There are certain foods that stimulate the brain like a night in downtown Tokyo (with it’s neon glitter and masses of humanity).  For us, stockfish or pesce stocco, the native Calabrian dish (specifically from the region around Cittanova) triggers tremendoud food memories of my grandmother Rosa and her basement kitchen in New Jersey. Pesce stocco, the dried not salted cod fish, […]

(photo: courtesy of JS, completed monkfish braciola) One of our favorite TV food personalities is Jacques Pépin.   We enjoy and appreciate Jacques’ culinary skills, love for European cuisine, and on-air modesty.  In fact, beyond the great cooks in our family, Jacques Pépin is the cook we’ve often tried to emulate (although our cuisine is firmly situated in the Italian tradition).

Our Baked Salmon with Parsley, Onion, and Lemon (Salmone Con Prezzemolo, Cipolla e Limone) recipe is very simple recipe and takes advantage of a wonderful species of fish; that is, salmon.  If you can find, and afford, wild salmon then use it but well managed, farm raised, salmon has an appealing fatty component that most consumers enjoy over the wild variety. […]

Pan Fried Skate with Pancetta and Red Onion Risotto One of my favorite ways to eat is to simply head to the market and pick out items that look fresh, tasty, and don’t break the bank (this week a particularly nice item was fresh Skate).  Don’t get me wrong I’m not heading to the market every other day (like Nonna […]

(photo: oven roasted broccoli with baked flounder with breadcrumb topping)   Like our recent orecchiette recipe this Italian style flounder recipe with roasted, spicy, brocolli can be prepared in under 30 minutes.  Moreover, the toppings used for both the fish and vegetable are nearly identical making this meal very easy to prepare.  A breadcrumb topping is a universal flavor enhancer that can […]

  (photo: note the wonderful golden brown color of the Colatura di Alici) What takes 12 months to age and is extracted during an age old curing process, hint it’s not a pork product (cue the Jeopardy music).  The answer is Colatura di Alici or anchovy syrup and is produced by Ittica Alimentare Salerno, located in the small village of Cetara, south […]

You really can’t go wrong with fried fish and every important food culture in the word has variations of frying creatures from the sea in a lipid like oil, including the Italians and this delectable Fried Sardine Fillets (Sarde Fritte) dish.  We have two primary methods for frying one of the most common, and tastiest, Mediterranean fish; viz., sardines.  The two methods include:  whole […]

Walk down any street in the seacoast town of Bagnara Calabra during the summer months and you’ll encounter women dressed in black screaming their lungs out!  No, the ladies aren’t auditioning for a new Jean-Paul Sartre play about existential angst, rather they’re selling fish.  The ladies set up shop early in the morning, usually during outdoor “market day” on Tuesday and […]

Mussels in spicy tomato sauce is an Italian restaurant stand-by and one of my favorite seafood dishes.  The dish, however, can be easily ruined with foul seafood, thick sauces, and overcooking.  Mussels should not be rubbery, smell bad, or be covered in gelatinous “sauce.”  Our version of mussels starts with the highest quality seafood you can find, so develop a relationship with a […]

(photo: Fish Sauce dish with squid, scallops, and clams awaiting pasta) Mention pasta to me and my mind drifts to fresh parsley, sliced garlic, dried red chillies, and high quality extra virgin olive oil.  In my view, the four aforementioned ingredients make up the world’s best pasta sauce or condiment.  Sure, one can argue that a well executed tomato sauce (with or […]