Nut

Using pomegranate juice instead of water to make this nut brittle not only makes for a beautiful magenta-tinted caramel color but also adds a very subtle flavor of the pomegranate. Serve this buttery treat with ice cream, or pack it in cellophane bags and tie them with festive bows for delicious party favors.

Not only is this giant layer cake a stunner, it is absolutely delicious with its creamy guava filling and fluffy buttercream frosting. We had a guava tree in my mom’s garden, and when the fruit was in season, we ate our share of guava cakes, guava tarts, guava water, and pretty much guava anything. This is my homage to my mom’s guava tree.

My very close friend and colleague Elsa Flores, a Baja pastry chef, shared this recipe with me. It’s a wonderful fusion of one very Mexican ingredient, amaranth, with one very French dessert, macaroons. Be sure to let the raw macaroons rest after they are piped. This will dry out the tops and will result in a shinier and perfectly puffed macaroon.

Polvo means “powder” in Spanish, which is exactly what these crumbly, buttery cookies turn into in your mouth. My mom made polvorones for us every Christmas. These melt-in-your-mouth Mexican wedding cookies are very easy to prepare and are the perfect accompaniment to a cup of after-dinner coffee—or for dipping in hot chocolate, as I did when I was a child.

Nuts and seeds have been making their way into Mexican sauces and salsas for centuries. The nutty sesame seeds in this salsa, which is served at a very popular small restaurant in Tijuana called Mi Rincón Cenaduria (My Restaurant Nook), give it body and depth. Use this on steak tacos or even with grilled chicken. Peanuts can be substituted for the sesame seeds.

This is one of my favorite ways to eat rice: spicy and with nuts! The spice from the chiles is perfectly balanced by earthy pine nuts. To cut down on the heat, you can always use one ancho chile instead of two, but I encourage you to try it with two the first time around. You might be surprised at how well the flavors work together. Because they are picked by hand, pine nuts can be expensive. Feel free to substitute chopped or slivered almonds instead.

Couscous, made from semolina, is a staple in North African cuisine. Here it is infused with spicy chiles and cinnamon in this easy-to-whip-up salad that would pair nicely with grilled lamb or poultry.

This recipe plays on my favorite combination: spicy and sweet. Don’t worry about the chicken drying out in the oven—all of the flavor and juice is sealed in by the crunchy pecan glaze. Drumettes are the part of a chicken wing that, when separated from the rest of the wing, looks like a miniature drumstick. You can carve the wings yourself, ask your butcher to do it, or purchase frozen drumettes in the freezer section of the supermarket (thaw them overnight in the refrigerator).

I never really had waffles growing up in Italy, but Todd loves them, so when we got together I knew I had to find a way to incorporate them into our breakfast routine. The result is an impressive-looking brunch dish with all the elements I think a great waffle should have: these are salty, sweet, and crunchy in every bite.

Brunch is a funny meal; many of the main dishes are sweet enough to make dessert seem almost redundant. That’s why I like to serve this dish, which is bright and fresh from the citrus with a hint of licorice from the fennel. It bridges the gap between salad and dessert, ending the meal on a sweet but not heavy note.

I love desserts that transform just a few simple ingredients into a show-stopping confection. Honey gives this rich tart an intriguing, elusive flavor and floral aroma. Serve the tart in small wedges, as it is extremely rich, or cut it into little triangles to pack along on a picnic.

Only the mascarpone and the ladyfingers in this lemony dessert give a nod to a traditional tiramisù, but my California spin on this beloved dessert is just as addictive. I think lemon makes everything taste a bit lighter (so I can eat more without feeling weighed down!), and the hazelnuts add a delicate flavor and lots of crunch. So while no one will mistake this for the original, I promise it will make anyone you serve it to very, very happy.

Biscotti are probably the best-known Italian sweet, and every region has its own specialty, from very simple ones flavored with anise seed to those made with flavored doughs or packed with fruits and nuts. I grew up eating biscotti made with hazelnuts and sometimes dipped in chocolate, and much as I love those, this combination of almond and lemon has become my new fave. They are crunchy and subtly flavored. For a dinner party I dip them in melted white chocolate to make them a little more special.

Compared to American Christmas cookies, Italian cookies are a bit less sweet. They bake up nice and buttery, and the dried apricots make them moist and chewy rather than crisp and crunchy. The dough freezes well, so I like to make a double batch and store some to bake when unexpected guests drop by (just be sure to increase the baking time by two minutes if baking from frozen). The cookies will fill the whole house with an alluring fragrance and make you look like a superstar, even if you don’t have time to make the glaze.

Italians love lentils and cook them in lots of creative ways, including the traditional lentil and sausage dish that is served on New Year’s Day. Lentils are also very often used as the basis of a main-course salad like this one, which is a little more refined than most thanks to the sweet, juicy grapes and chopped hazelnuts. Like lentil soup, this salad develops more flavor the longer it sits, and it makes a wonderful bed for flavorful fish such as salmon. Certainly you can eat this right away, or make it ahead of time, refrigerate overnight, and serve at room temperature the next day.

This salad is a new twist on the classic combo of melon and prosciutto. Grilled asparagus keeps a slight crunch and also has a smoky char to it that pairs with the creaminess and subtle flavor of mozzarella and the fruitiness of melon. To top it off: crumbled prosciutto. I’ve always loved the salty tang of prosciutto, but since I started baking thin slices of it to make brittle, crispy chips, my love has become a full-blown obsession; they just seem to make everything taste better.

Few things are more enticing than the smell of a chicken roasting, but for a special meal or a romantic evening such as Valentine’s Day, I like to serve game hens, so each person can have a whole bird of his or her own. It’s a beautiful presentation that is ridiculously easy to put together, and the pan juices, full of fresh citrus flavors, are especially delicious. If you prefer, though, you can easily make this with a large chicken; just increase the roasting time to 60 to 75 minutes, depending on its weight.

I don’t cook with jalapeño peppers often because I’m not a huge fan of spicy food, but when I was served grilled fish topped with a spicy pesto at a beach-side restaurant near San Diego, I loved the way the heat woke up the flavor of the fish. I thought it could do the same for pasta, and sure enough, it’s a great combo. Packed with spinach and arugula, this pesto is more condiment and less sauce than the typical basil pesto, and a bit lighter thanks to the substitution of walnuts for oily pine nuts. Fusilli is the perfect partner for any kind of pesto because the sauce gets trapped in the ridges so you get flavor in every bite. Serve leftovers of the dressed pasta with roasted chicken, fish, or beef.

The sauce for this pasta is really a simple fresh salsa, and if you are making it in the summer months, feel free to substitute two or three diced beefsteak tomatoes for the canned. It is just as good at room temperature as it is served hot, so it can be made ahead of time—perfect for large get-togethers and buffet-style parties. The sliced steak turns this dish into a meal. I’m seeing smoked almonds used more and more in Italy and I have fallen in love with the deep flavor they add; however, as they are quite salty, when I use them in a dish I reduce the amount of salt I would normally add.

The Clafouti is essentially a fruit-laden baked pancake. I love this Americanized version, which is crunchy and sweet.