Recipes

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

Nancy Harmon Jenkins

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

Molly O’Neill · NYT Cooking

Molly O'Neill

Molly O’Neill · NYT Cooking

Molly O'Neill

Molly O’Neill · NYT Cooking

Molly O'Neill

Molly O’Neill · NYT Cooking

Molly O'Neill

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

This is the kind of quick, simple dish Italians often throw together after an all-night party or when spirits are flagging and an infusion of food is called for. Other types of long, thin pasta, like vermicelli, linguine or taglierini, may be substituted. If anchovies are omitted, adjust the salt in the sauce.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

The most elegant pasta dish that Italian cooks have ever invented is astonishingly simple to make. Here, the magical green sauce is tossed with trenette (or any long pasta you can twirl around a fork), tender slices of potato and barely blanched green beans.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

A simple tomato sauce, made from fresh or canned tomatoes, is the foundation for vast numbers of dishes, but it is also very good on its own. This recipe makes twice the amount of sauce needed for the dish. The rest can be refrigerated or frozen. Use fresh tomatoes, but only if they are very ripe, sweet and flavorful; about two pounds will do. Peel, seed and coarsely chop them before adding them to the saucepan. A pinch of sugar will help to accentuate the natural sweetness. Fresh tomatoes will need to cook about 10 minutes longer than canned.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

Seasonal vegetables can be substituted for the ones in this recipe. Lightly steamed green beans, broccoli or cauliflower broken into small pieces work well in place of the zucchini; shredded spinach or other greens can take the place of the eggplant.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

Nancy Harmon Jenkins

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

Nancy Harmon Jenkins

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

This recipe came to The Times in 1994 via Paola di Mauro, an Italian grandmother who lived, cooked and made wine in Marina, a small suburban town some 12 miles southeast of Rome. She was one of a band of cooks, mostly women, stretching back over generations, who have formed Italian cuisine, maintained its traditions and made it one of the world's most beloved and sought-after cooking styles. Italians sometimes call it "cucina casalinga," roughly translated as "housewives' cooking." But with its intense concern for the quality of primary ingredients and its care to combine them in a judicious balance of flavors, it is much more than that. Use the best ingredients you can find. Then let the simplicity of the preparations work its magic. Nancy Harmon Jenkins

Julia Moskin · NYT Cooking

Meat sauce is one of the recipes many American home cooks start with. It seems so easy; brown some hamburger, pour in a jar of marinara, and presto! Meat sauce. Not so fast, friends. Made that way, your sauce may be thin-tasting, sour, sweet, or — worst of all — dry and chewy. Meat sauce with deep flavor and succulent texture isn’t harder to make; it just needs more time and a low flame. This recipe from the New York chef Sara Jenkins, who grew up in Tuscany and has cooked all over Italy, shows how it’s done. Caramelization is involved; dried pasta and canned tomatoes are best practice; and pork, not beef, is the meat of choice. If your sausage meat seems timidly flavored, feel free to add chopped garlic, chile flakes, fennel seed and/or dried herbs like oregano and sage to the meat as it browns. Julia Moskin

Melissa Clark · NYT Cooking

Torta rustica (also called pizza rustica) is a rich, ricotta-stuffed pie that’s traditionally baked for Easter in Southern Italy. This version includes greens (either spinach or chard) for color and freshness. The ham is optional; feel free to leave it out, or substitute chopped olives or sundried tomatoes if you’re looking for a similar savory bite. The crust, adapted from Nancy Harmon Jenkins’s 2007 cookbook, “Cucina del Sole,” is sturdy and slightly sweet, which makes a nice contrast to the salty filling. (For more on producing a lattice-style crust, see our How to Make Pie Crust guide.) Melissa Clark

Nancy Arum · NYT Cooking