During the winter holidays in Italy, cooks love to roll out their richest, most luscious ingredients — smoked salmon and Fontina cheese, whipped cream and panettone — then fold them into a festive, multicourse meal, much to the delight of their close family and friends.

With a similar Mediterranean climate, the North Coast has been blessed with a vibrant Italian population that settled here and still cooks with the same fruits and vegetables their ancestors enjoyed in their homeland, from figs and plums to fennel and oranges.