If there is just one dish I can make with my eyes closed it’s bolognese. I first made it with Francesca Tori in Bologna, Italy. She explained that it is best served with tagliatelle pasta, and never spaghetti. “Americans invented spaghetti and meat sauce. We would never put spaghetti with meat sauce”, she told me.

Bolognese is traditionally made with slow simmered beef and rich tomato sauce, but I’ve broken that tradition with this version that isn’t often found in Italy. Every ingredient in this sauce brings a unique element of flavor that blends perfectly, and is particularly perfect on a chilly day.

Marcello took me to the city of Parma in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. It was only an hour from his home in Bologna, and he surprised me with a private tour in a salumificio (prosciutto factory). Prosciutto de Parma can only be made in the province of Parma, and the pigs eat on grains and the whey from Parmesan cheese, also made in Parma.

Potato soup is one of the easiest soups to make, and I because I love a loaded baked potato, I make my soup with all the toppings I would use on a loaded baked potato, including cheese, bacon, and chives. If that isn’t enough, I add chopped tomatoes and a dollop of sour cream.

It was a rainy day in Paris, and I decided to dry off by tucking into a little bistro in the St. Germaine neighborhood where I was staying. Inside, there was one vacant table waiting just for me. Everyone was happily drinking wine and snacking, while laughing in spite of the rain. I asked the maître d’ what he thought I should order. “The steak tartare, madame, without question.”

I never got the recipe for my mother’s pot roast, and I’m not even sure she followed a recipe. My fondest memory was the pan in which it was cooked. It was bright yellow, and nearly too heavy for me to carry when I was a young girl. I only recall having roast on Sundays when she cooked it all morning while we were at church.

My maternal grandmother, who we affectionately called “Nina”, was an incredible artist. Her passion was painting canvases with brightly colored flowers. She could also throw fabulous dinner parties for her friends, where she served food on hand painted tablecloths with place cards sketched with each guest’s name. When I asked my family what Nina’s specialty was in the kitchen, everyone mentioned her chicken and homemade noodles.

Causas are a unique layered potato dish that is served chilled as an appetizer or light meal. I first had them in Lima, Peru and I loved the artistic presentation and slightly spicy flavor in the different layers.

The Italians made lasagna famous with their hearty dish layered with rich ragu and sheets of pasta. But the Greeks’ ziti and spicy meat sauce tastes equally outrageous. It is a savory pie wrapped in pastry that originated in Italy but was adopted by the Greeks in the 1800’s by a chef who created his own version using cinnamon and cloves in the meaty layers.

While I was in Bali I spent a day cooking with a woman named Nina. Her kitchen was outside, covered with a tin roof and surrounded by coconut trees. Next to the house was a huge pile of dried coconut shells the family used to burn for fuel to heat the house. One of the dishes we made was grilled shrimp satay, which is marinated shrimp on a skewer grilled over fire.

Thanks to the Chinese, noodles and stir frying have become a fixture of Indonesian cuisine. Many Chinese immigrants traveled to Indonesian, carrying with them the ingredients and traditions of their homeland. You can find fried noodles many places, and they may include only vegetables or the addition of chicken, shrimp, or pork.

Galettes are one of my favorite things to make! They’re like a pie without the pan, and you eat it like pizza. This one is a savory gallette that is perfect as a vegetarian meal or as a side dish with dinner. It’s also good for brunch! 

The island of Java in Indonesia is often best known for its coffee plantations, which is where we get the term “java” for our coffee. But they are also known for their food, which is rich with spices that are also grown on the island. During my visit I saw cinnamon trees in full bloom, covered in pink blossoms. We carefully carved the bark from the tree, which would later curl into a scroll to become dried cinnamon.

A tagine is a not only a cooking vessel from Morocco, but it’s also the name of the actual dish that’s cooked slowly, and flavored with lots of spices and flavorful liquids. This tagine dish is made with marinated chicken, preserved lemons, and olives. I make my own preserved lemons, but if you can’t find them, you can add some lemon zest at the end of the cooking process. It won’t taste exactly the same as preserved lemons, but will have a brighter citrus flavor that is still delicious. Serve this dish over couscous or buttered rice. Although, in Morocco they would simply eat it with crusty bread.

Lahmacun is similar to pizza, and is a popular dish in Turkey, Syria, and Armenia. It generally does not have cheese on it, and is often eaten rolled up. It is a traditional street food in Istanbul, Turkey and I at a lot of it while I was there. You can make the topping a day or two before making the pizza, which makes it a great dish to serve for a dinner party.

This Italian dish is traditionally made with veal, but I like it with chicken the best. Saltimbocca means “jump in the mouth” in Italian, and I think you’ll agree when you make this recipe. The salty prosciutto and fresh sage add so much flavor to the chicken, and the sauce is so good you might be tempted to eat it before you serve it on the chicken!

This dish just sounds like fall, but you can certainly make it any time of year. I always grill the pork over wood or charcoal which gives a great smoky flavor, but you can sear them in a hot skillet, if you prefer. The sauce is made from one of the world’s most delicious spirits, Calvados.

In the southeastern part of Mexico City there is a small town called San Pedro Atocpan, which is known for the National Festival of Mole. The people there take their mole very seriously and during the festival they present their special dishes to the public to honor the delicious sauce that comes from their chichimecas heritage. I visited San Pedro Atocpan and strolled the streets that were filled with small “mole shops” where people from all over Mexico City get the ingredients for mole.

Chichilo mole is one of the seven famous moles from Oaxaca, Mexico. It requires the chilhuacle dried chiles that are very typical of Oaxaca. When I was in the market in Oaxaca City with Chef Irving Herrera he took me through the maze of stalls, each selling a huge variety of fresh and dried chiles. He shopped in the market every day for his restaurant and had his favorite vendors where he bought the ingredients for each day’s menu.

Paneer is a cow’s milk cheese from India that has very little flavor on its own. Because it doesn’t melt, it absorbs all the flavors from the sauces and marinades it comes in contact with. It’s often added to curries and stir-fry, but I like to coat it in a spicy masala marinade and grill it over a hot fire.