One of my favorite books is Ada Boni’s Italian Regional Cooking New York: (E.P. Dutton & Co., 1969). It’s just what it says, an encyclopedia of recipes from and of Italy’s many unique regions, with clear instructions and permission to vary. A friend of ours has cooked through it three times, and I envy him; we’ve come nowhere near that. Tonight I was in a walnut mood, and turned to page 85 for this treat from Liguria. It’s a sort of pesto: you chop the nuts fine, throw them in the mortar with the fresh marjoram and a little salt, and pound them with a little bit of garlic until it’s a smooth paste. Then you blend in the ricotta and olive oil. Delicious, it was, on fettucini from Rustichella d’Abruzzo. With it, Swiss chard, which always makes me think of Lindsey’s father, he always sent a few leaves home with us. I cut the stalks from the leaves, chop them with a little garlic, and steam them in the skillet with a little olive oil, adding the leaves, sliced across, a little later.

Pinot grigio