Pine Nut

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The use of raisins and pine nuts in lightly sweet-and-sour sauces probably came to Sicily from Turkey; these ingredients also turn up in the cooking of Venice, long a commercial gateway to Turkey and the East, but less commonly in the anchovy-and-tomato sauces that are so fundamental to the Sicilian kitchen. Note that the zucchini in this dish is cooked rather soft, in the traditional Italian manner; if you want a more contemporary crisp product, add the zucchini toward the end for a quick cooking in the thickened sauce.

Don’t skip the first step of salting the eggplant slices; it draws out excess moisture so that the eggplant will absorb less oil and stay firm when cooked.

It seems that we're always agreeing to bring a big salad to an informal dinner party only to discover, too late, that there's no time to make a last-minute salad. No one would guess that this wonderfully fresh salad started its journey to dinner two days earlier — in fact, it requires that extra time to mellow its flavors. It's a very portable salad that can sit for hours at room temperature with no ill effects.

Don't be nervous about making these rich and spicy soufflés — they're durable enough to be reheated. And it's normal for the puffy tops to fall when you remove the soufflés from the oven. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 1 hr

Toss this delicious pesto with 1 1/2 pounds of your favorite pasta, or spread it on slices of Italian bread.

Carol Waddington of Cumberland, Rhode Island, writes: "I recently attended a function that was catered by Downcity Food + Cocktails of Providence, Rhode Island. The appetizer buffet was incredible — I especially enjoyed the scrumptious artichoke hors d'oeuvre." Serve this with crusty bread to soak up some of the creamy cooking juices.

Italians like to have salad after the entrée, so do the same, if you like.

(Panna Cotta con Salsa di Fragole al Vin Santo) As tiramisù became the Italian restaurant dessert of the 1980s, so did panna cotta take over in the 1990s. The original recipe for "cooked cream" comes from Piedmont, but Tuscans have appropriated it. Their version of the eggless custard is often topped with honey and pine nuts, since the Tuscan city of Pisa is Europe's largest producer of pinoli. This recipe incorporates those ingredients into the custard, then tops it off with a delicious strawberry sauce laced with Vin Santo, the cherished dessert wine of the region. Begin making this one day ahead.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Tropical flavors star in this cool indulgence.

Even easier: Use purchased pesto to help speed up the preparation.

White rice, currants and pine nuts also go into the filling for this regional specialty.

You can make this up to three days ahead; be sure to start at least one day in advance.

Ask your butcher to make a "pocket" in the veal breast for you.

While this recipe isn't terribly difficult, it is labor-intensive. We recommend you break it up into a couple of steps: Make the filling, then enlist a friend or two to help you do the rolling the following day.