Last Saturday, a dinner guest presented us with a basket of farm-stand vegetables and herbs. It would have made a perfect subject for a still life; however, lacking any talent in that area, I thought it would provide the ideal makings for a ratatouille.

I’ve prepared several versions of this dish and written about some of them here: a classic stewed one based on a recipe by Martha Stewart and a baked one from a Mark Bittman cookbook. As neither of them was exceptional so, I decided to look for an alternative. When I suggested a more traditionally French version to my husband, he thought it would be too heavy—especially given the current heat wave. I therefore continued my search and eventually chanced upon a roasted ratatouille from Ina Garten.

A recent post by fellow blogger Diane Darrow evoked memories of a childhood dish my Neapolitan aunt would make frequently during the summer, when zucchini abounded at our local vegetable store: minestra di zucchini, a vegetable soup composed of zucchini, egg, cheese, and either parsley or basil. I hadn’t had it in years, but after reading Diane’s post, I was determined to fill that void.

For the past ten years or so, I’ve been trying to make really good pizza at home. To that end, I’ve used numerous recipes for the dough and a few pieces of kitchen gear. The one dough that worked best for me was Roberta’s dough, for which the recipe can be found on the New York Times “Cooking” website.