Farinata is the street food of the Ligurian coast: a thin, golden flatbread made from little more than chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt, baked in a hot pan until the edges crisp and the center turns tender. It’s naturally gluten-free and vegan, and it costs almost nothing to make. The recipe is simple;…

Briam is the dish that changed my view of “simple vegetables.” There’s nothing complicated about cutting vegetables, adding tomato and olive oil and putting everything in the oven. The important part is learning how the vegetables behave: potatoes need plenty of time, zucchini doesn’t, and an overcrowded dish creates steam instead of browned, roasted edges….

Caponata is the dish that taught me eggplant can taste luxurious. Sicily’s sweet-and-sour eggplant stew, an agrodolce of tomato, celery, olives, capers, raisins and vinegar, is salty, tangy and sweet all at once, and it gets better as it sits. My first batch, though, was heavy and swimming in oil. The fix came down to…