Mangia

This is retro and wonderful, and nothing at all like the flavored gelatin molds with fruit that you ate as a child. A refreshing mix of fruit teas and fresh berries, it is as pretty as can be and delicious as part of a summer buffet. Just the conversation it generates makes it worth trying!

Besides being a great dip and spread,Hummus also makes a tasty stuffed pita sandwich, with the addition of cucumber, red onion, and tomato slices.

The addition of yogurt sets this baba ghanoush apart and makes it Mangia's. As anyone who loves eggplant knows, this is a wonderful dip for wedges of pita or for vegetables. It is also very successful served as an accompaniment to lamb or chicken. We roast the eggplants over the gas burner on the stove top. If you'd rather not do that, you can roast them in the oven. We prefer the charred flavor that only comes when you use the open flame.

Eddie is one of the chefs at Mangia, and one day, out of the blue, he whipped this up. It is sensational as a dip for artichokes or as a sauce for roasted turkey or pork.

Fresh garlic is pungent and sharp. Roasted garlic is just the opposite sweet and mellow in flavor, silky in texture. Because it has a more subtle flavor, it becomes a lot more cooperative as an ingredient. We think it is a must in some of our sauces and salad dressing. We swirl it into soups as a finishing touch. It's even great smeared on bread.

Here is a great addition to a holiday table. Or use it on a more regular basis with roasted chicken or lamb. You can roast the grapes and the shallots at the same time, as long as you watch the individual cooking times; they are different.

Cooked onions, especially red onions, sweeten and caramelize and taste totally different from raw onions. This is great used as a spread on sandwiches or panini or served as a condiment with roasted meats and green salads. Some even like it on pasta.

This is perfectly wonderful with duck, or another poultry. You might also swirl it into a curried soup for an intriguing bit of additional flavor and body. You could also serve it with soft, ripe cheese, like Brie.

There is no better accompaniment to Yellow Tomatoes Stuffed with Lamb Sausage and Orzo than this cooling, refreshing sauce. It is also tasty spooned into pita pockets stuffed with crisp mixed greens.The best way to chop dill is not with a knife on a cutting board. Use scissors to snip the fronds into small pieces.

This applesauce is chunky and has character and a certain clout. Like most of our accent condiments and sauces, we use this in different ways: with beef, chicken, pork, or veal; as a sandwich spread; or alongside green salad, or a soft cheese.

Here vinegar serves to soften and flavor a combination of colorful vegetables. Use this as you would any relish, for spark, on sandwiches, roasted meats, and grilled or poached seafood.

Red and yellow bell peppers combine with harissa, a Tunisian hot chili sauce, to make a lively, rustic sauce that is especially good with meaty fish steaks, like tuna or swordfish. Or try it with chicken, zucchini, or string beans. If you don't have harissa, there is an easy solution: dried hot pepper flakes. In other words, heat is an integral part of this relish. Don't just leave it out.

This is a sweet sauce, with some tang from the apple vinegar and a little heat from the cayenne. Use it on pork, hamburgers, steak, barbecued beans, or shrimp. This is the sauce we use on our bestselling Barbecued Chicken with Toasted Fennel Seeds.

The bold flavors of Southern Italy- anchovies, black olives, and pancetta- make this sauce a superb foil for simple roast turkey . This is also good on pasta and as a topping for pan-seared cauliflower. Or use it as you would Tapenade -as a dip or a spread for sandwiches and panini.

You can use tapenade in sandwiches, as a dip, or to dress grilled fish, spread on toast as an appetizer, or swirl into vegetable soup. The powerful flavors of Provence olives and garlic-plus oil- packed anchovies, give it its singular Mediterranean esprit.

This can be used in countless ways, and unlike Classic Pesto it can be made year-round because of the availability of parsley. We like this best on sandwiches and panini. The variation with tasty capers with turkey or pork, in particular.

If you grow your own basil at home, then you can whir up a batch of this whenever the spirit moves you. It is the flavor of summer, especially when served with home- or locally grown tomatoes.

We love croutons at Mangia and make several different kinds. These are the ones we use in our Caesar Salad. Snack on them, add them to soups, toss a few into other green salads. The concern with croutons is not how to use them, but how to keep them in store. They are addictive.

You can use any combination of fresh herbs you wish here. The points to remember are (1) only the leaves should be used; (2) they should be well minced; (3) avoid using large quantities of the strong-flavored herbs, such as rosemary, sage, or thyme. Choose milder-flavored ones, like parsley, basil, or dill. You want the mayonnaise to be fragrant, not pungent.

Ancho chile peppers are poblano peppers that have been dried. Each has its own flavor, one quite different from the other. In different parts of Mexico, where the ancho chile is used profusely,cooks have different opinions about how to treat it. Some like to toast it, some fry it, and some rehydrate it, as described below. The real question, though, is its condition before you soak it in hot water. We find that the most important factor is the quality of the ancho chile you buy. It should be ...