Italian

This very stable Italian meringue is incredibly versatile—it makes magnificent billowy white peaks to brown as you wish. It is a large recipe—6 egg whites—so that you have an abundance of this great meringue. Of course, you can easily halve this recipe.

The truth is, there’s a time and a place for whole-wheat pasta. Its nutty, earthy flavor isn’t the best match with a light tomato sauce, but it works quite well with bolder ingredients like capers and anchovies, which can stand up to the pasta’s wholesomeness. Hearty vegetables pair well, too. Here, broccoli is cooked down and transformed into an extra-chunky, extra savory sauce. For even more texture, grated cheese is swapped for toasted bread crumbs. In Italy, they’re known as pan grattato, or “grated bread,” as peasants once used them as a cheese replacement on their pasta because they couldn’t afford the real deal. Nowadays both are easily within reach, but the crunch they add here makes it easy to leave the Parmesan behind.

Smashing some of the tomatoes as they cook helps create a chunky sauce, while others stay whole for juicy surprises in every bite.

This versatile condiment brings a balanced mix of sweet, salty, acidic, and herbaceous flavors that complement virtually any pizza. If it’s not pizza night but you’ve got leftovers, drizzle this over roasted vegetables, cooked chicken, or a crispy-skinned piece of fish.

Letting the dough do its first rise in the fridge overnight means improved flavor and ease of handling, but if you don’t feel like waiting that long, leave it out at room temperature until doubled in size—three to four hours.

This Aperol Margarita is a great union of two amazing places: Italy and Mexico.

We’re all for a good store-bought marinara, but there is no substitute for homemade béchamel—of this we can be sure.

Layering and baking sautéed garlicky greens, beans, and Parmesan on top of make-ahead Parmesan Polenta creates a super fast, pantry-friendly weeknight dinner that’s sort of like a polenta pizza.

This highly riffable dinner salad features cubes of leftover polenta, tossed in Parmesan, and crisped in a skillet for croutons that are naturally gluten-free, delightfully crunchy on the outside, and warm and creamy on the inside.

Start by serving this big pot of polenta as a soft, creamy side dish when it is freshly made, then divide the rest into baking dishes to use later in the week as polenta croutons and polenta crust.

This pasta offers the familiar comfort of baked macaroni and cheese but with pops of pleasantly bitter bright green broccoli rabe throughout.

Using a sliced whole lemon gives you unbeatable fresh aroma from the skin, bitter complexity from the pith, and tart, puckery juice from the flesh. Thin slices soften evenly and ensure that the lemon plays nicely with the pasta, butter, and Parmesan.

Slowly rendering the pancetta, gently toasting the garlic, and concentrating the tomatoes puts three pots’ worth of flavor in just one.

The Italian word for the ideal risotto texture is all’onda—literally, “like a wave.” Risotto should spread and move and undulate. If you can stand a spoon up in it, it needs more liquid.

No, you don’t have to be a vegetarian to love what’s going on here. Cauliflower and mushrooms provide richness and toothiness that do justice to the meaty original.