Roasted Tomato and Sausage Baked Ziti

Say what you want about Carmela Soprano, but the woman can cook. Re-watching The Sopranos recently gave me a major hankering for some of her baked ziti, a dish she trotted out with some frequency for family dinners and guests (she even dumped an entire batch into the garbage once, the horror!).

This is the sort of dish which you can make lots of different ways, although it's never going to be a truly "quick" meal. About the shortest way to do it is with a jarred meat-and-tomato sauce, although you're still looking at an hour-long dish, since you have to first boil the noodles before assembling and baking the dish (plus, you're using jarred sauce, which is frankly not very good compared to what you could whip up yourself is about the same amount of time). The longest route involves making Italian "Sunday gravy," a meat, vegetable and tomato sauce that bubbles on your stove all afternoon. Obviously, I'd rather have something like that than something from the jar, but cooking all afternoon can be tiring.

My version finds what I think is a happy medium. My sauce comes together quickly but is made with all fresh ingredients, including fresh tomatoes that roasted the previous afternoon. I used a mixture of hot and mild Italian sausage, but you could certainly use only one or the other, depending on your heat preference. A lot of recipes add egg to the ricotta, presumably to smooth it out so you can spread it more easily. I find gently heating it in the microwave to do the trick just fine.

I served this with a simple side salad of lettuce dressed with a mustard vinaigrette and a 2008 Plumpjack syrah, a nice choice, since it's slight sweetness, spicy flavor and mild tannins complemented the pasta perfectly.

Roasted Tomato and Sausage Baked Ziti

Makes 8 servings

Note: to soften ricotta that's just out of the refrigerator, transfer to a microwave-safe container and microwave on high for 10 seconds, stir and repeat until the ricotta is easily spreadable.

1 lb. dried ziti noodles (may use other tube-shaped noodles, such as penne)
Salt, to taste.
3/4 lb. hot or mild Italian sausage, removed from casings
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
2 tsp. dried oregano leaves
1 recipe of simple roasted tomatoes (see recipe below)
1/2 cup dry white wine (may use dry vermouth if you have some on hand you're trying to use up)
Olive oil spray or additional olive oil
1 cup ricotta cheese, softened (see note above)
8 oz. part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded (I recommend shredding it yourself)
1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add noodles and cook according to package directions until al dente. Drain and set aside.

3. Heat a large nonstick sauté pan over medium heat. Add sausage and cook, breaking up as the sausage cooks through. Remove cooked sausage from pan and transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Remove sausage drippings from pan. Transfer the sausage to a cutting board and chop to an even pebble-sized consistency.

4. Add olive oil and butter to the pan. When the butter is melted, add the onion and garlic. Season with salt, pepper, thyme and oregano. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the cooked sausage, roasted tomatoes, white wine and 1 cup of water. Increase heat to bring mixture to a bubble, then reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in the cooked ziti noodles.

5. Spray a 9 X 13 baking dish with olive oil (or brush with olive oil). Transfer half of the noodles-and-sauce mixture to the baking dish and smooth with a spatula. Spread the ricotta on top, then spread half of the shredded mozzarella over the ricotta. Add the remaining noodles-and-sauce on top in an even layer, then spread the remaining mozzarella on top of that. Sprinkle with the grated parmigano-reggiano cheese.

6. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake in the hot oven covered for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes until the mixture is bubbling and the cheese has melted. Remove from oven, allow to cool about 5 minutes and serve.

Simple Roasted Tomatoes

3 lb. fresh tomatoes, stem end removed, cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus olive oil spray
Kosher salt, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Add the tomatoes to a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and toss to combine. Spray a 9 X 13 baking dish with olive oil. Spread the tomatoes in an even layer in the baking dish.

3. Bake the tomatoes until they have reduced significantly in size, look shrived and are starting to brown around the edges, about 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Stir every hour for the first couple hours, then more frequently, up to every 10 to 15 minutes when around the time you hit the 3-hour mark and most of the liquid has evaporated. This is to prevent the tomatoes from burning.

4. When done, the tomatoes should be shrived, lightly browned in places with little moisture remaining in the pan. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, then transfer to a container to store in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use.

Roasted Tomato and Kale Pasta

This is the other dish I made with the tomatoes I roasted the other weekend. With the cheese, it's vegetarian; without, it's vegan. Either way, it's delicious and simple to prepare if you've pre-roasted the tomatoes. This is an ideal dish to share with friends and family and eat outside on your patio.

Roasted Tomato and Kale Pasta

Salt, to taste
1 lb. whole-wheat pasta (I used gobbetti, which looks like it's identical to cavatappi)
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch lacinato kale, stems removed and discarded, leaves cut into 1 1/2 to 2-inch pieces (about 3 cups of leaves)
1 cup (or so) simple roasted tomatoes, from 3 lb. fresh tomatoes (see recipe below)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp. Aleppo pepper flakes
1 tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
Grated pecorino-romano cheese

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta 1 minute less than package directions for al dente (pasta will finish cooking in the sauce). Reserve 3/4 cup pasta cooking water. Drain pasta and set aside.

2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over moderate heat (medium to medium-high). Add onion and garlic and sauté until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the kale and cook, stirring occasionally, until the kale wilts. Add the tomatoes, season with salt (to taste), pepper, Aleppo pepper and thyme, and stir to combine, then add the reserved pasta cooking water and stir. When the mixture boils, reduce heat to simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the cooked pasta and continue simmering another minute or two until the pasta is chewy but cooked through.

3. Serve pasta in shallow bowls with grated pecorino-romano cheese.

Simple Roasted Tomatoes

3 lb. fresh tomatoes, stem end removed, cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus olive oil spray
Kosher salt, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Add the tomatoes to a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and toss to combine. Spray a 9 X 13 baking dish with olive oil. Spread the tomatoes in an even layer in the baking dish.

3. Bake the tomatoes until they have reduced significantly in size, look shrived and are starting to brown around the edges, about 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Stir every hour for the first couple hours, then more frequently, up to every 10 to 15 minutes when you hit the 3-hour mark, to prevent the tomatoes from burning.

4. When done, remove from the oven, allow to cool, then transfer to a container to store in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use.

Roasted Vegetable Risotto Primavera

Spring is finally here, and spring produce is already showing up in markets. Although there are joys year-round of eating seasonally, there's something about spring produce that fits the season so well. It's so green, so vibrant, so alive, after months of eating imported off-season produce and dried and canned goods during the winter.

I find risotto to be a particularly good vehicle for showing off spring produce, and I find I make the traditional dish of rice cooked in broth with vegetables and cheese most frequently from March to June.

I've shared several variations of pasta primavera, "primavera" meaning "spring" in Italian, usually denoting a dish made with seasonal spring vegetables like asparagus, peas and greens. The vegetables in this dish most closely resemble what I used in my first Pasta Primavera recipe, which was inspired by the primavera recipe in The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins.

I treat the vegetables in different ways here. Most of them--the red pepper, broccoli, carrot and squash--are roasted in the oven until lightly browned around the edges. The onion is sautéed and cooked with the rice and the sugar snap peas are lightly blanched in the broth. Everything is combined in the end with a generous helping of finely grated pecorino-romano, the hard-cheese alternative to parmigiano-reggiano that's perfect for spring dishes.

Roasted Vegetable Risotto Primavera

Note: Carnaroli rice is an Italian rice similar to arborio. Both are popular choices for risotto. Carnaroli rice has a higher starch content than arborio rice, is a bit longer and has a firmer texture.

1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces

1 head of broccoli, cut into small florets (about 1-inch across)

2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice

1 yellow summer squash, cut into 1/2-inch dice

3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

6 cups vegetable or chicken broth (you can use a mixture and low-sodium or standard depending on your taste preference; for this dish I used 4 cups vegetable broth and 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth; if you use only vegetable broth, the dish will be vegetarian)

8 oz. sugar snap peas, peas larger than 1 inch cut in half

1 tbsp. unsalted butter

1 yellow onion, diced

1 1/2 cups carnaroli rice (may substitute arborio rice, see note above)

3/4 cup dry white wine (sauvignon blanc recommended)

2 oz. grated pecorino-romano cheese

Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste (recommend a generous "dash")

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tbsp. freshly chopped dill

2 tbsp. freshly chopped chives

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.

2. Combine red pepper, broccoli, squash and carrot in a large bowl. Drizzle with 2 tbsp. of olive oil and salt and toss to coat. Spread vegetables in an even layer on baking sheet (line with aluminum foil for easier clean-up) and roast for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned. Stir the vegetables and continue roasting another 10 minutes until most vegetables are browned around the edges. Set aside while you make the risotto.

3. Heat vegetable broth in a large saucepan until boiling. Add the sugar snap peas and cook for 2-3 minutes until crisp-tender. Remove peas with a slotted spoon and set aside. Reduce the heat under the broth to the lowest setting.

4. Heat remaining tbsp. of olive oil and butter in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until softened, about 8-10 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly toasted, about 3-4 minutes. Add wine and stir to combine. Cook until the wine is absorbed by the rice (when running a spoon across the bottom of the pot leaves a dry space). Add 2 cups of chicken broth, stir to combine, and simmer over medium heat until the broth is absorbed. Then, continue adding broth by 1/2 cupfuls, stirring to combine, stirring occasionally as the mixture cooks and waiting between additions until the previous addition is absorbed by the rice. In total, this should take about 20-25 minutes. Taste the rice once about 5 cups of broth are incorporated, as it may be done before all the broth is used. The rice should be "al dente"--that is, cooked through but still a bit chewy.

5. Stir in the roasted vegetables, blanched sugar snap peas, pecorino-romano cheese, nutmeg, pepper, dill and chives. Serve in shallow bowls.

Cacio e Pepe Pasta

Is it just me or is "cacio e pepe," which is Italian for cheese and pepper, everywhere all of a sudden? While not a new dish, this simple combination of hard Italian cheeses--usually pecorino-romano but often also parmigiano-reggiano--combined with freshly ground pepper is really hot right now, popping up on recipe sites and restaurant menus. Mashable named it the "coolest pasta of 2016."

As simple as this dish sounds, there are some fundamentals to keep in mind to make it right. You're not just going to cook noodles and toss them with cheese, butter and pepper. There's a little more finesse involved. With cacio e pepe, you're actually making a cheese sauce, albeit a very simple one.

Although it's not listed in the ingredients for the recipe, the key ingredient in this dish is the pasta cooking water--hot (but no longer boiling) salty water saturated with starch sloughed off from the cooked pasta. In this dish, finely grated cheese is whisked into this hot water, which melts the cheese. The starch in the water acts as a stabilizing ingredient. According to Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking, starch coats the protein and fat components of the cheese and keeps them from coming back together. He also notes that when cheese are exposed to temperatures above their melting point, they tend to get clumpy. Since the melting point of pecorino and parmesan cheeses is about 180 F (and the boiling point of water is 212 F), you don't want to "cook" this sauce on a hot stove, but you also don't want that leftover pasta cooking water to sit around too long get cool, at which point it won't be warm enough to melt the cheese. That's what actually makes getting this dish just right a bit challenging--you want that sweet spot temperature that will make a the cheese melt into a smooth sauce. When I made it, I think my water may have been a bit too hot, as my sauce was a bit clumpy. This is the sort of dish that benefits from repeated experiences until you get it right.

Whether you put other ingredients in cacio e pepe pasta is up to you. Some insist that it needs nothing other than pasta, cheese and pepper (some even insist that it only be made with pecorino romano and not also parmesan). On the other hand, America's Test Kitchen's recipe includes cream and olive oil. I added some butter to my sauce to increase its richness and because butter and pasta just go together so well.

Cacio e Pepe Pasta
Adapted from multiple sources, particularly America's Test Kitchen

Note: I used a Microplane to finely grate the cheese. In addition to the ingredients below, you'll need to reserve about 1 1/2 cups of the hot pasta cooking water once the pasta is done cooking.

3 quarts water
1 tsp. salt (or more or less to taste)
1 lb. dried bucatini pasta
4 oz. finely grated pecorino-romano cheese
2 oz. finely grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
1-2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1. Place 2 oz. of the pecorino-romano and all of the parmigiano-reggiano cheese in a medium-size bowl.

2. Heat a large pot of salted water over high heat until boiling. Add the pasta and cook, according to package directions, until al dente. Working quickly, reserve 1 1/2 cups of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta in a colander and set aside in the large pot off the stove.

3. Slowly whisk 1 cup of the hot pasta cooking water into the medium-size bowl with the mixture of grated cheeses until they form a smooth sauce, then whisk in the butter and pepper. Pour the sauce over the pasta and stir to combine. Serve the pasta in shallow bowls topped with additional grated pecorino cheese and, if desired, more freshly ground pepper.

Restaurant: Ghibellina (Washington, D.C.)

D.C. summers are rarely pleasant. It's hot. It's humid. Short thunderstorms punctuate the sauna-like environment, promising to clear away the mugginess only to often up the moisture as the heat quickly evaporates the water--I've seen it pour and then the street is almost completely dry within an hour or two, filling the air with steam. This is swamp-life at its sticky best.

The lucky can escape to sunny but less humid vacation spots. The rest of us take solace in another form of escape: we pig out on the insanely good food that the summer harvest brings.

Italian cuisine is optimally suited for summer. Its love affair with the tomato is well-known, but Italian food is also good for sweet corn, greens of all kinds and fresh herbs. Accented with olive oil, world-class cheeses and a nice glass of Italian wine or an amaro-based cocktail, and you have the makings for a superlative summer dinner.

And that's exactly what we got at Ghibellina, a shining star among the constellation of restaurants that have recently made 14th Street NW their home. When I moved to D.C. 16 years ago, 14th Street had nothing of consequence on it. Today, a seemingly endless parade of eateries and shops have solidified the street as one of the city's top destination strips.

Ghibellina is named for Via Ghibellina, a street in Florence, Italy, where the restaurant's co-owners Ari Gejdenson and Ralph Lee once lived. The long, narrow street stretches from its western end where Gusto Leo, a trattoria/pizzeria makes its home, to Viale della Giovine Italia, a main thoroughfare on its eastern end. Thus, spatially, Ghibellina the restaurant is a good match for its namesake street: the narrow brick-walled restaurant stretches from its rear kitchen--dominated by a wood-fired pizza oven--to the bustle of its 14th Street patio. I traveled through Florence when I was a college student, and I remember it as my favorite place in Italy. It's easy to see why Gejdenson and Lee would be inspired by it.

Left/rear: Papino cocktail. Right/front: Giappone cocktail.

Coming in from the D.C. heat means a cocktail is definitely in order. Ghibelline's summer cocktail lineup boasts a lot of quality ingredients and refreshing fruit flavors. I opted for the Papino, made with rum, maraschino liqueur, grapefruit and bitters. Chris chose the Giappone, a tart but refreshing blend of rye, dry vermouth, lemon and cherry-ginger shrub.

Top: riso al salto (fried risotto cakes). Bottom: insalata Ghibellina

Ghibellina's Tuscan inspiration has been molded into a menu that will look familiar to D.C. diners, divided as it is into antipasti (starters), zuppa (soup), insalate (salad), pasta, secondi (entrees), contorni (sides) and pizza. When I told the waitress we wanted to order a selection from most of those groupings and share them, she replied that was an ideal way to experience Ghibellina.

For our starter antipasto, we chose riso al salto, fried risotto cakes with a crispy exterior and warm, creamy risotto center. The satisfying cakes are served with a tomato sauce spiced with coriander and topped with a few shavings of cheese. Our starter salad, the Ghibellina, was also very good. I loved the combination of arugula, pine nuts and roasted cherry tomatoes with emmenthaler--the Swiss cheese best-known as a fondue ingredient--and avocado, something I don't see much on Italian menus, but it was perfect.

Top: ravioli di mais dolci (corn ravioli). Bottom: finocchiona pizza.

As good as our starters were, our pasta and pizza selections were even better. It's hard to say which was our favorite. The ravioli di mais dolci (corn ravioli) gives Graffiato's corn agnolotti a run for its money in the contest for D.C.'s best summer corn-stuff pasta dish. I loved the toasted almonds that adorned the corn-and-ricotta-filled ravioli. The pizza was also delicious. We had the Finocchiona, which is topped with shaved fennel, spicy salami, tomato sauce and mozzarella and pecorino romano cheeses. Ghibellina serves its pies with pizza scissors, which makes cutting them into wedges easy (fun too). Here's a video with Ghibellina Chef Jonathan Copeland on why they serve their pizza with scissors. Copeland boasts an impressive resume, including stints at Palena and Society Fair locally and in The Spotted Pig and Franny's in New York. Clearly, Copeland knows Italian cooking well.

Ghibellina has an enticing dessert menu, but the hot day put is in the mood for its coldest option: a mix-and-match duo of gelato and/or sorbetto. We chose a vanilla/blueberry gelato and a dark chocolate sorbetto, both of which were excellent and hit the spot.

Of course, eventually our virtual trip to a little street in Florence had to come to an end, and back into the humid D.C. summer we went. However, this time we had the good memories of a wonderful dinner. It may have been miserable outside, but inside Ghibellina, we couldn't have been happier.

Ghibellina, 1610 14th Street NW (between Q and Corcoran Streets), Washington, D.C. (Logan Circle). (202) 803-2389. Reservations: Open Table.

Three-Peas Farro Risotto with Bacon

Early summer means lots of fresh peas. I've posted about sugar snap peas this year, and wanted to get in one more recipe before we move on from this vibrant fresh staple.

This farro risotto recipe plays on concepts from two previous recipes: the Farro Risotto with Pancetta and Kale and the Peas 3-Ways Risotto, melding what I like best about those two dishes into one delicious whole.

Chewy farro, a wheat grain, is a good substitute for arborio rice in a risotto. I buy it semi-pearled, so it cooks faster than other wheat grains. It's chewy texture and earthy flavor goes nicely with hickory-smoked bacon and provides a contrast to the fresh pea flavor of this dish, which is delivered three ways: pea-flavored broth, sugar snap peas and a topping of sautéed pea tendrils. Before those peas are gone from the markets, this is one great dish for singing their praises.

Three-Peas Farro Risotto with Bacon

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (may also use vegetable broth)
1 cup water
2 cups shelled fresh English peas
4 oz. hickory-smoked bacon, diced (I recommend Benton's)
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, diced
1 1/2 cups semi-pearled farro (rinsed)
3/4 cup dry white wine (I used chardonnay)
1 lb. sugar snap peas, ends trimmed and peas cut in half
1/2 grated cup parmigiano-reggiano cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 oz. pea shoots

1. Bring chicken broth and water to a low simmer. And peas and simmer while you prep the other ingredients and start the risotto.

2. Heat a Dutch oven or large sauté pan over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until crisped and brown. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside. Remove excess rendered fat to leave about 1 tbsp. in the pot.

3. Add 1 tbsp. unsalted butter to pot. When melted, add onion and sauté until softened, about 5-8 minutes. Add the farro and cook, stirring occasionally to toast, about 5 minutes.

4. Add cooked bacon back to the pot, then add the white wine. Stir frequently as the wine cooks down until the point when a spoon swiped across the bottom of the pot leaves bare pot that isn't immediately covered with liquid.

5. Strain out the peas from the chicken broth and discard them. Start adding the warm broth by the ladle to the farro, stirring to incorporate and cooking until each added ladle of liquid is incorporated so that the bottom of the pot can be seen when a spoon is swiped across it. After about half of the broth has been incorporated, stir in the sugar snap peas. Continue adding broth until the grain is tender but still chewy (you may not need all the broth). Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Remove from heat and stir in the grated parmesan cheese.

6. While the risotto cooks, heat olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add pea shoots, season with salt and cook until wilted and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

7. Serve the risotto in shallow bowls topped with a few of the sautéed pea shoots.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Sausage and Broccolini

This is a pasta dish that manages to be both hearty and spring-like. Rather than a thick tomato sauce, you use some of the pasta cooking water to make a lighter sauce that combines with the butter and pan juices. Yet the combination of whole wheat pasta, sausage and broccolini packs a lot of flavor.

Do you ever get broccolini and broccoli rabe confused? Broccoli rabe, also called rapini, is a bitter green with small buds that resemble broccoli florets. It's species is known as brassica rapa, which also includes turnips, napa cabbage and mizuna. Broccolini was created in 1993 as a hybrid between broccoli and kailan, a green also known as Chinese kale. Broccoli, kailan and broccolini are all subspecies of brassica oleracea, making broccolini a closer kin to broccoli than broccoli rabe.

To give this dish some heat, I used aleppo pepper, a spicy red pepper from the Mediterranean and Middle East. It's commonly sold as crushed flakes, making it similar to red chili pepper flakes but with less heat. So where you might use a generous pinch of red chili pepper flakes, you might want to use 1/2 tsp. or more of aleppo pepper.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Sausage and Broccolini

1 bunch of broccolini
1 lb. whole wheat pasta, such as farfalle
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lb. Italian sausage (I use mild Italian chicken sausage)
2 medium shallots, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. aleppo pepper flakes
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
Shaved grana padano or parmigiano-reggiano (use a vegetable peeler to make wide shavings of cheese), to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Remove the about 1/3 of the broccolini from the stem end and discard. Cut the remaining broccolini in half. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook the broccolini in the boiling water for 1 minute, then remove.

2. Add salt to the boiling water. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, drain the pasta and set it aside.

3. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet pan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned. Remove sausage from pan.

4. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil to the pan. Add the shallots and garlic and cook until the shallots have softened, about 5 minutes. Add the aleppo pepper and broccolini and cook another 2 minutes. Add the pasta, sausage and reserved pasta cooking water. Stir to combine and cook a minutes or so until the ingredients are heated through. Turn off the heat and add the butter. Stir to combine as the butter melts.

5. Serve pasta in shallow bowls topped with shavings of grana padano or parmigiano-reggiano and freshly ground black pepper.

Pasta with Simple Sausage-Tomato Sauce

I make pasta a lot, and during any time except July-September, if it contains tomatoes they are canned.

The grocery store is acutely aware of the association between pasta and canned tomatoes. The dried pasta is located on the same aisle as the whole, diced, crushed, pureed and pasted (if that's a word) tomatoes. Your De Cicco and San Marzano and just a mere feet away, waiting for you to combine them into something wonderful.

There's another specter on this aisle though: the jarred pasta sauce. And it's a demon. I haven't bought this stuff for years, but checked up on them recently. I see they now sell them with cheese already mixed in--can't imagine that does great things for the cheese. Several also bill themselves as being "with meat," but don't specify which meat. According to the ingredients, it's beef, which is only slightly more descriptive--I'm going to assume we're talking ground beef. One such sauce also contains soybean oil (more of it than beef) and "natural flavor" whatever that is (based on what I've read, it could be just about anything cooked up in a lab somewhere). And many of them have added sugar, which good tomatoes just don't need.

If I'm sounding rather snooty about jarred pasta sauce, I don't apologize for it, and here's why: you can make something far better yourself using canned tomatoes. It's not hard to whip up a simple sauce. And you can do it in the time it takes to boil the noodles. After putting a pot of water on the stove to boil at 6:45 (which takes about 15 minutes), this dish was ready at 7:10. And it was good, really good. So next time you're in the mood for simple pasta with tomato sauce, pick up a few extra ingredients and skip the jarred stuff. You'll be much happier.

A word about grana padano, the cheese I used. I first learned about it last summer while reading Molly Wizenberg's memoir Delancey. It's one of the cheeses she said they use on their pizzas. I've been searching for it ever since. Although I've read that grana padano is more prevalent than parmigiano-reggiano, in my experience, it's harder to find in the United States. Our Whole Foods doesn't have it, and I once helped an employee of a specialty deli search through her cheese case looking for the grana padano they were supposed to have (we couldn't find it). Then one recent weekend at Giant, I came across a display of it at the end-cap of the specialty cheese case. Yes, sometimes the conventional grocery store does have things you can't find elsewhere.

This is a hard Italian cheese similar to parmigiano-reggiano, both of which are types of "grana" cheese (there is a third primary type, grana trentino, that I've ye to try). I tried slices of both cheeses side-by-side. Their flavor is very similar. Unless you're a real cheese expert, if someone fed you a spoonful of grana padano, you would probably say it was parmesan. The grana padano is a slightly milder flavor--you don't get quite that nutty taste of parmigiano-reggiano, and the texture is also a bit softer--there isn't any of that slight crunch you get with parmigiano. If grana padano does become easier to find, I might buy it more often, especially if it is less expensive.

Pasta with Simple Sausage-Tomato Sauce

1 lb. dried tube pasta (I used penne lisce, the kind of penne without ribbing)
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lb. mild Italian chicken sausage, removed from casings
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Pinch of red chili pepper flakes
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. dried thyme
Generous dash of ground nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Grated grana padano or parmigiano-reggiano cheese, served at table

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook the pasta according to package directions for al dente. Drain and set aside.

2. In a large pot, such as a Dutch oven, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until no longer pink and lightly browned in places. Remove from the pan, transfer to a cutting board and chop fine.

3. Add the other tbsp. olive oil to the pot. Add the garlic and red chili pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the crushed tomatoes and thin with about 1/2 cup of water. Season with oregano, thyme, nutmeg, salt and pepper. When the mixture begins to sputter, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer a few minutes (if you're doing this while pasta is cooking, give it about 10 minutes). Turn off the heat and stir in the pasta to coat it with the sauce. Serve the pasta in shallow bowls with the grated cheese at the table.

Two 1990s Food Trends: Fettuccine with Chicken, Sundried Tomatoes and Pesto Cream Sauce

When foods become popular, it's rarely because they're new. Think about the things that are food trends right now--kale, quinoa, bacon, Greek-style yogurt, gelato--these are not "new" foods. They've been enjoyed by people around the world for a very long time. But they are food trends, which come about for various reasons, which were fascinatingly explored by David Sax in his book The Tastemakers.

I remember Mediterranean foods, and particularly Italian foods, as being a real trend in the '90s. People discovered there were more ways to serve pasta than just spaghetti with meat sauce or & mac & cheese and more interesting ways to make pizza. In general, there was an epiphany that great Italian food can be made with ingredients other than tomatoes and lots of cheese. One such ingredient was pesto, the green sauce that is a mixture of olive oil, nuts, garlic, parmesan and herbs--generally basil but sometimes other things.

Simple basil pesto.

Pesto's roots trace back to ancient Rome, but began to resemble its familiar modern form in the 1600s around Genoa, Italy. Americans began to take notice of pesto in the 1940s with its popularity beginning to really take off in the 1980s until it was "ubiquitous," in the words of Epicurious, in the 1990s. Today it may seem commonplace, but 20 years ago, putting pesto instead of tomato sauce in your pasta or on your pizza seemed like a fresh, exciting thing to try. It heralded a comparatively "lighter" style of Italian cooking, is it was often paired with chicken and other vegetables.

Enthusiasm for pesto may have waned, but it certainly hasn't gone away. And yes, people are even making it with kale these days.

Another food trend from the '90s and one that pairs nicely with pesto was sundried tomatoes. Again, they are something that had been around for awhile, but achieved that special sweet-spot of popularity that made them a hot food trend during that decade. We all got a little carried away with them back then, using them as a pizza topping, a salad ingredient (like I did last week), a mayonnaise filler and a sandwich enhancer. I liked them best in pasta, and still include them from time-to-time. I actually would welcome their comeback, since I love tomatoes, and their concentrated flavor is a great way to add deep tomato flavor during any season.

This simple pasta recipe is classic '90s: throw together pesto, chicken, sundried tomatoes, a little cream and fettuccine and you have a dish certain to take you back 20 to 25 years that's still delicious today.

Fettuccine with Chicken, Sundried Tomatoes and Pesto Cream Sauce

Salt
1 lb. dried fettuccine
1/3 cup walnut halves
1 garlic clove, smashed
2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
3/4 lb. boneless-skinless chicken breast cutlets
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
Pinch of red chili pepper flakes
1/2 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
1/3 cup heavy cream
Freshly ground black pepper, taste

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions for al dente. Drain and set aside.

2. Combine the walnuts, 1 smashed garlic clove and basil leaves in a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine and chop up. With the processor running, slowly stream in the 1/3 cup olive oil and blend until the pesto has a consistent texture, scraping down the sides with a spatula if needed. Transfer the blended mixture to a small bowl and stir in the grated parmesan.

3. Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Pat the chicken breast cutlets dry and add them to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 10 minutes, turning over after about 5 minutes, until lightly browned and cooked through. Transfer chicken breasts to a cutting board and cut into 1-inch pieces.

4. Add the garlic and red chili pepper flakes to the sauté pan and cook for about 1 minute, then stir in the pesto, cooked chicken, sundried tomatoes and heavy cream. Turn off the heat and add the cooked pasta, stirring to coat in the sauce. Serve the pasta in shallow bowls.

Restaurant: Coppi's Organic (Washington, D.C.)

If food has personality, then classic Italian cooking is the food with a friendly smile and a warm embrace. Everyone has their favorite comfort food: mac & cheese, ramen, grilled cheese. For me, it's Italian.

Unfortunately, 2014 was a rough year for good Italian in my neck of the woods. Early in the year, Dino decamped to Shaw to become Dino's Grotto, and then in the spring, Palena closed its doors, a shocking development for what was one of the city's best restaurants. Sure, the Vace Italian Deli remains a wonderful place for Italian goods (and pizza), but the departure of these fine restaurants left a noticeable gap in Cleveland Park.

Perhaps its fitting that the restaurant bringing good Italian cooking back to Cleveland Park is one that's faced its own share of hurdles.

Coppi's Organic was an institution on U Street years before that neighborhood became as red-hot as it is today. A friend of mine who worked in the area in the early 2000s remembers it fondly. Of course, the U and 14th area we know today is vastly different than it was a decade ago, and Coppi's became of a victim of that redevelopment when it had to close in 2012 due to its building being renovated.

Flash-forward 2 years and Coppi's has found a new home in Cleveland Park, taking the former spot of Lavandou, a French bistro that hung around the neighborhood a long time but never made much of an impression on me. Coppi's is a massive improvement.

Cima Coppi cocktail

I first got to sample Coppi's food and drinks during a D.C. Food Bloggers Happy Hour and was so impressed I knew I had to return soon for dinner. (Note: This review is based on our subsequent dinner experience and not the happy hour.) We enjoyed a laid back dinner of hearty, well-made Italian classics with friendly service.

Our favorite way to start a good dinner is with cocktails, and Coppi's doesn't disappoint. Bar Manager Nikolai Konick has designed a fantastic cocktail menu of craft cocktails made with interesting ingredients and house-made syrups, as well as Italian-style Negroni (or inspired) drinks. I had the Cima Coppi made with Acqua di Cedro, a citrus liqueur our server explained is made from citron, a type of citrus fruit prized more for its rind than its flesh. With a gin base and a spicy rosemary-serrano syrup, it's a refreshing tipple with a nice kick. We also enjoyed the Fig Limonata made with Mahia, a Morrocan-style brandy flavored with fig and aniseed, lemon juice and aged balsamic vinegar. Vinegar has been winding its way through cocktails again in the form of shrubs, so I was intrigued by the use of balsamic in a cocktail, which is a great idea.

Insalata di Spinaci Novelli

What came from chef and owner Carlos Amaya's kitchen was no less impressive. We started with a round of salads. Chris sprang for the Insalata di Spinaci Novelli, a classic combination of spinach, Italian bacon, mushrooms and walnuts with a balsamic vinaigrette. While that was good, we liked my Insalata di Mele con Gorgonzola even better, a wonderful arrangement of spiced and oven-roasted red apples upon a bed of mesclun greens with toasted pine nuts, dried cranberries and gorgonzola cheese. I'm a sucker for apples and blue cheese together and the duo really shined in this dish, one of the best restaurant salads I've had this year.

Insalata di Mele con Gorgonzola

It's hard to resist good pasta in an Italian restaurant, and we were in the mood for it the night we visited Coppi's. We weren't disappointed by our dishes, both of which can be potentially too "heavy" in the wrong hands but were expertly executed, their richness tempered with a hearty helping of vegetables and a light touch with the sauces.

Strip steak béchamel lasagna

I loved my selection, a strip steak béchamel lasagna that was the evening's special. If your vision of lasagna involves too much gloppy tomato sauce and ricotta, then Coppi's lasagna may be just the thing to rekindle your interest in the dish. Thin layers of pastas sandwiched chunks of steak with mushrooms, red peppers and lasagna and creamy béchamel without a tomato in sight.

Gnocchi con Melanzane

Ever the gnocchi lover, Chris got the Gnocchi con Melanzane, which consisted of appropriately pillowy gnocchi in a sauce of sausage, sundried tomatoes, onion, pepper flakes, pecorino cheese and plenty of herbs.

Raspberry tiramisu

Despite being pretty stuffed, I really wanted to try a dessert, so we went with another evening special, a variation on Coppi's regular tiramisu with fresh raspberries. The classic Italian dessert was cool and creamy the way it should be with a nice coffee aftertaste.

Cleveland Park has lately proven itself a difficult place for restaurants, as evidenced by the aforementioned closures (the spaces of former Dino and Palena are still vacant, unfortunately). But Coppi's was doing brisk business the Saturday night we sampled it and for good reason. This is the kind of classic Italian cooking that I love, made with a clear understanding of ingredients, the right balance of excess and restraint and delivered with care and attention by the friendly serving staff. Although I didn't literally get a hug at Coppi's, my appetite enjoyed the familiar embrace of good, satisfying Italian cooking.

Coppis' Organic, 3321 Connecticut Avenue, NW (at Newark Street), Washington, D.C. (Cleveland Park). (202) 966-0770. Reservations: Open Table. 

Peas 3-Ways Risotto with Mint

Three-ways can be a little controversial. Take, for example, the recent three-way between Pamela, John Ross and Emma on Dallas, which got tongues wagging. Well, this three-way is sure to get your tongue wagging too, but in a different way.

English peas have to be shelled first. You end up with about half as much peas by weight as you get with peas in the pod, so plan accordingly.

This risotto features three different types of peas: the basic English variety, which I've pureed, sugar snap peas, which are blanched and stirred into the cooked rice, and sautéed pea shoots (also sometimes called pea tendrils). All three types came from New Morning Farm, my neighborhood farmers market that I'm getting an even deeper appreciation for as I read the farmer's son's memoir, A Farm Dies Once a Year.

Sautéing the pea shoots

I also got to use some fresh spearmint from my garden. When I originally planted the mint in April, I put it in the same pot as a peppermint plant. This turned out to be a mistake. After a few weeks, the spearmint looked pretty unhappy, turning a dull shade of green with some brown spots. I repotted the spearmint so that it had its own, larger pot, and what a difference. Now the plant is vibrant green and growing steadily. Definitely going to be time for mojitos soon.

This is a pretty simple and adaptable recipe. To make it vegetarian, substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth. You could even make it vegan by omitting the cheese and using only olive oil instead of butter.

Adding the pea puree to the risotto.

Peas 3-Ways Risotto with Mint

4 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, diced
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
3/4 cup dry white wine (I used a Chenin Blanc/Viognier blend)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1 lb. sugar snap peas, ends trimmed and peas cut in half
5 oz. shelled English peas (about 10 oz. unshelled)
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 oz. pea shoots
Pinch of red chili pepper flakes
3 tbsp. fresh chopped spearmint
1 cup grated pecorino romano cheese

1. Warm the chicken broth in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.

2. Heat butter in a Dutch oven or large sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until softened, about 10 minutes. Add rice and cook until lightly toasted, stirring occasionally, about 3-4 minutes. Add wine and stir to combine. Cook until the wine is absorbed by the rice (when running a spoon across the bottom of the pot leaves a dry space). Add 2 cups of chicken broth, stir to combine, and simmer over medium heat until the broth is absorbed. Then, continue adding broth by 1/2 cupfuls, stirring to combine and waiting between additions until the previous addition is absorbed by the rice. In total, this should take about 20-25 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Reduce heat to low to keep warm.

3. While the rice cooks, prepare the peas. Bring a large saucepan to boil over medium-high heat. Add the sugar snap peas and cook for 2 minutes. Remove peas from the boiling water and transfer to an ice-water bath. Add the English peas and cook for 2 minutes. Transfer the cooked English peas to a tall container, add about 1/2 cup of warm water and puree with an immersion blender (alternatively, transfer to a food processor and process until pureed).

4. Heat olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add pea shoots, season with salt and red chili pepper flakes, and cook until wilted and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

5. Stir the pea puree and cooked snap peas into the risotto, along with the fresh mint and grated pecorino romano. Serve the risotto in shallow bowls topped with sautéed pea shoots.

Pizza Margherita

Now that my basil is finally growing well, it's time to start putting it to good use. Pizza Margherita is a prime showcase for fresh basil. A few leaves scattered on top wilt a bit from the pizza's heat but retain their fresh green flavor.

I won't be coy about this pizza. It was really good. And really pretty easy to make compared with other pizza. The ingredients require little prep and the dough, which I adapted from a Cook's Illustrated recipe, was pretty easy too.

Pizza Margherita
Adapted in part from a recipe by Cook's Illustrated, More Best Recipes

Dough:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

Sauce:
2 tsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
14 oz. crushed tomatoes
Pinch of salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tsp. cornmeal
10 oz. fresh mozzarella, sliced between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick
16-20 fresh basil leaves, larger leaves torn

1. Make the dough: Add flour sugar, salt and yeast to the bowl of a food processor and pulse about 5 times until combined. With the machine turned on, slowly stream the water through the feed tube. As the water is added, the dough should come together into a ball after about a minute or two. If, after the first minute, the dough seems too sticky and clings to the blade, add 1 or 2 more tablespoons of flour or, if it's too crumbly and doesn't come together, add 1 or 2 more tablespoons of water. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. Transfer the dough ball to a large lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 1 hour.

2. Make the sauce: Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until it starts to bubble, reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.

Make the pizza:

3. Preheat oven to 500 F with two oven racks evenly spaced. Cut two pieces of parchment to fit two small baking sheets; sprinkle each with a teaspoon of cornmeal. Divide the risen dough ball into two pieces. Place first dough ball on a lightly floured surface and shape into a thick disc. Then, using your hands, shape the disc into a thin round about 12-inches across (the round should be thicker around the edges and very thin in the middle--be careful not to tear it; pinch the dough together if it does tear). Place the shaped dough round on a prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the other half of the dough.

4. Place about 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce on one dough round and smooth the sauce across the dough using a spatula, leaving the outer 1/2-inch of dough uncovered. Place half of the sliced fresh mozzarella on top of the sauce in a single, evenly spaced layer. Repeat with the other dough round.

5. Bake pizzas in the oven until the edges are browned and the cheese begins to bubble, about 15 to 20 minutes (note: if using a pizza stone, cooking time may be less). If the pizza looks "soupy" in the middle, bake a little longer to dry it out. Remove pizzas from oven and immediately scatter half the fresh basil on top of each pizza (the heat from the pizza will wilt the basil a bit). Allow to cool a bit then serve.