Ricotta

You'll get about five cups of preserves from this recipe. Try leftovers alongside soft cheeses or over vanilla ice cream. Fresh ricotta is available at some supermarkets and at specialty foods stores and Italian markets.

This delicious dessert requires a little bit of planning. The day before baking the cheesecake, drain the ricotta in the fridge. Once the cheesecake is baked, it needs to chill one day to firm up. For the proper texture, be sure to use fresh ricotta cheese; it's available at some supermarkets and at specialty foods stores and Italian markets.

The Original: Breaded, fried eggplant with a thick oregano-flavored tomato sauce. Our Version: Broiled slices of eggplant wrapped around a mint-and chard-flecked ricotta filling.

We found the greens for this salad by foraging in the woods and fields. You can forage farmers’ markets for tender young dandelion greens, purslane, wild fennel, and pea shoots to make a tasty salad. Even your refrigerator or kitchen garden might yield some goodies, like chives, tender young Italian parsley, thinly sliced red cabbage, or the yellow leaves from celery hearts.

My editor, Peter Gethers, insisted on only one thing when he asked me to write this book: that I include the recipe for these pancakes. The ricotta causes them to burn more easily than other pancakes, so you need to cook them over medium-low to medium heat. If there are any pancakes that don't need maple syrup, these are them.

Gnudi is a type of gnocchi, made from ricotta cheese and a little bit of flour. The result is a dumpling that's as light and fluffy as a cloud. The dumpling dough needs to chill overnight, so begin this one day ahead.

Talk about flower power. As every gardener knows, late summer brings a bumper crop of zucchini and, better yet, of zucchini blossoms—known in Italy as fiori di zucca. Here, the tender yellow-orange blooms are filled with ricotta, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and mint, then batter-fried. Served alongside an easy tomato sauce (dip as you like), they make an irresistible first course or, with the addition of a green salad, a satisfying main.

Why stick with chicken or eggplant? Portobello Parmesan is just as tasty—and it doesn't need any breading. Choose mushrooms that are fresh (you'll know because they'll still be curled up around the edges). Older ones are flat and won't hold the filling as well.

A simple, delicious summer dessert with nectarines.

One 16-ounce container of ricotta is enough for this recipe and leftovers.

This recipe calls for aged Sherry (instead of vinegar), which gives the dressing an added kick.

Radicchio is a type of chicory with an alluring bittersweet flavor. The variety called Treviso, so named for its growing region in Italy, has tapering, wine-colored leaves. Its charm increases exponentially when it's cooked—in this case, broiled—and tossed with a sweet balsamic dressing. Fresh basil and a dollop of creamy ricotta round everything out.

Don't worry if the batter for this traditional German staple seems a bit thin—it should be more liquidy than a normal dough.

The difference between fresh and commercially prepared ricotta is proven dramatically with this cheesecake. Made with the commercial product, it tastes bland and somewhat grainy. When prepared with fresh ricotta, however, the cake dissolves creamily on the tongue and the ricotta's delicate sweetness shines through clean and true. To further emphasize the ricotta, we keep the other flavors to a minimum—just a smidgen of cinnamon, lemon zest, and vanilla is all you need.

In the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, lasagne bolognese is usually made with a besciamella sauce. Italian-American cooks often replace that time-consuming step with ricotta. In this wickedly good interpretation, food editor Melissa Roberts combines the two traditions by whisking milk into some of the ricotta, creating a billowy pseudo-besciamella (the remaining ricotta mixture is stirred together with spinach). We rarely call for specific brands, but we did find that widely available Barilla no-boil dried noodles produced an exemplary lasagne. An egg pasta, this one comes very close to the flavor and delicacy of homemade.

The airy ricotta filling—with chocolate chips and flecks of candied orange peel speckled throughout—makes for a perfect marriage of Italian and American.

Sweet nibbles of butternut squash temper the bitter edge of radicchio in every bite of this healthful, satisfying pasta.

A tender, short crust is filled with a creamy orange-scented ricotta custard. Served with hot espresso, these little pastries are a wonderful way to end a big meal.