David Downie

To prevent cut artichokes from browning, work with 1 artichoke at a time and lightly toss it in the lemon dressing as you go.

Combine ground beef, ground veal, and pancetta with red wine, milk, and aromatics for the meat sauce of your dreams.

Two seemingly disparate ingredients pair perfectly in this brightly flavored and creamy sauce.

The key to making this dish is to have all the ingredients prepared before you begin sautéing the onions.

To preserve and enhance the fettuccine's subtle flavor, toss it with a light sauce like this one.

Unlike their larger siblings, baby artichokes have no thistly choke and are completely edible. Despite the name, they're fully mature.

The pesto works well as a sauce for pasta, chicken, or fish, too.

Serve this hearty side dish with a pork or lamb roast.

This dip is also delicious with thin baguette slices, toast, crackers, or tortilla chips.

Ciuppin Although many San Franciscans think the zesty fish stew known as cioppino was invented in their city, it can actually be traced back to Genoa — ciuppin is the Genoese term for "nice little bowl of soup." Almost any white-fleshed saltwater fish will do, as long as it's very fresh.

Spaghetti a Cacio e Pepe This is the simplest and one of the tastiest pasta dishes in the Roman repertoire, served at home and at every trattoria offering cucina romana or cucina povera (poor folks' cooking).... The trick to making this recipe work is to dilute the cheese and pepper with 1 tablespoon of pasta water per serving, and to amalgamate the ingredients in the pot the pasta water was boiled in, a technique called mantecare, meaning to mix and meld.