This recipe is from The Silver Spoon cookbook, the enormous compilation of Italian recipes published in this country in 2005. This book has been in print in Italy for over 50 years and is considered the classic Italian cookbook, the book that every bride receives as a gift. It has been updated and adapted for the American cook. This recipe for Saffron Scallops is a great example of what the recipes are like for the most part in this cookbook - very few ingredients, simple recipes, easily prepared. And it's absolutely delicious!

Bomboloni. Little Italian doughnuts. Don't you love the name? It's fun to say. And they are fun to make. The dough is not hard and they take about 30 seconds to cook. It's fun to watch them turn from flat discs into little puffs as they fry. And they are so delicious made fresh (they're great the next day, too).  Sometimes these are made with a stuffing of jam.   Del Posto, Mario Batali's New York restaurant, has served these stuffed with an orange vanilla custard.  These, however, are just plain and really good with some coffee.

Let's talk ravioli. If you haven't made it, you probably think it's hard, right? It's actually easy and fun and if you make the filling ahead of time, it really doesn't take that long to make them.

There are many ways to make ravioli and I think I've tried them all. You can roll out the sheets of pasta with something as basic as a rolling pin  (a lot of work).  But a little equipment makes the job much easier.  For years I used the trusty Atlas pasta machine to roll out the dough into sheets. This required hand cranking and certainly wasn't hard.

Even if you're not a big eggplant fan, this is a dish you still might like. I personally love eggplant but in this dish, the eggplant is really used as a stuffing with other ingredients. Get yourself a grilled or toasted piece of crusty bread and you can spread the stuffing on the bread. Add a glass of red wine and it's a perfect light dinner.