Erica De Mane

Recipes:

Sautéed Cherry Tomatoes with Buffalo Mozzarella Bocconcini
Grilled Skirt Steak with Salmoriglio Sauce
Broccoli Rabe with Hot Chili and Cumin
Amaretto-Marinated Cherries

This meal is admittedly a little substanial for a serious dieter. It just might be more appropriate when you’re at the maintenance stage.

Sautéed Cherry Tomatoes with Buffalo Mozzarella Bocconcini

I’ve been finding imported buffalo mozzarella in my Italian market lately that seems much fresher than the stuff I’d been able to buy in the past. I don’t know if this is because more people buy it now and there is a better turnover or if the exporters have finally realized that we know what sour cheese tastes like, but it is certainly nice to have. Look for the little balls called bocconcini; they’re the perfect appetizer size. I’ve been buying ones that are fairly substantial, typically a little bigger than an egg; if you find tiny ones, use two per person. I should mention that buffalo mozzarella has a little more fat than the cow’s milk type. Substitute the latter if you desire.

(Serves 4 as a first course)

4 buffalo mozzarella bocconcini
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves sweet summer garlic, thinly sliced
1 1/2 pints sweet cherry tomatoes (a mix of red and yellow is pretty)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
A splash of balsamic vinegar
A few basil leaves, chopped
A few sprigs of fresh marjoram, the leaves chopped, plus a few whole sprigs for garnish

Choose four small salad plates and place a bocconcini in the middle of each (the mozzarella should be at room temperature and ideally have never been refrigerated, which tends to toughen it a bit).

In a large skillet, heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil over high heat. When the pan is hot, add the garlic and the cherry tomatoes and sauté quickly just until the tomatoes start to burst, about 3 or 4 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper and add a splash of balsamic vinegar, letting it boil away for a few seconds. Mix in the herbs.

Pour the tomatoes around the bocconcini. Drizzle a little olive oil over everything and garnish with the marjoram sprigs. Serve warm.

Grilled Skirt Steak with Salmoriglio Sauce

Skirt steak is an incredibly flavorful and relatively inexpensive cut of beef. It is perfect for grilling but needs to be kept rare or medium rare to stay tender. Get your grill very hot and sear the steak quickly, and you’ll be rewarded with an elegant but quick and easy steak dinner.

Salmoriglio is an olive oil-based Sicilian sauce flavored, at its simplest, with lemon and oregano. Sometimes anchovies, garlic, or capers are added as well, and I’ve actually added all three to this version. Traditionally, salmoriglio is used to flavor fish, but I’ve found that its pungency also marries well with the char taste of grilled meats.

(Serves 4)

For the salmoriglio sauce:

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
The juice and zest from 1 large lemon
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 anchovy fillets, minced
A palmful of salt-packed capers, soaked in several changes of cool water for 1/2 hour and then rinsed
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
A few sprigs of fresh marjoram or oregano, the leaves chopped
A few large sprigs of flat leaf parsley, the leaves chopped, plus a handful of whole parsley leaves for garnish

For the steak:

2 pounds skirt steak
About 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Coarsely ground black pepper

To make the salmoriglio, pour the olive oil and the lemon juice and zest into a small saucepan. Add the garlic, anchovy, and capers and simmer over low heat until it just reaches a boil, about 5 minutes, whisking frequently. Remove from the heat, season with salt and black pepper, and add the herbs. Give the mixture a few more whisks before pouring it into a sauceboat. This is a semi-emulsified sauce and will no doubt break as it sits, but that’s the nature of the thing, so don’t worry if it starts to look a little weepy half way through the meal. Make it right before you start to grill the steak, and cover the sauceboat with foil to keep it warm. This should keep it in good shape.

Set up an outside grill or a stovetop grill plate and get it hot. Pat the steak dry and rub it all over with a few tablespoons of olive oil. Season generously with salt and coarsely ground black pepper.

Grill the steak, without moving it, until nice char marks appear, about 4 or 5 minutes. Turn the steak and grill the other side, about another 4 minutes for rare (leave it a little longer for medium rare, but try to resist letting it go any longer than that). If you’re uncertain about doneness, just poke it with a sharp knife and look inside; remember that the steak will continue to cook a little after you take it off the heat, so it’s best pulled off a bit less done than you like it. Place the steak on a carving board and let it rest a few minutes. Slice the steak thinly against the grain (this will make the slices tender) and place it on a serving platter. Pour on a little of the salmoriglio and scatter on the whole parsley leaves. Bring the rest of the sauce to the table.

Broccoli Rabe with Hot Chili and Cumin

Ground cumin can make food smell like body odor if used heavy-handedly. This is not necessarily bad, but as on people, a little goes a long way. I’ve found that whole cumin seeds produce a much fresher, gentler flavor than ground ones, and they blend extremely well with bitter vegetables such as broccoli rabe (they’re also good on radicchio). And the heat from the chilies brings all the flavors into balance. If you’re not crazy about cumin, especially after reading this paragraph, use whole fennel seeds instead. They’re a more traditional Southern Italian flavor anyway.

(Serves 4)

2 bunches of broccoli rabe, the tough stems trimmed
Extra-virgin olive oil
A palmful of whole cumin seeds
A hot, fresh green chili, minced, including the seeds
Salt
A splash of dry white wine

Set up a large pot of water and bring it to a boil. Drop in the broccoli rabe and blanch it for 3 minutes (it should still be a bit firm). Scoop the broccoli rabe from the water into a colander with a large strainer spoon, and run cold water over it to stop the cooking and preserve its bright green color. Squeeze it dry with your hands.

In a large skillet, heat about 1/4 cup of olive oil over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and the minced chili and let them sauté for a minute or so to release their flavors. Add the broccoli rabe, season with salt, and sauté until tender and well coated with the flavorings, about 3 minutes (try not to cook it longer or it will become mushy). Add a splash of white wine and let it boil away. Add a drizzle of fresh olive oil and serve hot or warm.

Amaretto-Marinated Cherries

If and when you’re not on a diet, try these homemade Maraschino-like cherries over vanilla ice cream.

(Serves 4 or 5 )

1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup Amaretto liqueur
3 strips of lemon peel
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 pounds cherries, with the stems on if you can find them that way

Choose a large saucepan, wide and shallow rather than very deep, so the cherries can spread out and don’t require excessive liquid to cover them. Pour the white wine and Amaretto into the pan. Add the lemon peel and sugar. Boil over medium heat for about 5 minutes. The sugar will have dissolved and some of the alcohol will have burned off. Add the cherries and cook at a low boil for about 5 minutes longer, just until they are tender. They will give up some of their skin color to the liquid, creating a dark red syrup. Turn off the heat and let the cherries cool in the liquid. Refrigerate them overnight to deepen their flavor. When you’re ready to serve them, return them to room temperature. The dish will keep about 5 days in the refrigerator.

Recipes:

Puréed Zucchini Soup with Basil Oil and Ricotta
Sautéed Shrimp with Celery, Fennel Seeds, and Hot Chilies
Peaches in White Wine and Caramel

Puréed Zucchini Soup with Basil Oil and Ricotta

Zucchini is a subtle vegetable whose taste can become muted when it’s mixed with other vegetables. When I cook it I usually cook it alone so I can really taste it. I suggest making this with small tender zucchini, which taste more of vegetable than starch.

(Serves 4 or 5)

For the basil oil:

A large handful of basil leaves
About 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

For the soup:

Extra-virgin olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
2 tender inner celery stalks, chopped, including the leaves
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
About 1 1/2 pounds small, tender zucchini, cut into medium dice
A pinch of nutmeg
Salt
Black pepper
3 cups homemade or low-salt-canned chicken broth (Swanson’s is the best)
A squeeze of lemon juice
1/2 cup whole-milk ricotta
About 1/4 cup milk

To make the basil oil:

Set up a small pot of water and bring it to a boil. Add the basil leaves and blanch them for about 30 seconds. Lift them from the water with a small strainer and spoon them into a colander. Run cold water over them to preserve their green color. Squeeze the leaves dry in the palm of your hand and place them in the bowl of a food processor. Add the olive oil and process until well puréed. Pour the oil into a little bowl.

To make the soup:

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot. Add the shallots and celery and sauté until the celery is just starting to soften and give off fragrance, about 3 or 4 minutes. Add the garlic and the zucchini. Season with nutmeg, salt, and black pepper, and sauté until the zucchini is a bit tender, about another 3 or 4 minutes. This sautéing step before you add the broth is important, as it brings out the flavor of the zucchini and prevents it from winding up with a bland boiled-vegetable taste. Add the chicken broth, turn up the heat, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat back to medium and cook at a lively boil until the zucchini and everything is very tender, about another 10 minutes (cooking quickly at a lively boil will ensure that the soup keeps a nice green color). Purée the soup in a food processor or with a hand blender (the kind you stick right in the soup pot). Pour the soup back into the pot and give it a squeeze of lemon juice. Taste for seasoning, adding a pinch of salt if needed and a few fresh grindings of black pepper. Add a drizzle of olive oil.

In a small bowl, mix the ricotta with enough milk to thin it out to the consistency of yogurt (probably about 1/4 cup).

Reheat the soup if necessary. Ladle it into soup bowls. Give each bowl a tablespoon or so of ricotta and drizzle the basil oil around it. Serve hot.

Sautéed Shrimp with Celery, Fennel Seeds, and Hot Chilies

This recipes takes about five minutes and has so much flavor that I make variations on it all the time. Sometimes I’ll add capers or pine nuts, or a chopped anchovy or two. It’s success depends on getting the pan very hot, adding almost all the ingredients at once, and, most important, not overcooking the shrimp. I serve this as a main course with rice or couscous, but it also works well as an appetizer, with a glass of cold wine.

(Serves 4 as a main course or 6 as an appetizer)

Extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds extra-large shrimp, peeled, deveined if you like, and the tails left on
A small palmful of fennel seeds
1 small, fresh hot red chili, minced, including the seeds
3 tender inner celery stalks, thinly sliced, with the leaves from about 5 stalks, lightly chopped
4 scallions, cut into thin rounds, using some of the tender green part
2 young garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Salt (sea salt is a nice touch here)
A large summer tomato, seeded and cut into medium dice
A splash of Pernod or another pastis (Sambuca or Anisette, though a little sweeter than pastis, can also be used)

Choose a large skillet that will give the shrimp room to breath and place it over high heat. When the pan is hot, add about 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Let the oil get hot, almost smoking, and add the shrimp, fennel seeds, chili, celery, scallions, and garlic. Season with salt and sauté quickly, moving the shrimp around only enough to sauté both sides (too much stirring will cause liquid to be released from the shrimp and vegetables, leading to steaming). Sauté until the shrimp is just tender, about 4 minutes only. Add the Pernod and let it bubble for a few seconds. Add the tomato and the celery leaves, toss gently, and pull the pan off the heat. Finish with a drizzle of fresh olive oil and pour the shrimp into a large serving bowl, pouring any skillet juices over the top. Serve right away.

Peaches in White Wine and Caramel

Peaches in red or white wine were something my father always put together for backyard barbecues, and they were welcome after the meat extravaganza we usually worked our way through first (somehow he didn’t think it was a proper barbecue unless he offered sausages and chicken and ribs and steak). You can make this dish very simply by just pouring wine over sliced peaches the way he did, but I’ve chosen to deepen the flavor with caramel and some spices. I like it both ways.

(Serves 4 to 6)

About 6 ripe peaches, peeled if you like and cut into thick slices
1/2 cup sugar
About 1 cup dry white wine (something light and simple and not too oaky, like a Frascati)
2 or 3 strips of lemon peel
2 whole allspice
About 3 whole black peppercorns
A few mint leaves, left whole

Place the peach slices in a wide serving bowl.

In a small saucepan cook the sugar with an equal amount of water over medium heat until it turns to a nice dark caramel (watch it intently when it first starts turning golden; it can go from there to burnt and smoking quickly). Pour the caramel evenly over the peach slices and let sit for about 15 minutes, to allow the caramel to penetrate the fruit (it will harden a bit). Add enough white wine to just cover the peaches, and add the lemon peel, allspice, and peppercorns. Let this sit, unrefrigerated, for about 1/2 hour before serving. The wine will dissolve the caramel, creating a sweet dark liqueur. You can easily double or triple the recipe to feed a crowd, but if you do don’t double the whole spices or the taste will be too strong. Garnish with mint leaves just before serving.

Recipes:

Zuppa di Pesce with Marjoram Pesto
Arugula, Dandelion, and Cherry Tomato Salad with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

I always find a dish of fresh seafood followed by a salad of summer greens to be a most satisfying meal. I usually prefer my seafood tossed with pasta, but this zuppa di pesce is loaded with enough summer herbs and garlic to make me almost not miss the pasta. The green salad is dressed in Southern Italian style, with extra-virgin olive oil and sea salt.

Zuppa di Pesce with Marjoram Pesto

There are so many variations on fish soup in Southern Italy that I decided to clear my head of them and just make up my own. However I found myself including razor clams, tomatoes, and white wine, ingredients in a stew I was served one night on Ischia, one of the small islands off of Naples, so I’ll have to call it Ischia-style. The Marjoram pesto is my own touch, added for a jolt of flavor just before bringing the dish to the table. Since the pesto contains nuts, it also thickens the broth.

When buying seafood for a stew you can be tempted to get lots of different things, but juggling their cooking times always turns out to be difficult, so I’ve found it best to choose maybe three kinds of seafood and concentrate on cooking them perfectly. That way you can easily avoid winding up with rubbery shrimp, half-raw lobster, and unopened clams. I’ve included only shellfish in this version, but chunks of monkfish, catfish, or any other firm-fleshed fish can stand in for the shrimp. The zuppa I had in Ischia also included baby octopus, which tastes good but has an almost prenatal look that sometimes turns me off. If I can find very small tender calamari, I’ll cut it into rings and add it at the last minute. I find razor clams at Italian markets (in New York they almost always have them at Randazzo’s fish shop on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx and at Citarella in Manhattan); if you can’t find them, just include a few more of the littlenecks.

(Serves 4)

For the pesto:

1 garlic clove
A handful of pine nuts
About a cup of loosely packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
Leaves from a few large branches of fresh marjoram
About 1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
Salt

For the stew:

Extra-virgin olive oil
2 tender inner celery stalks, chopped, plus the leaves lightly chopped
1 medium onion, cut into small dice
2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
1 bay leaf
A small, fresh hot red chili, minced, including the seeds
2 anchovy fillets, chopped
Salt
A large wineglass of dry white wine
4 large summer tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
Salt
1 pound littleneck clams, the smallest ones you can find, washed
About 8 razor clams, if available, washed
1 pound small mussels, washed and, if necessary, debearded
1 pound large shrimp, head and tail on if available, unpeeled
A few sprigs of marjoram, the leaves chopped
A few sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, the leaves chopped
A baguette, sliced

To make the pesto, place the pine nuts and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and grind to a fine crumb. Add the parsley and marjoram, the olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Process briefly, just until you have a not-too-smooth green paste. Transfer to a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressed against the pesto so no air is in (this will preserve the pesto’s green color as long as possible).

Look over all the shellfish, discarding any that don’t close when you either plunge them into cold water or tap on their shells (this means they’re dead ones, which you definitely don’t want in your stew). Choose a large, fairly wide casserole fitted with a lid that will hold all the shellfish after it has opened. Add about 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the casserole over medium heat. Add the celery, onion, garlic, bay leaf, hot chili, anchovy, and a pinch of salt, and sauté until everything is softened and fragrant, about 4 or 5 minutes. Add the white wine and let it boil down by about half. Add the tomatoes and cook at a lively simmer for about 10 minutes (and not longer, since you want to keep the sauce a nice bright red).

Add the littlenecks and cook, stirring frequently, until about half of them have started to open, usually about 5 minutes. Add the razor clams and the mussels (these take less time to open) and cook, stirring, until most of them have opened. Add the shrimp and stir them around so they’re covered with sauce (if you are using large, head-on shrimp, add them along with the mussels, since they take a little longer to cook through). Cover the casserole and turn the heat to low. Simmer very briefly, just until the shrimp are tender, about another 4 minutes only. Turn off the heat and let the casserole sit covered for a minute or so on the turned-off burner (this seems to give everything a moment to blend together, and also gives any clams or mussels that haven’t opened a last chance). Uncover the casserole and stir in the pesto. Serve hot in large bowls with slices of the baguette, toasted and brushed with olive oil.

Arugula, Dandelion, and Cherry Tomato Salad with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

I discovered the idea of dressing salad just with extra-virgin olive oil and sea salt in Sicily. The combination is especially good on bitter greens, where vinegar is not missed at all. Use your best olive oil for this.

(Serves 4)

1 garlic clove, lightly crushed
A large bunch of arugula, washed, dried, and stemmed
A medium bunch of young dandelion, washed, dried, and stemmed
A handful of whole basil leaves
A few whole mint leaves
A few sprigs of tarragon, leaves left whole
About a half a pint of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Your best extra-virgin olive oil
Finely ground sea salt

Right before serving, rub a wooden salad bowl with the crushed garlic, and leave the garlic in the bowl. Add the greens, herbs, and tomatoes. Drizzle on enough oil to coat the leaves lightly (about 3 tablespoons should do it). Sprinkle with sea salt and toss everything gently. Serve right away (olive-oil-dressed salads tend to wilt quickly).

Recipes:

Cauliflower Salad with Saffron, Raisins, and Pine Nuts
Preserved Tuna with Tomatoes, Black Olives, and Red Onion
Cantaloupe with Marsala

This menus is filled with all the sweet and sharp flavors of Southern Italy.

Cauliflower Salad with Saffron, Raisins, and Pine Nuts

Pasta with cauliflower, raisins, and pine nuts is a classic Sicilian dish often served at room temperature. If you’d like to make it, see page 90 of my book Williams-Sonoma Pasta). Here I’ve used those same flavors to create a summer salad. Make it a day ahead if you want to. The flavors deepen as it sits.

(Serves 4, or 5 as a side dish)

1 large cauliflower, cut into small flowerets
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil
2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
Freshly ground black pepper
A pinch of ground clove
A small wineglass of dry white wine
A generous pinch of saffron threads, dried and ground to a powder, and dissolved in a few tablespoons of warm water
A palmful of pine nuts, lightly toasted
A palmful of raisins, soaked in a little warm water for 10 minutes and then drained, if they’re hard
A few sprigs of fresh dill, chopped
A squeeze of lemon juice

Set up a large pot of water and bring it to a boil. Add a tablespoon of salt and drop in the cauliflower, blanching it for about 3 minutes (it will still be somewhat crunchy). Drain the cauliflower into a colander and run cold water over it to stop the cooking. Let it drain.

In a large skillet, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and let them soften for a few minutes before adding the cauliflower. Season with salt, black pepper, and a tiny pinch of ground clove. Sauté until the cauliflower is tender and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add the white wine and let it boil down to almost nothing. Add the saffron water, the pine nuts, and the raisins, and simmer a minute longer to blend the flavors. Add the dill and taste for seasoning. Give it a drizzle of fresh olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice and toss gently. Pour the cauliflower into a serving bowl and let it come to room temperature before serving. Or refrigerate it overnight and bring it back to room temperature before serving.

Preserved Tuna with Tomatoes, Black Olives, and Red Onion

Tuna is in season in the New York area starting in early June, and Phil Karlin, at the Union Square greenmarket, has the freshest, most beautiful looking tuna of all. He carries not only bluefin but also the lighter-colored albacore, which people often pass over. I think they skip it because it’s not gleaming ruby red, but it does have excellent flavor. Either kind is fine for this dish.

Sicily has a long history of tuna canning, and even though the business is not as big as it once was, the island still produces some of the best canned tuna in the world. The tuna is slow-cooked in olive oil, making it very tender. Here is a home version of preserved tuna that takes about 15 minutes and gives excellent results. Use the delicate belly cut if you can find it. Ventresca is what they call this cut in Italy, and the best Sicilian canned tuna is often so labeled.

Preserved tuna can be added to all sorts of salads, and it’s especially good with chickpea, potato, or rice salads. It’s also great included in a hot or cold pasta dish. If you’re adding it to hot pasta or any hot dish, add it at the last minute, off the heat. Cooking preserved tuna spoils its delicate taste and texture.

(Serves 4 or 5)

For the tuna:

About 2 pounds bluefin or albacore tuna, the belly cut if you can find it, cut into chunks approximately 1 1/2 inches thick
Sea salt
2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
1 bay leaf
A few black peppercorns
A few small sprigs of rosemary
A few large sprigs of marjoram
A few long strips of lemon peel
About 2 cups supermarket extra-virgin olive oil (you needn’t use your best estate-bottled oil)

For the salad:

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
2 scallions, chopped
1 garlic clove, sliced
A handful of black olives, chopped and pitted
The preserved tuna, gently broken up
Sea salt
Black pepper
A handful of lightly chopped basil and parsley leaves
Olive oil
Lemon juice

To make the tuna:

Place the tuna chunks in a high-sided saucepan. Sprinkle on a tablespoon of sea salt (the salt both flavors the tuna and preserves it), and give it a good stir. Add the garlic, bay leaf, peppercorns, herbs, and lemon peel. Pour on enough olive oil to cover the tuna by about 1/4 inch. Heat the oil over a low flame until it is hot to the touch but not boiling (this should take about 8 minutes). At this point the tuna should still be a little pink in the center. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the tuna and oil cool to room temperature. The waning heat from the oil will continue to gently cook the tuna through, making it very tender and infusing it with flavor. You can use the tuna right away (just lift what you need from the oil) or cover it tightly and refrigerate it. It will keep for about a week. Just bring it back to room temperature before serving.

To make the salad:

In a large salad bowl, combine the cherry tomatoes, scallions, garlic, olives, and tuna. Season with salt, black pepper, and the basil and parsley. Add a drizzle of fresh olive oil (you can use the oil from the tuna, but I find it a bit strong for this salad). Squeeze on a little lemon juice and toss. Serve on a bed of arugula or escarole.

Cantaloupe with Marsala

Here’s a simple Sicilian dessert to make when cantaloupe is ripe and sweet. I usually don’t get fussy about using kitchen gadgets in my recipes, but I have to say that using a melon baller here makes a difference in the presentation.

(Serves 4)

1 large, ripe cantaloupe
A large wineglass of sweet Marsala wine (a high-quality brand like Florio is best)
A drizzle of honey
A pinch of ground cinnamon
A few short strips of lemon peel
A pinch of salt

Halve the cantaloupe and remove the seeds. Using a melon baller, scoop out all the insides into a pretty serving bowl. Pour on the Marsala and add the honey, cinnamon, lemon peel, and a tiny pinch of salt (the salt heightens the flavor of the melon in a subtle but worthwhile way; my grandfather always ate cantaloupe wedges heavily sprinkled with salt, and that is the concept behind pairing melon with prosciutto). Give it all a few good stirs, cover the bowl, and refrigerate it until everything is chilled, stirring occasionally. Serve cool.

Summer in Manhattan always feels a little too tight and closed in, and if that isn’t irritating enough, just about everyone I know feels too heavy then too. So I’ve dedicated my summer Web site to diet menus. They’re admittedly not the hardest thing to pull off in July and August, when the greenmarkets are bursting with tomatoes, herbs, fresh hot chilies, and even edible flowers, but still, when it comes to reducing, everyone can use a little help.Three main ingredients let me produce the best summer cooking I possibly can, diet or not: my local greenmarket, an excellent fish seller, and first-rate extra-virgin olive oil.

The Union Square Greenmarket is so important to me I actually don’t think I’d be able to live in Manhattan without it. Phil Karlin of P.E.& D.D. Seafood brings fresh fish to the Union Square market from Riverhead, Long Island, three times a week, and I’ve become so spoiled by the utter freshness of his seasonal catch that shopping for fish even at fancy places like Balducci’s makes me critical. He offers a limited local selection, with no salmon (which is actually a relief), but everything he has was caught the night before or that morning, so it’s almost as fresh as the fish I’ve eaten in seaside restaurants on Mondello beach in Sicily, where you can watch the fisherman dock and haul the catch up onto the shore and straight into the restaurant kitchen.

I always treat myself to a bottle of really fine olive oil in the summer, because I use so much of it raw, drizzled over salads and vegetables and as a last-minute condiment for grilled meat and fish. Ravida, the beautiful estate-bottled oil from the southern coast of Sicily, still remains my favorite Southern oil. I try to take advantage of summer fruit as much as possible, and I’ve included a few fruit desserts flavored in the wine-and-sugar mode. The variations on fruit mixed with wine, herbs or spices, and a sweetener are pretty much endless, and with them you don’t have to sweat over a hot oven to turn out a light, first-rate dessert.

I’ve concentrated on vegetable and protein menus because I feel if I fill up on enough real food I’ll stand a better chance of not uncontrollably stuffing myself with bread and heavy desserts, but you’ll notice by glancing at my recipes that I haven’t cut back considerably on the amount of olive oil I use. You may if you like, but I feel that even though olive oil is a fat it’s a healthy fat, and it adds so much flavor to Italian food I consider it my duty as an Italian-American to use as much as I need to get the culinary results I’m after (you’ll also notice there is not a teaspoon of butter in any of these recipes). I stand by my philosophy that if you cut back on starch and don’t eat gallons of ice cream, you can have all the olive oil you desire. If you want to keep the olive oil moving through your body, wash it down with a glass of good wine. If you, like me, are a dedicated red-wine fan who isn’t completely comfortable switching over to white in hot weather, try a Sicilian Cerasuolo di Vittoria; it’s a light, cherry-hinted red that’s best very slightly chilled, and it’s excellent with grilled fish. Valle dell’Acate is a good producer of it.

Happy summer cooking to you.

An Alfresco Summer Lunch

A Soup-and-Salad Summer Dinner

An Elegant Summer Dinner

A Hearty Summer Dinner

You’ll want to avoid using too many strawberries in this, as they can intrude on the rhubarb’s pleasant mustiness. Just include enough to provide depth and sweetness. With the recipe as a starting point, judge the sweetness or sourness of your fruit, and balance the rhubarb-to-strawberry ratio accordingly.(Serves 4, or 6 if you spoon it over vanilla ice cream or sweetened ricotta)

5 or 6 stalks of rhubarb (try to find ones that are thinnish and mostly deep red; a little green won’t hurt, but you want them to be sweet)
About a dozen medium-size, sweet strawberries, hulled and cut in half
The juice from 2 blood oranges and the zest from 1 (if you can still find them in the market this late in the season; otherwise use regular oranges, though they don’t have the blood variety’s sour perfume, which marries very well with the rhubarb)
1/2 cup sugar
A generous splash of grappa (about 2 tablespoons)
A few generous scrapings of fresh nutmeg
A pinch of salt

Put all the ingredients into a large saucepan and cook at a medium boil, stirring occasionally, until the rhubarb is just tender, about 5 to 8 minutes (to cook the rhubarb only until it’s tender but still more or less in chunks, rather than reducing it to a thready consistency, which can happen before you know it, you must keep an eye on it; however, there is something to be said for the sauciness and lusciousness of mushy rhubarb, and it strangely doesn’t loose taste when cooked to that state, so the choice is really up to you). When the cooking is done, see if you need to balance the sweet and tart notes, especially if you’re not using blood oranges: Taste for a good balance between sweet and sour, adding a squeeze of lemon juice, a tablespoon of sugar, or some of both. Serve warm, as is, in a dessert bowl, or spooned over vanilla ice cream or sweetened ricotta (a cup of ricotta mixed with a tablespoon or so of powdered sugar and a pinch of cinnamon).

This dish keeps about 4 days and tastes, in my opinion, just as good cold, straight from the refrigerator. I also love it spooned over toasted Italian bread for breakfast, almost like jam.

Costoletto alla Milanese is a famous Italian dish of pounded veal rib chops, trimmed so the long bone extends halfway off the plate. The veal is breaded and fried and served with a small salad on top. I love this mix of crispy, oily veal with a slightly astringent salad. I’ve given this dish a Southern Italian touch by making it with veal scaloppine, which is thinly sliced boneless veal, cut from the leg across the grain to keep it tender. The cut is a staple of fancy Southern Italian cooking. My mother used to make scaloppine all the time, but she called it veal cutlets. Piccata (with white wine and capers) and Parmigiano (with tomato sauce and melted mozzarella) were her two ways with it.Seasoning the breadcrumbs is your opportunity to give the mild veal added flavor. I use different flavorings when breading different meats or fish; with veal, I really like the mix of lemon zest and thyme.

(Serves 2)

1/2 cup Wondra flour (Wondra is finely ground and tends not to gum up when used for sautéing)
1/2 cup finely ground, lightly toasted breadcrumbs
Salt
Black pepper
The zest from 1 lemon
A few large sprigs of thyme, the leaves chopped
A few scrapings of nutmeg
A tiny pinch of ground clove
1 large egg, lightly beaten
About 3/4 pound veal scaloppine, either in a few small pieces or in two large ones
Extra virgin olive oil

For the salad:

A small bunch of tender young dandelion, stemmed, washed, dried, and cut into small pieces
1/2 pint sweet cherry or tear-drop tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 a small spring bulb onion, very thinly sliced, including some of the tender green stem
A handful of lightly toasted pine nuts
A small palmful of salt-packed capers, soaked in cool water for about 1/2 hour and rinsed
Extra virgin olive oil
The juice from 1/2 lemon
Salt
Black pepper

Pour the breadcrumbs onto a flat dinner plate. Season them fairly generously with salt and a little less generously with black pepper. Add the lemon zest and the thyme, a few scrapings of nutmeg, and a tiny pinch of ground clove (you just want a hint). Mix well. Pour the Wondra flour onto another flat plate.

Put the dandelion, cherry tomatoes, pine nuts, and capers in a small bowl, and set it aside (you want to have the salad ready so you can dress it as soon as the veal is sautéed). I use dandelion in this salad almost as if it were an herb, by chopping it small and using only a little. If you can’t find dandelion, or if you can locate only big, tough bunches, try flat-leaf parsley leaves instead. They won’t give you the elegant bitterness of dandelion, but parsley’s fresh herbiness goes very well with the capers.

Place the egg is a shallow bowl, and give it a good whisk.

Choose a skillet large enough to hold the veal in one layer, ideally without crowding it too much. Put the heat on medium-high and add enough olive oil to generously coat the skillet about 1/8 inch deep.

Dry the veal slices and coat them with the flour, shaking off excess.. Dip them in the egg until coated on both sides. Let the excess egg drip off, and dredge the veal in the breadcrumbs, coating them well on both sides.

When the skillet is hot, add the veal, and brown it quickly on one side. If it seems to be browning too fast, turn the heat down a bit (you’re going for a deep golden-brown color). Turn the veal and brown the other side. This whole operation should take only about 2 minutes (you want to veal to stay tender and moist, so quick cooking over high heat is essential). Grab the veal slices from the skillet with tongs and drain them briefly on paper towels to blot up any excess oil. Lay them out on dinner plates. Toss the salad with olive oil and lemon juice, and season it with salt and black pepper. I use a bit more lemon when making this dish than I normally would add to a salad, because the acidity balances very nicely with the crisp, rich veal. Top each portion of veal with salad, and serve right away. My feeling is that this dish should be served unaccompanied, but a pasta tossed with some sort of tomato sauce is ideal as a first course.

This spring lamb stew, flavored with garlic, anchovies, vinegar, and rosemary, is an example of Southern Italy’s ingenious way of blending together strong flavors for a subtle, mellow result. I like adding fresh fava beans, but you can use spring peas, which are a lot less work, or you can leave out the vegetables altogether and send the stew to the table with a generous scattering of flat-leaf parsley leaves stirred in at the last minute.Fava beans grow in thick, fuzzy pods. After you shell them, you’ve got individual beans encased in a slightly tough skin that needs to be removed. To do this, drop the shelled beans into a pot of boiling water, blanch them for about 30 seconds, and then drain them and run cold water over them. The skins should now slip off easily.

(Serves 4)

Extra-virgin olive oil
Flour for dredging the lamb (I use Wondra, which is finely ground and never gets gummy)
1 tablespoon sugar
3 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 2-inch chunks
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large onion, cut into small dice
1 celery stalk, cut into small dice, plus a handful of celery leaves, chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed
1 bay leaf
2 small sprigs fresh rosemary
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup meat or chicken broth
1 cup fresh peas or peeled fava beans (see above)
3 anchovy fillets
2 tablespoons high-quality vinegar (a red-wine or sherry-wine vinegar is best)
A few large sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

In a large casserole fitted with a lid, heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil over a medium flame. Dry the lamb chunks, coat them lightly with flour, and sprinkle them with the sugar (which will help the meat brown). When the pan is hot, add the lamb and brown it well all over. Season with salt and black pepper and add the onion, celery, and garlic. Sauté a few minutes longer to soften the vegetables, being careful not to let the garlic get too dark (lower the heat if you sense that this might happen). Add the rosemary, bay leaf, and white wine, and let the wine bubble until it reduces by about half. Add the broth, and bring the liquid to a boil. Lower the heat, cover the casserole, and simmer until the lamb is tender, about 2 hours. Skim the fat from the surface, add the peas or fava beans, and simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes longer, until the vegetables are tender, but not so long that they start to lose their bright green color.

Mash the anchovies to a paste in a mortar. Add the vinegar to the mortar and stir it to blend. Pour the anchovy-and-vinegar mixture into the casserole and stir to blend. Taste for seasoning, adding a few extra grindings of black pepper and a drizzle of fresh olive oil. Add the chopped parsley. Serve with Sautéed Artichokes with Pancetta and New Potatoes, or with plain rice.

Even though all the flavors in this dish are classically Sicilian, I got the idea for its basic braise of tuna and artichokes from Richard Olney’s cookbook Provence the Beautiful. I added mint pesto because I’ve loved tuna with mint ever since I discovered the pairing in Palermo, but the dish is good without it, although a little mellower and less punchy. As far as I’m concerned, there are two ways to cook tuna; either searing it over high heat, leaving it slightly pink at the center, or slow-cooking it over a low flame or in a low oven until it is gently heated through and tender. Anything in between will give you dry fish. Both ways are traditional Sicilian preparations.To trim the artichokes Italian-style (the way big artichokes are always done in Italian restaurants), first set up a bowl of cold water plus the juice of a large lemon. Working with one artichoke at a time, rip off and discard all the tough leaves until you get down to the tender, light green ones (be scrupulous about this so you don’t wind up with any tough bites). Slice off the tough stem end, leaving about 1/2 inch of tender stem. Slice about 1/2 inch off the top, leaving just the bottom section of the leaves. Peel the tough skin off the stem. Quarter the artichoke lengthwise and cut out from each piece the fuzzy choke and any spiky, purplish leaves. You should end up with four arched, hollowed out artichoke pieces. Drop them in the water and repeat with the other artichokes.

(Serves 4)

Extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds tuna steak, about 1 1/2 inches thick, cut into 2-inch chunks
1 bay leaf, fresh if possible
The zest from 1 lemon
3 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly smashed
Freshly ground black pepper
2 thin slices pancetta, chopped
4 large artichokes, trimmed and quartered (see above) and placed in a bowl of cold water with the juice of a large lemon
1 medium onion, cut into small dice
Salt
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped (use canned ones if you like, but make sure to drain them)
1/2 cup chicken broth

For the pesto:

Leaves from a few large mint sprigs (about 1/2 loosely packed cup)
A large handful of basil leaves (about a cup)
1 young (unsprouted) garlic clove
A small handful of whole, blanched almonds
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Marinate the tuna: Place the tuna in a shallow glass or ceramic bowl (sometimes metal can give fish an off taste). Pour over it about 1/4 cup of olive oil, enough just to coat the fish well all over. Add the bay leaf, lemon zest, garlic cloves, and grind on a generous amount of black pepper. Mix the whole thing with your hands so the flavors are evenly distributed. Refrigerate for up to a few hours.

Make the pesto: Set up a medium-size pot of water and bring it to a boil. Drop in the mint and basil leaves and blanch them for about 30 seconds. Scoop them from the water with a large strainer spoon and place them in a colander. Run cool water over them to stop their cooking and to preserve their green color. Squeeze all the water out of the herbs. This blanching will prevent them from oxidizing and turning dark as the pesto sits, always a problem with pesto. Place the garlic and almonds in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times until they’re roughly ground. Add the blanched herbs and enough olive oil to create a rich texture (about 1/2 cup). Season with a little salt and pulse a few more times until everything is blended but still has a bit of texture to it. Transfer the pesto to a small bowl (you can make it a day before and refrigerate it if you like, but it will lose freshness if made to far ahead). Return the pesto to room temperature before serving.

Choose a large skillet that has a lid and is big enough to hold the tuna and artichokes in one layer. Over medium heat, add the pancetta and about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet and sauté until the pancetta is crisp, about 4 minutes. Drain the artichoke pieces well and add them and the onion to the skillet. Season with a little salt and sauté until both vegetables are lightly browned, about another 10 minutes. Add the tuna chunks and all the marinade and sauté on one side until lightly golden. Turn the tuna pieces, season with a bit more salt, and add the white wine, letting it boil away. Add the tomatoes and chicken broth and heat through. Turn the heat to low and continue cooking, covered, until the tuna and the artichokes are tender, only about another 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the dish sit for about 5 minutes before serving (this gives all the flavors a chance to blend).

Serve in soup bowls with a generous spoonful of pesto on top of each portion. Accompany with toasted baguette slices that have been rubbed with garlic and brushed with olive oil.

Young green garlic, made up of immature shoots that haven’t yet even formed cloves, appears in the New York greenmarkets around May. It looks like thick scallions and has a sweet, mild garlicky taste, with no bitterness. It can be chopped just like scallions and cooked or added raw to salad or sauces.

(Serves 4)

Extra-virgin olive oil
3 shallots, thinly sliced
2 green garlic shoots, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 pounds mussels, soaked in cool water and debearded if necessary (with cultivated mussels this is not usually necessary, but wild ones can be a little hairy; unless you get mussels from a fisherman, they’re most likely cultivated)
1 heaping tablespoon mascarpone
A large handful of spring herbs, stemmed but very lightly chopped so they retain all their flavor (a mix of parsley, chives, mint, chervil, and tarragon is a good choice, but add whatever you can get, concentrating on gentle, leafy herbs and avoiding strong, spiky flavors like rosemary or savory)
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt, if needed

Look over the mussels, throwing out any that don’t close tightly when you tap on them (meaning they’re dead). Choose a very large pot (a big pasta pot is a good choice), or two smaller pots. Over medium heat, add about 1/3 cup of olive oil to the pot. Add the shallots and the garlic and sauté until they give off fragrance, about a minute. Drain the mussels and add them, along with the white wine. Cook, uncovered, stirring the mussels around occasionally until they have opened. This should take only about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the mascarpone, a few grindings of black pepper, and all the herbs. Give it all a good mixing. Taste the broth for saltiness, adding a bit of salt if necessary.

Serve in large bowls, giving each person a good amount of broth. Italian bread is pretty much essential, so you can sop up all the juices.