Bittman on Mini Cannelloni, 10 Alternative to Sliced Tomatoes, Batali on Mozzarella in Carozza and Greed, Beautiful Artichokes   Mark Bittman – We’ll forgive the usually rational Mark Bittman for suggesting the home cook use pre-made “wanton wrappers” when making mini cannelloni at home and suggest you look at his otherwise very good recipe.  The problem with using “wanton […]

Best Canned Sardines We love, high quality, canned fish and we think they are one of the culinary world’s secret weapons, especially when a home cook doesn’t have access to a wide variety of fresh fish.  In fact, in our book we’d rather consume superb salt/olive oil cured sardines, anchovies, tuna, etc. than a fresh fish like Talapia any day […]

Italian Food – What is It? Ask the question, “What is Italian food” and you’re bound to illicit numerous responses.   A provincial Italian from southern Italy who hasn’t left his or her region would probably argue it’s regional food that is cooked at home with minimal yet high quality ingredients.   Ask the same question to a savvy New York restaurant […]

Insalata di Riso or rice salad has always been a popular dish in Italy and, unlike it’s cousin risotto, is easy to prepare, flexible in terms of ingredients, and stores well for days.  Most Italians prepare rice salads during the summer months, but I like to make it throughout the year.  Our rice salads are a reflection of what’s available […]

Baked Whole Sardines in a Vinegar Sauce – An Easy Recipe for Cooking Fresh Sardines Fresh sardines are a staple food along the Mediterennean coast in southern Italy.   A favorite preparation includes cleaning, gutting, and washing the sardines well followed by a quick dusting of standard flour or chickpea flour.  Thereafter, the whole sardines are pan fried and quickly […]

Gilt Taste – An article entitled “how to make rockin risotto” documents the process of making rice in the Italian style, though the author goes overboard suggesting you use a diagram to note the doneness of the rice and use whipped cream to give the rice a light and airy consistency (our view: you don’t need the whipped cream if […]

  The very best pasta recipes are centered on minimal, high quality, ingredients with superb preparation.  Take the pasta recipe for rigatoni with zucchini, mushrooms, and red onion and you’ll experience a perfect, and synchronous, marriage of starchy pasta with earthy mushroom and grassy zucchini.  Add a dash of Italian anchovy sauce, high quality extra virgin olive oil, and freshly grated […]

  The Prickly Pears, or Fichi d’India,  of Calabria  I’ve traveled to Calabria on many occasions (both as a child and adult) and the landscape continually amazes me.  The startling changes in elevation, for example, travelling on the numerous, via Nazionale,  switchbacks from Bagnara Calabra on the coast to Pellegrina in the hills is mind blowing.   And One’s line of vision is intersected […]

My wife surprised our family with baked Italian donuts a few weeks ago and we were thrilled with our early morning treats, so much so that we’re going to abandon our local bakery! The recipe below doesn’t include ricotta (to give it that Italian twist) but it can certainly be added, but you’ll need to adjust the other ingredients.    You […]

Tagliatelle with peas and salmon is made with the very versatile, you guessed it, tagliatelle pastashape .  We used salmon and peas as the main ingredients, but you can substitute shrimp or any other firm flesh fish to serve with the peas and tagliatelle. Tagliatelle with Peas and Salmon   Print Prep time 15 mins Cook time 20 mins Total time 35 […]