This simple, satisfying, Oven Roasted Potatoes With Breadcrumbs and Herbs side dish compliments fish, chicken, and beef and requires very little preparation.  We used thyme, parsley, and dried oregano for our herbs but you can mix up any combination of dry and fresh herbs. Oven Roasted Potatoes With Breadcrumbs and Herbs   Print Prep time 10 mins Cook time 30 mins Total time 40 […]

Stuffed pasta, of any variety, is adored in Italy and it is served on special occasions and on ordinary Sundays.  Stuffed pasta includes ravioli, tortellini, lasagna, cannelloni, manicotti, etc.  The Cannelloni with Beef (Cannelloni di Manzo) , and/or minced beef recipe below is a variation on the traditional cannelloni with ricotta / cheese recipe. Cannelloni with Beef (Cannelloni di Manzo)   […]

(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. […]

There are hundreds of variations on the popular dish Chicken Cacciatore (Pollo alla Cacciatora) translated as in the style of the hunter, including using various meats such as rabbit, pheasant, partridge, and capretto (baby goat).  Most versions of the dish include herbs, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms and a braising liquid such as white or red wine (and/or water).  It’s my guess that most […]

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 […]

Whenever I meet folks and I tell them I’m interested in food and cooking the inevitable question follows: “so, what do you cook?”  Before I answer I often pause and aim to think of luxurious ingredients and extraordinary dishes, but I always end up describing some variation of a pasta, soup, and/or risotto dish.  I qualify my answer by blurting […]

(photo: courtesy of Dr. K.; from a clockwise position: raw onions, reduced onions, water added to reduced onions, onions prior to cooking, and finished product). When our die hard fan Dr. K. mentioned he tried a new recipe from Michael Ruhlman’s excellent new cookbook Twenty I was eager to hear which dish he attempted.  And when Dr. K. sent us photos […]

  (photo: linguine fine with zucchini and red onion) It’s only fitting that after posting about cucina povera that our part of northern New Jersey is hit with yet another apocalyptic event; namely, a freakish snow storm in October causing hundreds of tree limbs to crumble under the weight of several inches of heavy precipitation.  Our small New Jersey town saw roofs collapsing, cars […]

(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 […]