Baked Artichokes, Shrimp, and Mozzarella

In cooking, as in other imaginative activities, it isn’t always possible to explain exactly why some things work. This is one of its mysteries that keeps you from being self-satisfied, that causes you always to think about what you are doing, that prevents you, no matter how long you have been at it, from putting your curiosity away.

We were in Rome at a crowded time, we had failed to make timely plans for dinner, and had to settle for a table at an unfamiliar trattoria. All of the