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" Alfresco Appeal &amp;quot;When I have people over, I start with the where,&amp;quot; says Nancy. &amp;quot;The location defines the whole party, and for me, nine times out of 10, it&amp;#039;s outdoors. Usually, I grill a few things, so there&amp;#039;s something hot, and the rest of the food is served at room temperature on big white platters.&amp;quot; The Food You can prepare everything on this menu ahead of time and arrange it on platters before people arrive. Rather than assembling a single large platter of each item, Nancy recommends making two or more smaller ones. That way, you can set out a variety of offerings on the table and have backup platters in the kitchen, ready to go out as soon as the first ones are depleted, so your spread always looks full and fresh.  The Setup Nancy suggests setting up three tables: one for the food, one for the drinks, and a third where people can sit down and eat. If you don&amp;#039;t have space for a large dining table, you can arrange clusters of chairs around a few small tables. She keeps the decorations simple. &amp;quot;Small cups and dishes with flowers in them, and little Moroccan votive candles mixed in. No big flowers or big drama. I like the food to really shine as the main attraction.&amp;quot;  Easy Extras Nancy supplements a spread like this with an assortment of cured Italian meats. She buys small pieces of meat called chubs (&amp;quot;presliced meats dry out and loose their appeal&amp;quot;) and sets them out on a board with a few sharp knives. She also likes to give olives a special twist: Start with different types in a single color, like green Picholines, Lucques, and Castelvetranos. Drain, toss with extra virgin olive oil, lemon and orange peel, rosemary, and an arbol chile, and serve topped with almonds roasted with olive oil and salt. Round out the table with a basket of rustic bread (she recommends the La Brea sourdough batard).  Nancy&amp;#039;s Playlist Nicola Conte, &amp;quot;Bossa Per Due&amp;quot; Nightmares on Wax, &amp;quot;In a Space Outta Mind&amp;quot; Stanton Moore, &amp;quot;III&amp;quot; The Jimmy McGriff and Hank Crawford Quartet, &amp;quot;Right Turn on Blue&amp;quot; Neko Case &amp;amp;amp; Her Boyfriends, &amp;quot;The Virginian&amp;quot; Mozza Caprese Insalata caprese \u2014 mozzarella, tomatoes, and fresh basil drizzled with olive oil \u2014 is one of Italy&amp;#039;s most famous summertime salads. &amp;quot;At Mozza, we wanted to come up with a version that would be wonderful year-round, even in the winter when the tomatoes aren&amp;#039;t so spectacular,&amp;quot; Nancy explains. So she reinvented the salad with the deeper flavors of slow-roasted vine tomatoes, creamy burrata cheese, and bright hand-pounded pesto. The leftover pesto is great on pasta or as a garnish for soup or grilled food. Serve the salad with plenty of crusty bread to sop up all the wonderful juices.  Serves 8 Pesto Sauce 6 tablespoons pine nuts 4 to 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons)  3/4 cup chopped fresh basil  3/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 cup good-quality olive oil  1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 2 pounds baby Roma or cherry tomatoes on the vine 2 tablespoons good-quality olive oil, plus about 4 teaspoons for garnish 1 teaspoon kosher salt Freshly cracked black pepper 2 pounds burrata or balls of mozzarella di bufala  Sea salt, if using burrata 8 large fresh basil leaves To make the pesto, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread pine nuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in oven, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly golden and fragrant. Watch pine nuts closely, as they burn easily. Pour onto a plate and let cool.  Transfer pine nuts to a mortar, add garlic, basil, parsley, and salt, and pulverize with a pestle to a smooth paste. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, working it in with pestle, and then add cheese, again mixing well with pestle. Just before serving, season with lemon juice and then taste and adjust with more lemon juice and salt. You should have about 1 \u200A1/2 cups. You will need 1/2 cup pesto for this recipe. The remainder will keep, tightly covered in refrigerator, up to 3 days.  Turn down oven to 200 degrees F. Place a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet. Arrange tomatoes, with their vines intact, on rack. Brush with 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast 4 to 4 1/2 hours, or until skins begin to shrivel like raisins but tomatoes remain plump. Remove from oven and let cool.  If each ball of cheese weighs 1/2 pound, cut in half; if each ball weighs 1 pound, cut into quarters. Slice cheese crosswise into slices about 1/4-inch thick and arrange on 8 small plates or a single platter. If using burrata, season cheese lightly with sea salt. Spoon 1 tablespoon pesto over each cheese portion. Using scissors, snip a basil leaf over each cheese portion. Again using scissors, snip vines of tomatoes to create 8 equal portions with vines intact, and arrange tomatoes on top of cheese. Drizzle about 1/2 teaspoon olive oil over each serving of tomatoes and serve immediately.  Rosemary\u2013Pine Nut Cookies These buttery cookies topped with a layer of rosemary-scented pine-nut nougatine make a fine finale for an Italian meal. They can be made up to a day in advance and stored in an airtight container at room temperature.  Makes about 30 cookies  Nougatine 1/2 cup pine nuts 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons heavy cream  1 1/2 tablespoons honey 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1/4 vanilla bean, split lengthwise 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted 1 sprig rosemary Cookie Dough 1/2 cup unsalted butter 6 tablespoons confectioners&amp;#039; sugar 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour or all-purpose flour 1/4 cup medium-grind polenta  1 sprig rosemary To make nougatine, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread pine nuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in oven, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes, or until nuts are light golden brown and fragrant. Watch pine nuts closely, as they burn easily. Pour onto a plate and let cool.  In a heavy saucepan, combine cream, honey, granulated sugar, and butter. With tip of a knife, scrape seeds from split vanilla bean into pan. Place over high heat and cook, stirring only once to ensure even cooking, until mixture registers 230 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and whisk in flour.  Turn mixture into a bowl and fold in pine nuts and rosemary sprig. Let infuse and cool 15 minutes. Remove and discard rosemary sprig. This nougatine can be made up to 1 week in advance, covered tightly, and stored in refrigerator. Bring it to room temperature before rolling out dough.  To make cookie dough, in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine butter and confectioners&amp;#039; sugar and beat on high speed about 5 minutes, or until creamy and smooth, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla extract and salt and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low, add pastry flour and polenta, and mix until fully incorporated. The dough will be soft.  Divide dough in half and shape each half into a disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic wrap and chill at least 2 hours or overnight. Let sit at room temperature 15 minutes before rolling out.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. On a well-floured work surface, roll out dough 1/8-inch thick, dusting with additional flour as needed to prevent sticking. Using a 1 \u200A1/4-inch round cookie cutter, cut out as many circles as possible. Arrange on prepared pan, spacing about 1 inch apart. Gather up scraps and return to refrigerator to chill slightly before rolling out and cutting out more cookies.  Pinch off a small piece of room-temperature nougatine and work between your fingers to create a thin disk about size of a dime. Place nougatine disk on a dough circle. Repeat to top all of dough circles with a nougatine disk. Remove leaves from rosemary sprig, and put about 3 leaves on top of each cookie.  Bake cookies, rotating pan 180 degrees at midpoint, about 15 minutes, or until golden brown and nougatine has changed color to a light hazelnut brown. Transfer to wire racks and let cool completely.  Like what you see here? Get the full version! Great Gatherings: Star Chefs Entertain at Home Cookbook, $29.95 Find out how the 16 star chefs of the Macy&amp;#039;s Culinary Council entertain their family and friends, and learn how easy it is to pull off in your own home! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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