Pecorino

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Sardinian chef Raffaele Solinas. Solinas also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Solinas and Sardinian cuisine, click here. This pasta dish, similar to a ragù, features wild boar, a common Sardinian ingredient with a distinctively rich and gamy flavor. "A good butcher will carry wild boar," says Solinas. But in a pinch, the best alternative would be duck breast.

Chef Michael Presnal of The Federal Restaurant in Agawam, Massachusett, writes: "The recipe here was featured on one of my first menus as a chef, before I got into the kind of complex cooking I do now at The Federal. That was over ten years ago, but I still love making this dish at home. It calls for just a few fresh ingredients and takes only a couple of steps." Serve as a side dish or first course.

This recipe is a great way to make the most of late-summer tomatoes. Grill some Italian sausages to go alongside. What to drink: A lighter red, like Pinot Noir.

Ultra-creamy Fontina cheese and a layer of black-olive tapenade give this an unctuous, satisfying quality that is usually missing from other veggie pizzas. What to drink: Dry rosé or a spicy Rhône-style red.

We all have memories either of great or terrible meatloaf meals from childhood. My mom's meatloaf is a fond food memory. It was always moist and juicy, with a touch of Italy from the tomatoes and pecorino Romano cheese. It also passed the test of any respectable meatloaf: it made good sandwiches the next day.

Pasta with Pecorino and Black Pepper This is an old Roman recipe in the tradition of la cucina povera that has always been a favorite of poor and rich alike. (Cacio is a word for "cheese" in Southern Italy.) It is incredibly simple and quick to prepare, but depends on having good-quality Pecorino Romano and pasta, and fragrant peppercorns in your larder. Make it with long or short pasta, whichever you prefer. The arugula is our addition; it brings fresh flavor and color to the dish.

Top-quality veal really makes a difference in this dish; meat should be cut from the leg for scalloppine.

Zuppa di Cozze Come la Fanno a Bosa Like other coastal towns on Sardinia, Bosa also has an excellent maritime cuisine. An example is this excellent mussels soup. Two ingredients unique to it are the grated sheep's milk cheese that cooks along with the mussels, deepening their flavor, and the bread crumbs—some Sardinian cooks use couscous instead—that add texture and density to the mussel juices.

Exactly what a fancy grilled cheese should be — top-notch cheese and bread with a little surprise (an almond-sage spread).

(INVOLTINI DI VITELLO CON PECORINO E ACETO BALSAMIC)

Serve this with a basket of crusty bread.

Cacio e Pepe For this recipe, you need to grate the cheese with the ragged-edged holes of a box grater for ease of melting. Don't use the small teardrop-shaped holes or a rasp, as your cheese will clump up in the bowl.

The olive oil-and-cheese dressing is a nice alternative to drawn butter.

Spaghetti a Cacio e Pepe This is the simplest and one of the tastiest pasta dishes in the Roman repertoire, served at home and at every trattoria offering cucina romana or cucina povera (poor folks' cooking).... The trick to making this recipe work is to dilute the cheese and pepper with 1 tablespoon of pasta water per serving, and to amalgamate the ingredients in the pot the pasta water was boiled in, a technique called mantecare, meaning to mix and meld.

What to drink: Sangiovese wines are a classic pairing with robust pasta dishes. Try the Cantina di Montalcino 1999 Poggio del Sasso, a good-value Super Tuscan.