Month: January 2012

Sweet Potatoes Italian Style

Sweet Potatoes Italian Style

The sweet potato is a tropical plant and was brought to Italy by Columbus via South America. Today, the plant is grown in our home state of New Jersey as well as Japan, parts of Russia, and, of course South America.  I’m a big fan of sweet potatoes and we use them in our (via Dr. K.) homemade ravioli, though […]

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What We’re Reading – New Cookbooks, Tuna Massacre, Artist Cook, the Manhattan, Pasta Science

What We’re Reading – New Cookbooks, Tuna Massacre, Artist Cook, the Manhattan, Pasta Science

(photo: courtesy of the documentary: “La Mattanza – The Tuna Hunt in Sicily”  * See below for a description of the yearly event) Eater.com – Eater previews new, 2012, spring cookbooks and “food books.” The preview includes a blurb on The Southern Italian Farmer’s Table: Authentic Recipes and Local Lore from Tuscany to Sicily by Matthew Scialabba and Melissa Pellegrino.  We […]

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Lentil Soup with Italian Chicken Sausage

Lentil Soup with Italian Chicken Sausage

(photo: thanks to thegivenschronicles.com for the photo) We’re big fans of soup and we’ve covered many varieties such as chicken soup with tortellini, Italian cauliflower carrot, pea, escarole and bean, pasta e fagioli, broccoli bean soup, minestra, chickpea, and our perennial favorite lentil soup. We like to begin our meals with a soup and then usually prepare a protein such as fish […]

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Wild Fennel Seed (Semi di Finocchietto Selvatico)

Wild Fennel Seed (Semi di Finocchietto Selvatico)

(photo: Wild Fennel Seed (Semi di Finocchietto Selvatico) from Sicilia; you can use the seed as is or crush it via a mortar and pestle for savory and sweet dishes) Wild fennel, or Finocchietto Selvatico, can be found throughout most parts of southern Italy and is part of the staple diet for many Calabrians, Sicilians, etc.  My father tells romantic stories of foraging for wild […]

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