Italian recipe collection

Old-school Italian tomato sauce simmered with onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and basil, then strained smooth through a food mill. The Sunday-gravy base every cook should know.

Fried mozzarella slices double-breaded with Italian breadcrumbs, layered with spaghetti sauce and Locatelli cheese, then baked until bubbly. Italian-American comfort food.

Marinated mushroom and artichoke salad with tarragon vinegar dressing, chilled 24 hours and served on greens. Italian-style cold appetizer with sharp, herbal flavor.

Vegetarian mushroom and spinach lasagna with ricotta, Swiss, Parmesan, and a roasted red pepper sauce with balsamic vinegar. Lighter than traditional lasagna.

Quick Italian mushroom and tomato pasta sauce with garlic, parsley, and marjoram cooked in olive oil. A 20-minute vegetarian sauce with a full pound of mushrooms.

This half-soup, half-stew recipe will serve 4 as an appetizer or two as the main course.

Vegetable lasagna layered with zucchini, spinach, mushrooms, and a red wine tomato sauce. Make-ahead and lighter than meat lasagna, with cottage cheese standing in for ricotta.

Italian nut biscotti with almonds, hazelnuts, cinnamon, cloves, and orange zest. Shaped into logs, baked once, then sliced on the diagonal for a big batch of crunchy cookies.

Copycat Olive Garden Shrimp Cristoforo: shrimp sauteed in a homemade basil, garlic, and parmesan compound butter, then tossed with linguine. A restaurant-style shrimp pasta that comes together fast once the butter is made.

Marinated olives with garlic, orange zest, and fennel seeds warmed in olive oil. An Italian-style appetizer that improves with time. Ready in hours, not days.

Olive Profumate: oil-cured black olives marinated with fennel seeds, orange zest, and sliced garlic. A no-cook Italian appetizer that keeps for two weeks in the fridge.

Italian sweet and sour onions braised in white wine vinegar, honey, and coriander. Cipollini-style agrodolce side dish simmered until glazed and tender.

Osso bucco alla Milanese: cross-cut veal shanks braised low in white wine with vegetables and herbs, finished with classic lemon-parsley-garlic gremolata.

Osso buco braises veal shanks low and slow in white wine, soffritto and tomato until the meat slips off the bone. A bright lemon-parsley gremolata cuts the richness, served over the reduced pan juices.

Pan-broiled steak with tomatoes sears thick sirloin in olive oil, then finishes under a quick garlic-oregano tomato sauce. A rustic Italian one-skillet supper, ready fast.

Pane di Mattina alla Siciliana is a sweet Sicilian breakfast bread enriched with eggs, butter, lemon zest, fennel seed, and Marsala-soaked raisins and currants. Sicily's answer to morning brioche.