This fresh tomato and bread soup is best at the end of summer when the tomato vines carry their most intensely-flavored fruits. It should have the consistency of pappa, baby’s pablum.  A favorite mid-August Ferragosto  dish.  

Serves  8.

¼ cup olive oil

3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped

3 pounds ripe tomatoes, peeled

1 cup homemade chicken stock (see below)

6-8 slices of day-old Italian style whole wheat bread, or saltless Tuscan bread

A handful of fresh basil, torn into small pieces

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Grated pecorino romano cheese, or Parmegiano-Reggiano

Olive oil to drizzle

Heat olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat and sauté onion slightly.

Chop tomatoes and add to pot, along with their juices. Add stock, salt and pepper, and minced garlic and simmer for 10 minutes.

Break up the bread, add it to the tomato mixture, and stir for 5 minutes.  Stir in the fresh basil.

Remove from heat, cover, and cool for one hour.

When almost ready to serve, warm your soup plates. Stir the pappa again, taste and correct seasoning if necessary, and heat it again. Serve with grated pecorino romano cheese and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

For the chicken stock:

Coarsely chop together: one handful each of carrots, celery, Italian flat-leafed parsley, and one medium yellow onion (this combination of vegetables is called aroma or odori; when sautéed they are a soffritto). Saute the vegetables in a little olive oil in a heavy pot over low heat for 5 minutes.  Add 2 quarts of water and one-half pound chicken wings.

Cover and cook over medium heat for one hour. Strain and use the clear broth for soups, risotto, etc.

This dish, good for lunch or as part of a larger dinner, combines the creaminess of basil pesto with the crispy heat of the grilled fish. Use vegetable oil here to saute the fish, rather than olive oil. The pesto can be made in advance without the cheese and frozen.

Serves  4.

Bring to boil 4 quarts of salty water, “tasting of the sea.” Heat the oven to 150 degrees F.

1 lb. tagliatelle or linguini

1-1/2 pounds firm, white fleshed fish like halibut, swordfish, tilapia, or rockfish

Vegetable oil (such as sunflower, corn or canola), for frying

Flour, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic and onion powder to taste, for dredging

2 lemons, cut in wedges, for the table

For the pesto:

3 cups fresh basil leaves
3/4 cup good olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
3 garlic cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (optional)
3 tablespoons finely grated pecorino romano cheese (optional)

Place basil leaves, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and salt in a blender, or you can use a marble mortar with a wooden pestle. Process until smooth; pour out into a large frying pan. Mix in the grated cheeses, if desired; heat gently just before serving.

Here is where you have to multi-task. Ideally the pasta, which takes 10-11 minutes to cook, should be ready at about the same time as the fish. The pasta must be served hot as soon as it's done, so start cooking the fish first, and toward the end, warm the pesto and also the plates!

Cut fish into 1” chunks and set aside in a bowl. Dredge the fish pieces in the flour mixture and saute in a good amount of vegetable oil at 370 degrees F. Brown and cook the fish a little at a time, placing the cooked fish on a warm platter covered with paper towels to hold in the oven until all pieces are done.

About 10 minutes before the fish is done, “throw the pasta” into the boiling water. When it is al dente, drain in a collander and mix it into the warm pesto. Portion out the pasta into warm bowls and top with 5-6 pieces of fish.

Pass the lemon wedges.

1 fennel bulb, sliced very thinly with a sharp knife
Fennel fronds, if available
Handful of arugula, stems removed
6 leaves radicchio, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 orange, peeled and sliced into thin rounds

Dressing:

Whisk together:
3 parts good olive oil
1 part apple or white wine vinegar
Juice of another orange
Salt and white pepper to taste

Combine fennel, fronds, radicchio and arugula in a large bowl, toss with dressing. To serve, spiral and overlap the orange slices onto the top of the salad, drizzle with more olive oil and a little salt and pepper.

Adapted from a recipe which appeared in Bon Appetit from the Florentine restaurant Oliviero. We use Lindt 70% cacao bars which are thin, easy to break up, and delicious, often finishing it off with an icing of chocolate ganache sprinkled with chopped walnuts.

Serves 10.

For the cake:

1 cup (4 ounces) lightly toasted walnuts

3 tablespoons plus ½ cup sugar

5 large eggs, separated, or 6 if they're small

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

6 ounces dark chocolate, broken in pieces, then finely chopped in the food processor

Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan; line the bottom and sides with baking parchment.

In the food processor, finely grind 1 cup walnuts with 3 tablespoons of sugar. Pour into a medium-sized bowl and set aside.

Process the broken pieces of chocolate and pulse till all are pulverized. Blend into the ground walnuts and sugar mixture.

Separate eggs into two medium-sized steel bowls.

Beat the egg yolks with ½ cup sugar "till you can write your name in it", about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla, and stir in walnut-sugar-chocolate mixture. It will be thick and sticky. Wash and dry the beaters.

Beat the egg whites and 1/8 teaspoon salt until stiff. Then, little by little, carefully fold the egg whites into egg-walnut-sugar-chocolate mixture. Do not over mix. When all is blended, pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the torte comes out clean, about 40 minutes. (I think it's better to be too moist than too dry.) Remove from the oven, place on a rack, and leave to cool completely. Before releasing the springform pan, run a sharp knife around the edge of the cake. Release the spring and carefully remove the cake, inverting it on to a plate. Then peel off the parchment paper. If the surface is very uneven, level it off with a sharp knife.

Make this simple classic a day in advance for your next dinner party. It’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser!

Serves  12.

1 liter (4 cups) whipping cream

½ liter (2 cups) fresh milk

200 grams (1 cup) sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 packages Knox gelatin (or 8 leaves of fish gelatin, available in Italy)

If using Knox gelatin, soften as directed on package.

Bring to boil cream, milk, sugar and vanilla, stirring constantly, and then remove from heat. After allowing the mixture to cool a little, whisk in gelatin little by little until entirely melted. (Do not allow the cream to boil with the gelatin or it won’t set.)

Pour into ring mold, a large bowl, or individual serving bowls or goblets, and refrigerate for 12 hours before serving.

If using a ring mold, dip the bottom very quickly (3 seconds) into a pan of very hot water to loosen. Turn it onto a pretty plate and fill the center with pureed cooked fruit, mixed berries (frutti di bosco), sweetened with acacia honey or chocolate sauce.