The wedges of pear on this big farmhouse pizza are sprinkled with rosemary, basil, cinnamon, sugar and orange zest. Such uncommon spicing steps straight out of the centuries-old recipes for sweet pizzas.

Sweet pizzas are new to us, but in central and southern Italy, they used to be commonplace. There, the word pizza describes all sorts of pies, turnovers and flavored flatbreads both savory and sweet, made with leavened dough or pastry, as in this pizza. Farmwomen used to bake them as a once-a-week family treat. Usually they slipped the pizzas into their bread ovens after they had removed a week s worth of baked loaves of bread. Don t be put off by the sprinkling of olive oil it has long been used in sweet dishes and adds just the right fruity note of the pizza.

Pastry:

1-1/2 cups (7.5 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour (preferably organic)

Generous teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoons sugar

1 stick (4 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks

1 large egg, beaten

2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

Topping:

4 (1-1/2 to 2 pounds) firm-ripe Bosc pears (preferably organic)

lemon

Shredded zest of 1 large orange

1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

cup sugar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. For the pastry, combine the dry ingredients in a food processor or large bowl. Cut in the butter with rapid pulses in the processor, or rub between your fingertips until the butter is the size of peas. Add the egg and 2 tablespoons of water. Pulse just until the dough gathers in clumps, or toss with a fork until evenly moistened. If the dough seems dry, blend in another to 1 tablespoon water.

2. Oil a 14- to 16-inch pizza pan. Roll out the dough on a floured board to an extremely thin 17-inch round. Place on the pan. Don t trim the excess pastry fold it over toward the center of the pie. Refrigerate 30 minutes to overnight.

3. Set an oven rack in the lowest position and preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Peel, core, halve, and stem the pears. Slice vertically into -inch-wide wedges, about 14 slices per pear. Moisten with a little lemon juice. Fold back the dough s rim so it hangs over the edge of the pan. Arrange the pear slices in an overlapping spiral on the dough, starting right at the rim of the pan. Sprinkle with the orange zest, basil, rosemary, cinnamon, pepper, sugar, and oil. Flip the over-hanging crust onto the pears.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until the pears are speckled golden brown and the crust is crisp. Cover the crust s rim with foil if it browns too quickly. Remove the pizza from the oven and serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

Blend the olives up to 5 days before serving.

Eastern Sicily s ancient Greek capitol was Syracusa. Today, Greek ruins still occupy the center of town and the city market is lit by sunlight reflected off the water of the old port. Farmers cure olives from their own trees, dress them in a variety of ways and sell them from big open bowls set on saw-horse tables.

Cook to Cook: The fast, cheap way to cure an olive is with lye. The slow and tastier way to cure an olive is with salt in any number of forms. Lye cured olives seem to have a hot chemical after taste. Of course, that could be my imagination. The reality is most olives taste better when they are rinsed and moistened with a little good tasting olive oil.

3 cups black olives (Sicilian, Kalamata, Moroccan, etc), preferably not cured with lye

Shredded zest of a large orange

A generous pinch of hot red pepper flakes (the pepperoncino)

1 to 2 teaspoons chopped fresh herbs (oregano, basil and/or thyme)

3 to 4 tablespoons good-tasting extra-virgin olive oil

1. Rinse olives in a colander under running water. In a bowl, toss them with the other ingredients and serve soon, or refrigerate them up to 2 weeks. (If holding the olives for more than several hours in the refrigerator, squeeze the juice of a lemon over them). Serve at room temperature.

From The Italian Country Table: Home Cooking from Italy s Farmhouse Kitchens by Lynne Rossetto Kasper (Scribner, 1999). Copyright 1999 by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. All rights reserved.

Serves 8; doubles easily

This Panna Cotta is like eating vanilla ice cream. Although panna cotta translates as cooked cream, in fact, you heat the heavy cream only long enough to dissolve the sugar and a little gelatin. To bring the dessert to the consistency it achieves with the superthick cream of the Piedmont region s dairy country where it was born, I stir in sour cream before pouring it into small molds for chilling.

Chefs often dress up Panna Cotta with complicated sauces. I like it on its own, or the way it s eaten in homes, with fresh fruit cherries when they come into season, then strawberries, raspberries and finally peaches and pears. The boiled-down juice of fresh-pressed wine grapes (vin cotto or saba), an old country substitute for sugar, sometimes sauces Panna Cotta. Find imported saba from Modena in some fancy food stores. Balsamic vinegar isn t a Piemontese tradition, but the thick liqueur-like artisan-made balsamic (Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena or Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Reggio-Emilia) is fabulous over Panna Cotta.

Cook to Cook: Use organic cream if possible and be sure the sour cream contains only cream and culture, no other additives. This recipe unmolds with a soft, creamy finish. For a firmer panna cotta, increase the gelatin to 1 teaspoons.

1 teaspoons unflavored gelatin

2 tablespoons cold water

3 cups heavy whipping cream

cup (3 ounces) sugar, or more to taste

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup (8-ounce container) sour cream

1. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water. Let stand for 5 minutes. In a 3-quart saucepan, warm the cream with the sugar, salt, and vanilla over medium-high heat. Do not let it boil. Stir in the gelatin until thoroughly dissolved. Take the cream off the heat and cool about 5 minutes.

2. Put the sour cream in a medium bowl. Gently whisk in the warm cream a little at a time until smooth. Taste for sweetness. It may need another teaspoon of sugar. Rinse 8 2/3-cup ramekins, custard cups, or coffee cups with cold water. Fill each one three-quarters full with the cream. Chill 4 to 24 hours.

3. To serve, either unmold by packing the molds in hot towels and then turning each out onto a dessert plate, or serve in their containers.

Shepherds in Sicily offered me this dish a spicy tomato sauce over chewy pasta, transformed by ricotts after making ricotta at dawn. For them it was a second breakfast; for me, it has become a favorite supper in a bowl. Pasta, tomato and cheese is one of the most irresistible of all combinations, but in this dish, ricotta makes everything sign. It must be the sweetest, creamiest you can find. If you don t have a good one, leave out the ricotta, finishing the pasta with a generous handful of shredded Asiago cheese. Quite a different dish, but you wont be disappointed.

Cook to Cook: Here s an excellent example of saut ing a soffritto over medium heat to build both bold and gentle qualities into a tomato sauce. Protect the soffritto from burning by lowering the heat if it seems to be cooking too fast. Saut it to golden, stirring frequently but letting some bits stick to the pan; they will build a crusty glaze. The sauce s depth and resonance lies in this glaze. Once it s swept into the other ingredients when the tomatoes are added, it opens up all the other flavors.

Top third of 3 large celery stalks with leaves

1 medium carrot

10 large fresh sage leaves

1 tightly packed teaspoon fresh Italian parsley leaves

2 tablespoons robust extra-virgin olive oil

1⅛-inch-thick slice salami (such as soppressata or Genoa), coarsely chopped

2 medium onions, cut into -inch dice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 large cloves garlic, minced

Generous pinch to teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (to taste)

cup dry red wine

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 28-ounce and 1 14-ounce can whole tomatoes, both thoroughly drained

1 pound penne rigate or bucatini

6 quarts boiling salted water

1 pound creamy whole-milk ricotta (sheep s milk, if possible)

1. Mince together the celery and carrot, adding the herbs toward the end to chop only coarsely. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the salami and cook to release a little of its fat, then stir in the minced celery blend, the onions, a little salt, and a generous amount of black pepper. Turn the heat down to medium and saut to golden brown.

2. Stir in the garlic and hot pepper, cooking a few moments. Add the wine and slowly simmer down to nothing, scraping up the brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Stir in the tomato paste and cook 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, crushing them with your hands as they go into the pan. Cook, uncovered, at a lively bubble (turn the heat up if necessary), stirring and scraping down the sides of the pan with a spatula. Cook 10 minutes, or until thick. Taste for seasoning, cover, and remove from the heat.

3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in fiercely boiling water, stirring often, until slightly underdone. Drain in a colander.

4. To marry the pasta and sauce, add the pasta to the sauce and toss together over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes, tasting for hot pepper and salt. Spread about a third of the pasta in a heated serving bowl and daub with a third of the ricotta. Layer in more pasta and ricotta, then the remaining pasta, finishing with a few spoonfuls of ricotta. Serve hot.

Salad:

1 medium red onion, sliced into thin rings

cup red wine vinegar

1 small head each romaine, radicchio, red leaf lettuce, and curly endive

cup (2 ounces) pine nuts, toasted

3 to 4 whole scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

3 ounces Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, shaved with a vegetable peeler into

thin curls

3 ounces thinly sliced Prosciutto di Parma, cut into bite-size squares

1 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves

1 cup lightly packed fresh Italian parsley leaves

Melting Garlic Balsamic Dressing:

8 large cloves garlic, cut into -inch dice

About ⅔ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 to 6 tablespoons commercial balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

About 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Working Ahead: The salad can be assembled several hours ahead; cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Serve it lightly chilled. The dressing can be cooked up to several hours ahead. Cover and set aside at room temperature. Reheat just before serving.

2. Assembling the Salad: Rid the onions of their sharpness by soaking them in the cup vinegar about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, wash and dry the lettuces, throwing away any coarse or bruised leaves. Tear the leaves into bite-size pieces. In a large bowl, toss the greens with all but 3 tablespoons of the pine nuts, most of the scallions, half the cheese, half the prosciutto, and all the basil and parsley. Arrange on a large platter.

3. Making the Dressing: In an 8-inch skillet, slowly cook the garlic with a light sprinkling of salt and generous grindings of pepper in the olive oil over very low heat 8 minutes, or until barely colored. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve. Remove skillet from heat and set aside.

In a small saucepan, boil together the balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar and sugar until reduced by about one third. Stir in the reserved garlic, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside until ready to serve.

Rewarm the olive oil and the vinegar separately then whisk together in a small saucepan. Taste for seasoning and sweet/tart balance, taking care not to burn your tongue. Add more vinegar and/or sugar if necessary.

4. To Serve: Top with drained red onion, and scatter the rest of the scallions, pine nuts, cheese, and prosciutto over the salad. Spoon the warm dressing over the salad and serve.

These are the beans I ate one September - night after night on my cousin's farm in Tuscany - beans so good you will want to eat them with your fingers, one by one. I never tired of them. Salt, pepper and olive oil were always on the table to dress the beans. To taste their full sweetness, cook the beans a few moments beyond the tender-crisp stage we've become accustomed to.

Salting the water and salting the beans while they're still hot are essential for opening up their flavors. Good olive oil, tasting of fruit and nuts, makes a lovely finish, but the beans are superb without it too. On our family table in Tuscany, they're served at room temperature. I've come to like them this way.

Cook to Cook: Of course, the beans must be good to begin with, and garden-fresh are best. But this recipe works with the sturdier beans shipped long distances in winter. When buying green beans, check for freshness by breaking one in half. It should snap and taste flavorful, with a hint of sweetness. Don't buy beans that are dull and flat-tasting, wilted, puckery or limp.

Serve these beans with almost anything. They freshen mellow roasted or braised dishes, foil hot and spicy ones, tone down tart ones and are just right with grilled fish or meat.

3 quarts boiling water in a 6 quart pot

3 tablespoons salt, plus more to taste

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed Freshly ground black pepper Fruity extra-virgin olive oil (optional)

1. Add the 3 tablespoons salt to the boiling water. Taste for appealing saltiness. Drop in the beans and boil uncovered 5 to 10 minutes, until tender but with no hint of mushiness. Timing varies greatly according to the age, size, and freshness of the beans. Taste for doneness and trust your judgment, not the clock. Drain immediately in colander and turn into a bowl.

Most important is to season the hot beans right away with salt and pepper.

Then taste again, adding more seasoning if necessary.

Angelo Lancellotti, who cooks in his family s Emilia-Romagna restaurant, mingles unexpected flavors in his fresh approach to an antipasto salad sweet apples and sweet basil with tart sorrel or spinach and chives, all dressed with a little sugar and vinegar. He takes his inspiration from Renaissance cookbooks written by locals, and from his organic farm and herb garden. Open an important dinner with this salad, or have it as supper, with chunks of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese instead of meat.

Cook to Cook: The only trick to this recipe is having all the ingredients ready to go, and slicing the apples no more than about 20 minutes before serving.

3 medium (about 1 pounds) Braeburn, Fuji, or other sweet crisp apples, peeled and cut into small wedges about 1 inch by inch

1 tablespoons white wine vinegar

teaspoon sugar, plus a generous pinch

10 small fresh basil leaves (about 1 inch long)

7 baby spinach or sorrel leaves (about 2 inches long)

Generous cup finely snipped fresh chives

A large handful of organic spring mix, mesclun, or mixed wild greens

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon fruity extra-virgin olive oil

1. Place the apple slices in a small bowl. Toss with 1 tablespoon of the vinegar and the teaspoon sugar. Stack the basil and spinach or sorrel leaves, roll up tightly like a cigar, and slice into narrow strips. Set aside a few teaspoons of the greens along with a few teaspoons of the snipped chives.

2. Toss the remaining basil, spinach or sorrel, and chives with the apples. Add the salad greens, generous sprinklings of salt and pepper, the olive oil, the remaining teaspoon vinegar, and the generous pinch of sugar. Toss to combine. Taste for seasoning. Sprinkle with the reserved herbs and serve.

Copyright 2006 by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. All rights reserved.

1 pound whole almonds with their skins

2-3 tablespoons good tasting extra-virgin olive oil

2-3 tablespoons coarse salt

Leaves from two 3-inch sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

teaspoon medium hot fresh chile (optional)

1. On a large shallow roasting pan (a half sheet pan is ideal) toss together all ingredients. Set pan in oven and turn temperature to 300 F.

2. Roast slowly for 20 to 30 minutes, turning occasionally. The almonds are done when they taste deeply nutty but are not burnt. Cool and store in an open bowl at room temperature. Serve as room temperature or rewarmed.

Deep garnet colored, deep and lush in flavor, this syrup steps straight out of the banqueting scenes of Italy s golden age. Drizzle it over chocolate desserts, anything made with cream from Panna Cotta to ice cream, and over seafoods, meats, rice, pasta and vegetables.

Don t be surprised by the spices. Yes, these were several of the plethora of unexpected spices which made food taste Italian in the era before the tomato and corn came from the Americas.

A Little History: Glamour, magnificence, grandstanding and ruthless politicking hallmark banqueting in the Italian Renaissance. The food and the table were theater, art gallery, and power play all rolled into one. Only nobility could fling around rare finds, and sugar and spice into nearly every dish they served.

Spice syrups of all sorts gilded meats and seafoods, meat pies and pastas, and even sweets. This recipe comes out of the court of the Este Dukes of Ferrara in the early 1500 s. Then, Lucrezia Borgia reigned over the banquets of her husband, Alphonso, heir to one of the most powerful duchies of the north.

2 generous teaspoons whole fennel seeds

6 whole cloves

1 generous teaspoon whole coriander seeds

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 bottle full-bodied red wine Sangiovese, Zinfandel, Barolo, Cabernet Sauvignon

1 to 1 cups sugar

Generous pinch salt

Combine all the spices in a mortar or a blender or food processor. Bruise them to open up flavors, but don t totally crush them. Turn them into a 12-inch straight-sided saut pan or skillet. Add the wine, sugar, and salt.

Boil 10 minutes or until bubbles look glossy and your spoon or spatula leaves a narrow trail in the pan when you run it across the bottom. This shows the syrup is thick enough. As it boils, stir occasionally and scrape down the sides of the pan.

Set a fine strainer over a bowl and pour the syrup through it. Cool and refrigerate. Use at room temperature. Drizzle over Signora Bimbi s Chocolate Cake and the Panna Cotta.

For centuries the sweet squash found in Ferrara has been cooked with saut ed onion and fresh citron to mark the last night of Yom Kippur. Butternut and a little baked yam come close to the sweet spiciness of Ferrara's squash.

Fresh citron is difficult to find, but blanched lemon and orange zests flavored with a pinch of cinnamon do well in its place.

2 1/2 to 3 pounds butternut squash

1 pound yams

3 tablespoons minced fresh citron rind, or 3 tablespoons mixed shredded lemon and orange zests

1 large onion, minced

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 cups water

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Working Ahead: The squash can be prepared up to 24 hours in advance; cover and refrigerate. Rewarm, covered, in the top of a double boiler.

Baking the Squash and Yams: Preheat the over to 400F. Halve the squash vertically and scoop out the seeds. Lay a sheet of aluminum foil over a baking sheet, and lightly moisten the foil with olive oil. Set the squash halves on the foil, skin side up. Scrub and prick the yams. Set them on the pan with the squash. Bake both vegetables 1 hour, or until each is easily pierced with a knife. Cool for a short time, and then pass their pulp through a food mill into a large saucepan, or mash by hand. (A food processor makes the mixture too liquid.)

Preparing the Citron or Citrus Zests: Whether you are using the citron or the lemon and orange zests, bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan.

Boil the rind or zests 3 minutes, and drain in a colander.

Finishing and Serving: Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Take about 15 minutes to slowly saut the onions until they are golden brown. Add the onions to the squash mixture, along with the citron rind or fruit zests and the cinnamon. Set over medium-low heat and cook slowly, stirring often with a wooden spatula to keep it from scorching, 15 minutes, or until most of the vegetables' excess moisture has evaporated. The mixture will be thick and full-flavored. Season with salt and pepper, and serve hot.

Roasting a whole leg of lamb on a bed of rosemary branches, onion rings and black olives creates an opulent pan sauce, especially when the meat is basted with balsamic vinegar and red wine. This is a leg of lamb for parties and Easter Sunday. Farmhouse celebrations in balsamic vinegar country the provinces of Reggio and Modena inspired the recipe. If you have time, season the lamb the night before roasting.

1/3 tightly-packed cup fresh basil leaves

2 thick slices (2 ounces) lean pancetta

Leaves from a 4-inch branch rosemary, plus 6 whole 6-inch branches fresh rosemary

6 large cloves garlic

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon dried basil

teaspoon salt

Generous 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

cup good-quality commercial balsamic vinegar

1 5- to 7-pound bone-in leg of lamb (if possible, hormone- and antibiotic-free), trimmed

of all surface fat

2 medium red onions, cut into 1-inch dice

1/3 cup herbed Sicilian black olives or Kalamata olives

2 cups dry red wine

cup water

1. If possible, season the lamb a day ahead and refrigerate it overnight. Mince together the fresh basil. Pancetta, the rosemary leaves, and the garlic. Blend in the oil, dried basil, salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons of the balsamic. Make about 20 deep, wide slits all over the lamb and stuff with all but 3 tablespoons of the mixture. Rub the rest over the meat. Lightly cover and refrigerate overnight.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the onions, rosemary branches and olives in a shallow roasting pan (a half-sheet pan I ideal). Set the lamb on them. Roast 20 minutes. Pour cup of the balsamic and 1 cup of the wine over the meat. Roast 1 hour, basting often. Add another cup wine. Roast 20 minutes, or until meat reaches 130 degrees on an instant-read thermometer for medium-rare.

3. Transfer the lamb to an ovenproof platter. Keep warm in the turned-off oven, leaving the door open. Set the roasting pan over two burners. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons balsamic. Boil and stir until thick and syrupy. Add the remaining cup wine and boil down by two thirds, then stir in the water. Simmer and stir until the sauce is rich-tasting, about 2 minutes. Discard the rosemary. Keep the sauce warm.

4. Thinly slice the lamb, arranging the pieces around the leg, and moisten with the pan sauce, onions and olives. Serve hot.

8 ounces cacciatore salami or other Italian salami such as Genoa, hard salami or soppressata

1 large bunch (10 to 12 branches) fresh rosemary

1 large bunch (12 to 14 branches) fresh thyme

1. Remove skin from the salami then cut into -inch cubes. Stick a toothpick into each cube.

2. Arrange the branches of rosemary and thyme on a serving platter. Place the sausage cubes on the bed of herbs and serve.

Intense with chocolate. Shaded with espresso and cinnamon, and almost creamy when warm, this cake comes from an era long ago.

Signora Bimbi was the turn of the 19th Century mistress of Il Frantoio, an olive estate in Italy s deep southern region of Puglia. This cake is slightly adapted from her scrapbook of the recipes she served at entertainments and family holidays. Signora Bimbi and her scrapbook informed much of my research into the rural history of Puglia.

Serve dusted with powdered sugar, or piled with whipped cream, perhaps drizzled with Renaissance Wine Syrup, or flanked by a scoop of Farmhouse Panna Cotta. Sip a lush, sweet wine like Sicily s Moscato Passito di Pantelleria, or California s black moscat, Elysium by Quady, with the cake.

Cook to Cook: Break up the last measure of chocolate by removing form its box, but leavings it in its wrapping. Hit with the handle of a knife to shatter the bar into small pieces.

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate (two 3.5-ounce bars of Lindt Excellence 70%, Valrhona 71%, Scharffen Berger 70%, Guittard, or Ghirardelli, in that order) broken up

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, broken up

1 stick, plus 2 tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups sugar

teaspoon salt

2 generous tablespoons instant espresso coffee dissolved in 3 tablespoons very hot water

5 large eggs

1/3 cup all-purpose unbleached flour (measure by dipping and leveling)

3.5- to 4-ounce bar bittersweet chocolate, broken into bite-size pieces

Decoration: 1 cup powdered sugar in a sifter, or 1 cup heavy cream, whipped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a shiny 9-inch springform pan.

2. Put the first quantities of chocolate (bittersweet and unsweetened) and the butter together in a medium-sized microwave safe bowl. Melt for 3 to 4 minutes at medium power. Check by stirring. Chocolate holds its shape when microwaved. Or melt in a heatproof bowl over simmering water.

3. With a whisk, beat together the cinnamon, vanilla, sugar, salt, espresso and eggs until creamy. Stir in the flour to thoroughly blend. Then blend in the chocolate/butter mixture until smooth. Stir in the broken-up chocolate bar. Pour the batter into the springform pan.

4. Bake 25 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out with a few generous, moist streaks of chocolate. Cool on a rack 30 minutes (you could then wrap the cake and chill it up to 2 days). Serve warm, or at room temperature.

5. To do white lace on the cake, cover it with a doily and sift the powdered sugar over it.

First Published October 18, 2006, 7:43 p.m.