If you ask me what my last supper would include, this dish would absolutely make the list. It features a combination of some of my favorite ingredients: lemon, Parmesan, garlic, and butter. I’ve been making this dish for weeknight dinners for over 20 years, especially on Mondays as it’s a good way to use up any sesame bagels or baguettes left over from the weekend.
Sausages and peppers are a classic combo that is not only delicious but easy to prepare with only a sheet pan. By using chicken sausage, we can limit saturated fat while maximizing that savory Italian flavor that we’re going for. Add some gnocchi and serve on top of a bed of calcium-rich spinach. Done and done!
My mom adapted this from her Italian mother-in-law’s whole steamed artichoke recipe (see page 232) to make a dish that easily feeds a crowd. It uses the same flavors but eliminates the prep work required for whole artichokes and capitalizes on that mid- twentieth-century game-changer—frozen food—in the form of a package of frozen artichoke hearts. As in many ethnic families who have added their personal flavor to the standard Thanksgiving meal fare, this is my family’s “Italian” staple side dish and the first leftover scavenged the next day.
If you haven’t yet had delicata squash, it’s time! You can actually eat the thin, tender, nutrient-packed skin, which means it’s perfect as the base for a quick side dish that even my kids adore. The squash gets a coating of crunchy panko and flavorful Parmesan cheese, bakes until golden, then gets a drizzle of hot honey. I love this paired with Hot Honey Glazed Salmon That Goes with Everything or as a beautiful holiday appetizer or side. My husband and kids love to dip the squash in ranch dressing—figures!
Some salads are supporting actors; this salad is a star. It’s worth your attention and stomach space on a table full of other foods— yes, even (and especially) like Thanksgiving. I like to keep the farro, olive, and cheese treasures at the bottom of the serving bowl, with the leaves layered on the top for a fun surprise every time someone scoops.
This recipe is flexible, so don’t get flustered if you don’t have both endives and radicchio or Castelfranco. Just one type of leaf is fine! Don’t have Parm? Swap in feta or even blue cheese. If you want to skip the nuts, go for it, but I’d strongly advise you keep the olives in. And, you could even add in a sweet element, like a dried cranberry, golden raisin, or sliced pear, if that’s your kind of thing.
These are Brussels sprouts but with a difference. First, they are finely shredded and sautéed in plenty of butter flavoured with nutmeg and sage, then they are combined with orecchiette, double (heavy) cream and plenty of Parmesan.
Who doesn’t love an easy meal you can whip up after a long day with ingredients you already have in your kitchen? This saucy, comforting bean dish stew is just that. In a world where beans become brownies, pastas, and burgers, serving them whole with a pasta sauce feels rebellious. And don’t skip the garlic-rubbed toast! It really ties everything together. Whether you’re sharing this or not, I love making a whole batch. The simmered leftovers topped with a fried egg are really something to look forward to the next day.
The classic tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce gets a wafu kakushiaji (“secret umami enhancer”)—sake, miso, mirin, and kombu dashi. For an even deeper layer of umami, make this sauce with chicken dashi or chintan dashi. What’s not to love? Serve this sauce over traditional pasta or udon noodles, or use it to make a wafu-ed lasagna
This one-pan wonder is a creamy skillet of tiny grains of orzo pasta that cook up in a snap, making it a go-to for weeknights. The contrast of the zingy lemon with the earthy thyme-infused charred broccoli creates chef-level depth of flavor in minutes. For an extra touch, garnish with lemon wheels and serve it straight from the skillet at the table. (Then it’s front and center for grabbing seconds!)
In El Salvador and much of Central America, quesadilla refers to a sweet cheese pan dulce, where the cheese is incorporated into the batter. Many folks use Parmesan cheese (for its funk) and pancake batter. I have also heard of Salvis in the southern United States using a cornbread adaptation of the recipe. I have made quesadillas countless times, and I have used only Salvadoran cheeses because they were the first items that revealed to me how obsessed Salvi folks are with food. Why? Well, my relatives always bring back pounds of cheese from El Salvador—queso duro blando, queso duro viejo, and queso morolique. These aged cheeses must be excellent if it’s worth leaving your belongings back in the homeland to make room for cheese in the suitcase.
If you cannot source Salvadoran cheese, you may use Parmesan cheese; in place of crema Salvadoreña, crème fraîche. This pan dulce is usually served with hot coffee. My relatives who recently visited from El Salvador, where they can get all kinds of quesadilla at any hour of the day, loved this recipe so much that they requested it two days in a row.