Cheese

"At the Manhattan law office where I'm a legal secretary, it seems as though the phones are always ringing," writes Lisa Caiazzo of Franklin Square, New York. "And if it isn't the phones that have me occupied, then there are lots of documents that need my attention. By the time I get home from the city, I usually have only about 45 minutes to put together dinner for my husband, Angelo, and myself. Still, that's enough time to make something filling and delicious, like a salad and a hearty pasta or soup." Three cheeses make this a delicious appetizer or a nice partner for soup, salad, or pasta.

Making risotto is often thought to be an ordeal of stirring, but it really only takes about 20 minutes. In actuality, it's an easy dish, especially when it's the main course.

The crust of this tart is tender and quite crumbly.

To make this easy appetizer even easier, substitute store-bought roasted red bell peppers for the home-roasted ones.

If you really want to make this pimento cheese the way my mother does, and you happen to own a hand-crank meat grinder, run the two cheeses once through the fine blade of the grinder into a mixing bowl. Mother simply used to grind the pimentos with the cheeses, but now she prefers to mash them with a heavy fork on a plate until they break up into tiny pieces. She uses homemade mayonnaise but also endorses Hellmann's (a.k.a. Best Foods).

(MINESTRA DI CAMPAGNA) Creativity with simple ingredients is one of the themes of Sicilian cooking. There's no better example than this bean and vegetable soup, which some say evolved from food that fifteenth-century galley cooks made for mariners. Serve an island dry red wine such as Corvo with this.

This needs to chill overnight, so plan accordingly.

Though penne is Faith Heller Willinger's pasta of choice for this dish, we tried other types—such as mafalde (broad, rippled noodles similar to lasagna noodles but not quite as wide)—and found they work well, too.

This cheesecake, a delicious contrast of sweet vanilla and tart cranberry, is a scruptious conclusion to any dinner. Whipped cream rosettes are a pretty finish.

Quiche made its way from France to our shores in the sixties, but it was in the seventies that its popularity soared.

(BEEF AND SAUSAGE ROLL WITH PROSCIUTTO, PROVOLONE, SPINACH AND EGGS) At one time very little meat was eaten in this region. When it was, humbler cuts were transformed by long cooking into delicious stews or combined with other ingredients to make meatballs or a meat roll such as this one. It is good hot, at room temperature or even cold. Leftovers are great in sandwiches. Serve with the Mixed Salad and some bread.

Delicious with toasted bread, as presented here, or with celery sticks, red bell pepper strips or Belgian endive leaves.

This cake is a southern tradition for festive occasions. It can be completely assembled and chilled one day before serving.

This is my favorite pie crust. It took several years and over fifty tries to get it just right and is the soul of this book. It is unlike any other cream cheese pie crust because, in addition to being tender, it is also flaky. In fact, it is very similar in texture to epi:recipeLink="101858"Basic Flaky Pie Crust</epi:recipeLink> � almost as flaky but a little softer and more tender, and it browns more when baked, resulting in a rich golden color. The addition of cream cheese makes it even easier to prepare than basic flaky pie crust because you never have to guess how much water to add, and it gives it a flavor so delicious it is great to eat just by itself without filling! It is well worth purchasing or making pastry flour, as it will result in a more tender crust.