This sauce of fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, shallots, and garlic with a pinch of vinegar is super colorful and SO flavorful! It’s the perfect topper for this perfectly sautéed chicken, all on a bed of arugula. You’ll love the fresh balance of sweet, savory, bitter, and salty.

Perfectly cooked pasta combined with crisp summer beans, sweet cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil. This dish is so colorful, with all the red, white and green, reminds me of a tasty Italian flag. The pasta and vegetables are tossed with some of the starchy cooking liquid from the pasta and Pecorino-Romano cheese that creates a creamy, yet light sauce. I just adore good pasta and this one is a keeper. It perfect for a light lunch or a starter for dinner.

This is one of my favorite salads to make. It makes an excellent starter dish, served along the main course or can be served as a light main dish. The crispy pancetta, sautéed onion, and wilted spinach are all tossed together with orzo pasta and a lemony basil vinaigrette. Crunchy toasted walnuts and creamy feta are tossed in and really complete this dish. One thing I love about this salad is that there are so many different kinds of feta to experiment with. I prefer the French feta because of the balance of creaminess and saltiness, but I am currently working my way through the feta counter at the Middle Eastern market near me. They are so superior in taste to the pre-crumbled packages at the market. I encourage you to try and find a market near you. It makes a great salad to enjoy under the setting sun in the summer air.

This is a traditional Italian bread salad I like to make with lightly toasted ciabatta bread, cucumbers, a selection of summer’s best tomatoes and basil, then tossed with a light vinaigrette. The bread is slightly crunchy, slightly drenched in the vinaigrette. The crunch of the cucumbers and the sweetest of the tomatoes and basil makes this a salad that is truly is summertime in a bowl!

This pasta is a simple recipe, with just a few ingredients, but overflows with flavor. Grape or cherry tomatoes are roasted in the oven until their tomato flavor is intensified into sweet caramelized little jewels. When you bite into them, they just explode with flavor. It takes a little bit of cooking time to achieve this, but it’s so worth it. They can be cooked in advance, and then added to the sauce at serving time. In the summer time, I roast them often and keep them on hand to sprinkle in other dishes to give them a pop of that tangy, intensely sweet tomato goodness! The sauce is so simple: the roasted tomatoes, onions, basil, my favorite cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano and a little of the pasta cooking water coat the pasta and turn it into a sublimely delicious dish that is light, but so packed with flavor.