Mozzarella

I love pesto, but unfortunately, it’s typically made with a shocking amount of oil and is thus very fattening. Luckily, I’ve discovered other ways to enjoy the flavor of pesto without the fat and calories. Using herbs from a tube or frozen herbs works really well on this chicken to give it that classic pesto flavor without the fat . . . and without a lot of work. Please note that if you buy frozen herbs, you should measure them out yourself before using them in recipes. I’ve found that a 1-teaspoon block of herbs is rarely an actual teaspoon.

Rarely do I shock myself with how great a made-over dish can taste. I’m pretty realistic. Apple pie is pretty much an impossibility if I want it to taste like traditional pie and be lower in fat and calories because of all of the butter. There really is no substitute for butter in a traditional pie crust. I thought this dish would be an impossibility as well. But when we pulled the chicken out of the oven the first time, everyone in my test kitchen was shocked at how fattening it tasted. We knew it would be good, but we had no idea it would actually be great, especially given how much quicker it is than the traditional version! Just be sure you don’t overcook the chicken. If you do, not only will the chicken be dry, the breading will fall off.

Everyone who knows me knows chicken parmesan was one of the major reasons I was overweight. Though I certainly don’t eat the deep-fried version these days, I do still love the incredible combination of tender chicken, perfectly seasoned marinara sauce, and gooey cheese. Here is one of the all-time easiest versions that’s especially great for low-carbers, as it’s not breaded. If you prefer the more traditional breaded chicken parmesan, I have a quick answer for you too: Just pop over to page 118 and try the Unbelievably Easy Chicken Parmesan. Or, better yet, try both!

Who doesn’t love pepperoni pizza? This recipe is a quicker, healthier alternative to the ordinarily fat-filled pie. It’s also simple enough for kids to take part!

When I first saw the “herbs in tubes,” as I call them, referring to Gourmet Garden’s herb blends, I thought I wouldn’t like them. But with one try, I became hooked, particularly to the garlic blend. This rendition of a margarita pizza is one of my favorite applications for them. It’s insanely easy to throw together and especially tasty, considering the little amount of time it takes. If you’re having trouble finding these herbs, visit gourmetgarden.com and check out their store locator. Or you can look for herbs frozen in trays. At my local Trader Joe’s, they sell frozen chopped garlic and chopped basil in trays from a brand called Dorot. Just be sure to measure the herbs yourself instead of relying on the measurements listed on the package (I found 1 teaspoon of basil was more than 1 cube, though the package says that 1 cube is equivalent to 1 teaspoon).

Having been raised on the East Coast, I thought everyone knew what stromboli is—you really couldn’t go into a casual Italian restaurant without seeing it on the menu. Plus, my mother made it often. When I moved to the West Coast, I found most people had no idea what stromboli is. In case you aren’t familiar with it, stromboli is traditionally made by taking bread dough, flattening it into a rectangle, layering it with Italian ingredients (my family’s favorite was pepperoni and provolone), and then rolling it, jelly roll style. You seal the ends and bake it, so it’s like a stuffed loaf when it emerges from the oven. When we served it at cocktail parties, we would always cut it into slices and serve the pieces on their sides so they looked like pinwheels. This recipe is a much less fattening version of this Italian favorite. It is still a treat, but you won’t need to spend hours and hours on a treadmill after you eat it.

I love omelets, and this is one of my all-time favorites. Feel free to use any variety of olives here. No matter which you pick, you’ll have a great result.

Pat: If you haven’t figured this out by now, in Memphis we find a way to barbecue everything. One day Tony and I turned our attention to flatbread and—surprise, surprise—we came up with a recipe for barbecue pizza! We make ours with a crispy grilled crust, sautéed onions and peppers, and barbecue sauce, and then top the whole thing with one of our favorite cooked meats. It’s a Neely game-time staple, because the dough and toppings can be made hours in advance, so the pizzas can be assembled in minutes and popped into the oven. Don’t be intimidated by the crust—our homemade dough is easy to make and a great project to work on with your kids. In our house, it’s not a pizza party until everyone is dusted with flour.

Pat: This is another one of those dishes that take me back to my childhood. I loved my momma Lorine’s lasagna, and to this day, I crave the molten layers of gooey cheese, rich tomato sauce, tender noodles, and beef. The pleasure of this dish is not just in the eating, it’s in the making and baking. When Momma’s lasagna is in the oven, our entire house smells like an Italian grandma has moved in. Lucky for me, my family loves this dish as much as I do, and Gina has learned to make this lasagna as well as my mom does. We like to make ours with cottage cheese, because we love the tangy flavor, but you can substitute the traditional ricotta if you prefer.

I always have tomato sauce in the kitchen, and that is what I would use to bake these eggplant fans. But if you don’t have any on hand, or don’t want to make it, just use homemade or canned chicken broth. The idea is to keep the eggplants moist as they bake.

Even though I call these “stuffed” tomatoes, don’t actually stuff the rice filling into the tomatoes. Fill them loosely or they will be dense and dry after baking. You can put the tops back on the tomatoes flat or prop them up at an angle. Rice cooked this way—with a little olive oil and bay leaves—is a good dish on its own. We used to feed it to children or adults when they were recovering from an upset stomach, but don’t limit it to that. In addition to stirring the fresh basil into the filling, shred as much as you like and scatter it over the tomatoes after you put them on a plate. Basil and tomato is a union made in heaven, and who am I to question heaven?

When I bread and fry things like these slices of eggplant, I make a little assembly line that leads from the flour, to the eggs, on to the bread crumbs, and right into the pan of hot oil. Placing three rectangular cake pans side by side next to the stove works nicely—there is very little cleanup afterward—but any container wide enough to hold several slices of eggplant at a time will work just as well. This dish can be made with roasted eggplant slices instead of breaded and fried eggplant. Although it will be good, it will not be as tasty, nor will it have the texture of the fried eggplant. The roasted version is very simple: Drain and rinse the eggplant as described above, but instead of coating the eggplant slices, toss them with a few tablespoons of olive oil. Brush a baking sheet with olive oil, and set the eggplant slices side by side on the baking sheet. Bake them in a 450° F preheated oven for 20 minutes, till they are golden brown. Let them cool, and proceed to layer and bake the ingredients as below.

This is a more contemporary version of one of the standbys of Italian-American cooking. Instead of coating a thin, breaded, and fried chicken cutlet with tomato sauce, I like to top a chicken thigh with sliced fresh tomatoes and slices of fresh mozzarella or Fontina cheese.A light sauce made with fresh tomatoes and basil finishes the plate. Fontina is a mellow, lightly aged cow’s-milk cheese that melts beautifully. Take the time to search out Italian Fontina—you’ll appreciate the creamy difference. You can prepare this dish using veal or pork cutlets as well (see variations below).

“Frenching” the chops—cleaning up the bone—prevents the “eye” of the meat, which is pounded out, from overcooking before the meat next to the bone is cooked, and it does make the finished chops look pretty. It is something I do for guests in my restaurants, and it is easy enough for you to learn and do at home. You can, of course, prepare this recipe without Frenching the chops; just be careful that the meat next to the bones is fully cooked before you serve the chops. You can prepare most of the ingredients—even bread the pork chops—in advance, but don’t fry the pork, slice the onion, or toss the salad until the last minute. Without the mozzarella in the salad, these chops are perfect for lunch or a light dinner. With the mozzarella, they are more substantial. You can use balsamic vinegar in place of all or part of the wine vinegar if you like. As always, dress the salad first with olive oil to coat the leaves, then sprinkle in vinegar to taste.

You may be used to the large, pizzeria-size version of calzones, but I’m offering you this more typical Neapolitan version. Once you have the knack of making and filling the dough, the rest is easy. You can put whatever you like inside. Just make sure the fillings are drained of most of their excess liquid—the way I drain the ricotta overnight or squeeze the excess moisture from the spinach.

In the cantine or kitchens of Naples, you’re likely to see, hanging from strings, clusters of pomodorini (cherry tomatoes) put there at summer’s end to preserve their flavor for the cold winter months ahead. Because of their dry texture, these pomodorini are ideal for topping pizzas. If you’d like to approximate the texture and taste of cantina-dried pomodorini, cut ripe cherry tomatoes in half, arrange them, cut side down, on a baking sheet, and dry them overnight in the oven with only the pilot light lit. If you’re using regular or plum tomatoes, be sure to slice them thin and not to cover them with slices of mozzarella, or else they won’t dry and will make the crust soggy and undercooked.

If you want a really crispy, evenly baked crust, take the time to squeeze the tomatoes of excess liquid when you make the sauce (see following recipe) and drain the mozzarella briefly in a sieve before you put the pizzas together.

If you choose to make the manicotti with pasta squares, fill and roll them on a damp towel—it will make them easier to handle. For a lighter, thinner sauce, add a little stock to the tomato sauce or to the baking dish after you add the sauce, or don’t cook the sauce quite so much when you make it. If you have some fresh basil in the kitchen, tear some leaves and scatter them over the manicotti in the dish right before you bake them.