oil.

A bagged lettuce mix with "Mediterranean" greens would go nicely here when tossed with red wine vinaigrette and served with ciabatta bread. End with pears and a plate of bittersweet chocolate-nut toffee.

This dish has wonderful smoky flavors and just a touch of sweetness. Using oven-ready lasagna noodles simplifies the preparation.

These are called arancini (little oranges).

Add a glass of rosé and some crusty Italian bread to make a perfect summer lunch.

This pizza is made with no toppings other than oil and salt and should be served as a snack. It's not really a cracker, but it's crisper than focaccia. Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 25 min

This float was inspired by the Italian dessert affogato al caffé, which consists of ice cream that has been "drowned" in hot coffee. We added caramelized sugar to the coffee for extra depth and topped it all off with whipped cream, toasted nuts, and chocolate shavings. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 30 min

"This favorite was inspired by my wife's penchant for sweet onions and mine for bitter greens," says Joe Archibald of Kensington, Connecticut. "The creaminess of the chèvre is set off nicely by the tartness of the vinegar." Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr