Here's an easy recipe that lets you do something different with pork tenderloin.  It uses the classic combination of fresh sage, rosemary and sea salt that goes so well with pork.  It's a cinch to make - the pork is seared and then tucked inside the baguette, wrapped in foil and baked in the oven.  You slice it up and eat it like a sandwich.

I know a gal who is so obsessed with avocados that she has written a cookbook devoted to just avocados!  She is Gaby Dalkin, author of "What's Gaby Cooking" and she just happens to be my goddaughter.  "Absolutely Avocados" will show you many new and fun ways to use avocados.  Her love of avocados really comes through in this book.  It has certainly given me a new appreciation of what you can do with an avocado.

Here's a good reason to open a bottle of red wine - Drunken Pasta.  After slightly cooking your pasta in water, you finish cooking it in red wine.  It comes out a nice red color and very flavorful.   The recipe is easy and doesn't require a long list of ingredients. This is definitely a great little pantry dish.

What kind of red wine to use?  Something dry, fruity and good enough to drink - a Chianti or a Zinfandel works great. 

I thought these eggs would be a pretty addition to an Easter buffet or perfect for a Spring brunch. I love deviled eggs but these are a nice change. They are filled with a mixture of pesto and ricotta cheese with a little lemon juice for zing. They are super easy to make and just look like Spring to me.

My oldest son was taking a trip out to L.A. recently and asked for some restaurant recommendations.  I told him to try to go to Lucques, the restaurant owned by Suzanne Goin.  That reminded me that I've always wanted to make her Meyer Lemon Tart, from her book, "Sunday Suppers at Lucques".  It's a different kind of lemon tart, because it has a layer of bittersweet chocolate on the bottom, an idea she got from her sister, who asked her to put some chocolate in her lemon tart. 

How would you like a super fast way to make lasagna?  I know I do a lot of pasta making from scratch on this site and I wanted to show you guys a really fast way to make lasagna without having to make or boil noodles and that would cook up much faster than regular lasagna.  This is also a much lighter lasagna - it doesn't have any bechamel or ricotta cheese in it, just a little sprinkling of mozzarella on top to finish it off. And it's incredibly delicious. In fact, I think it's maybe my all time favorite lasagna.

I have some upcoming pasta classes in the next few weeks and it's always fun to demonstrate to students how easy it is to make homemade ravioli.  There's so many ways to make ravioli, but my favorite way is to use this mold.  I can make ravioli so fast with this thing.  All you have to do is to roll out the pasta sheets, press into your mold, place a little filling in each well and lay another sheet on top.  Flip the mold over, cut and separate the ravioli.  It's fun.  The mold enables you to make nice uniform ravioli, which will cook up evenly.

Cucina Povera is an expression in Italian cooking that literally means "the poor kitchen".  It is used when referring to peasant cooking and having to make do with what you have and not wasting anything.  I was recently sent a copy of "Cucina Povera", Pamela Sheldon Johns' beautiful new cookbook in which she has shared just these kind of dishes from Italy.  She has a number of interviews with her Tuscan friends who recall what it was like to cook and eat through hard times. It's a very interesting book to read aside from the great recipes it has in it, like classic Ribollita, Farro Salad and a cookie I love - Ugly but Good (Brutti ma Buoni).  

Carnevale will be starting soon in Italy and these little delicious morsels called cenci are a traditional treat during that time.  They are very much like the elephant ears we have in this country - fried pieces of dough, dusted in powdered sugar.  There are many different recipes for them and different names.  I've made mine with the fresh taste of orange zest and a little rum.  

Happy 2013!  I hope everyone had a nice holiday. We certainly did, with our boys all home and lots of cooking and friends over and a few too many bottles of Prosecco opened.  I know a lot of food sites will be giving their readers recipes for juice cleanses and salads and lighter dishes for the new year, but not me!  I'm giving you Pasta Pie. 

This is a real comfort dish - this pie has a meat crust and is filled with pasta, cheese and tomato sauce. The meat mixture is basically just the same recipe that you would use if you were making meatballs, but you press it into a deep pie pan. The whole thing bakes up in the oven and comes out nice and crispy on top.  You cut it into wedges and serve it with a dollop of extra marinara sauce.  It's great on a cold winter's night.

We love our traditional dishes at Thanksgiving, don't we?  But for people who love to cook, sometimes Thanksgiving can be a pretty boring meal.  Have you ever tried to eliminate that horrid green bean casserole, only to hear groans of disappointment when it's not served?  Don't try to jazz up the stuffing too much or there is sure to be someone disappointed on that one, too. But maybe you can sneak in this pumpkin roll, though, for a little twist on Thanksgiving dessert!

If you've never made any kind of cake roll before, don't be afraid of it.  It's so easy and you'll have fun doing it. You bake the cake quickly in a sheet pan that is lined with parchment.  The cake is very thin and you tip it out easily onto a thin tea towel, sprinkled with powdered sugar.  The cake and towel are rolled up together and left to cool in that shape.   Making the filling is a snap and then you just spread it on the cake and roll it right up again.  

What are the Thanksgiving dishes you just can't live without?

I've received enough e-mails over the years from readers asking why I don't have a marinara sauce recipe on the blog that I've finally done it.  It's such a simple little thing to throw together, I really didn't think much of it but I do have a couple little tips that you may find helpful.  

There are so many ways to make marinara sauce and everyone has their personal preferences.  I guess the biggest question is what kind of tomatoes to use.  I definitely prefer canned San Marzano tomatoes.  Unless you have really exceptional fresh tomatoes, the canned San Marzanos will be your best bet.  These tomatoes are picked at their peak in the Campania region of Italy, where they grow in the volcanic soil.  They are a low acid, meaty tomato and make an excellent tomato sauce.  Most grocery stores carry these now.  If you can't find them or don't want to use them, I think the next best canned whole tomatoes are from Muir Glen. You can usually find these in most stores, also.  

My appreciation for the wonders of puff pastry knows no bounds. If you keep a package of puff pastry in your freezer you can do all kinds of delicious things with it.  You can make a savory palmier or a sweet palmier.  All you need is a sheet of puff pastry and a little filling of some kind and you can have a plate of these in 30 minutes.

My farmer's market is just chock full of eggplant right now so it's the perfect time to make this dish from Sicily - Caponata.  It's an eggplant stew or relish that can be used in a variety of ways.  It does make a great vegetarian main dish, but it's mostly used a side dish, especially for fish.  I like to spread it on some good, crusty bread.

Sometimes it's funny where you end up getting great recipes. On our way back from Italy in the spring, I was flipping through the channels on the TV on the Alitalia flight we were on.  There were movies, TV shows, sports, news, etc.  They also had cooking segments.  I couldn't resist that - I had to see what they were cooking up. This was one of those recipes and when I got home and whipped it up, it was a hit.  

Do you get a little bit bored of making the same kind of layer cake by baking two eight inch cakes and layering them?  I started making layer cakes a different way and I like it so much I wanted to share it with you.

I bake the cake in a 15x10x1 sheet pan and cut it into thirds and then stack them. It makes a nice rectangular cake with three layers that are very pretty when you make your slices to serve.  You can use this technique with any regular cake recipe.  The only thing to keep in mind is that if you like a lot of frosting, you should make one and a half times the amount of frosting in a frosting recipe. Then you will have plenty.  I actually made just the regular amounts of frosting for the cakes you see in the photos.

Yes, I still have a lot of basil.  After making so much pesto, and Caprese Salad with it, it's time for a cocktail.  I figured the freshness of basil would be great with the freshness of the limes we love so much.  

This cocktail is made with simple syrup, which is commonly used to sweeten cocktails.  Just adding sugar in your cocktail can be a bit grainy but making a simple syrup solves this problem. To make a simple syrup all you do is boil equal amounts of sugar and water together until the sugar dissolves.  Then stick it in the refrigerator to cool. That's all there is to it. It is very easy to do and so worth it. In the recipe I use a quarter cup of water and a quarter cup of sugar. That will actually make a dozen cocktails.  Although there is a little simple syrup in this drink, it is not real sweet.