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(photo: simple roasted potatoes <patate al forno> with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and plenty of extra virgin olive oil)

Italians love their roasted potatoes or patate al forno.  In Italy, most home cooks produce a variation of roasted potatoes based on their particular region.  My favorite versions include using plenty of herbs (sage, rosemary, fennel seed, etc.) and a good extra virgin olive oil.  The particular version I prepared recently included extra virgin olive oil from Sicilia, sea salt, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

(photo: fried peppers or peperonata)

Fried peppers are an Italian American staple and for good reason; they are tasty, very versatile as a side dish, and straightforward to prepare.  

(photo: pesce stocco prepared with green olives, wedges of potatoes, and cod)

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.   

(photo: simple roasted potatoes that have been thinly sliced, pre-cooked, and topped with a standard, homemade, Italian breadcrumb)

This simple, satisfying, potato side dish compliments fish, chicken, and beef and requires very little preparation.

(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).

This is a 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.  Both farmed and wild salmon have challenges in relation to environmental issues, my advice is to do your research and think before you eat.  

(photo: chicken cacciatore / chicken hunter's stew or pollo alla cacciatora with herbs, onions, and white wine)

There are hundreds of variations on the popular dish cacciatore or alla cacciatora (or in the style of the hunter, in Italian), including chicken, rabbit, and capretto (baby goat) cacciatore.  Most versions of the dish include herbs, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms and a braising liquid such as white or red wine (and/or water).    

(photo: organic sweet potatoes roasted with wild fennel seeds from Sicilia)

(photo: final dish: Zucchini & Summer Squash Risotto with Roasted Pork Chops)

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 out I also cook lots of fish, eggs, vegetables, and the occasional piece of meat.  When I'm feeling particular social and wordy I'll explain the concept of piattini or small plates of food, including salumi, cheese, tomatoes, canned high quality fish, pickled vegetables, et. al.  Yet, I always feel as though I've disappointed the person who has asked the question; as if my answer should have included some variation of Beef Bourguignon (popularized by the highly over-hyped Julia Child; if you ask me the typical Italian grandmother has done more for food in this country than the high pitched Child) or an experiment out of the ridiculous culinary discipline of molecular gastronomy.  

(photo: oven roasted broccoli with baked flounder with breadcrumb topping)  

Orecchiette is literally translated as "little ear" and the pasta is created by using the thumb to press down on the pasta dough to create a concave shape or disc.  Orecchiette originate from the southern Italian province of Puglia located on the "heel" of the boot.  

(photo: finished product with lots of vegetables, grated Pecorino, and extra virgin olive oil)  

If you haven't noticed we don't have many dessert recipes on Scordo.com  And the reason doesn't stem from a philosophical objection to sugar, flour or butter, rather we don't bake because we're, frankly, not very good at it!  

(photo: freshly grilled grilled zucchini or squash <zucchine or cucuzza alla griglia>)

I have to admit that I'm sucker for zucchini.  I like the clean taste of zucchini when added to soups, made into a risotto, or grilled with good extra virgin olive oil and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.  My preference for zuchhini, however, is not shared with many southern Italians and I was especially surprised to find the great disdain for zuchhini or squash (at times called cucuzza <pronounced ko-KOO-tza> in Calabria.  The disdain probably emanates from the fact that the vegetable needs serious manipulation in order to produce decent flavor.  

I generally like the Fall season and welcome the change in climate, but I always mourn the loss of my second favorite herb on the planet (parsley is number one in my book) come this time of the year; namely, basil. 

(photo: meatballs prepared with veal, pork, and beef and pan fried; we ladle a bit of tomato sauce over the meat prior to eating)

The Italian meatball (believed to have originated during the Roman Empire around 55 AD.) has reached legendary status here in the United States and like it's counterpart in Italy has many variations, as well as differences in how they are consumed.  In Italy, for example, meatballs are served as a stand alone item and not eaten with pasta (although some tourist driven restaurants do offer "spaghetti with meatballs", especially in northern Italy).  

(photo: fried sardine fillets or sarde fritte with lemon wedges)

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.  We have two primary methods for frying one of the most common, and tastiest, Mediterranean fish; viz., sardines.  The two methods incluide:  whole (covered in an earlier recipe) or filleted and breaded.  Here's our recipe for fried sardine fillets

After posting the above photo of a recent dish my Calabrian born mother prepared on our Facebook fan page, we were overwhelmed with requests for the recipe.  So, without further qualification here's a simple recipe for one of the easiest pasta dishes on the planet made with a staple vegetable in southern Italy: linguine (and/or capelli D'Angelo / angel hair) with cauliflower, garlic, colatura di alici, and grated Grana Padano.

(photo: at the heart of making great small plates for an Italian themed dinner party is good bread)

Preparing multi course meals can be a fulfilling endeavor, especially when you're cooking for family and friends who appreciate food.  However, spending hours in the kitchen to prepare L'antipasto, Il primo, Il secondo,  Il contorno, and  Il dolce, even for a dyed-in-the-wool home cook, can be a demoralizing prospect. 

One of the loveliest times of the year for individuals enamored with food here in the northeastern section of the United States is late August because, amongst other fruits and vegetables, the tomato crop is in full swing.  Here in New Jersey you can find excellent, high quality, heirloom tomatoes at small local markets, farmer's markets, and in the tiny backyards of local residents.  In fact, the tomatoes are so good in the New York metropolitan area that I'd venture to say they are one of the few food types found in the Unites States that are just as good, or even better, than their Italian counterparts.

(photo: marinated anchovies in lemon juice, sea salt, garlic, black pepper, red pepper flake, and parsley).

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 hold court over passers-by with screeching annunciations such as" "pesce fresche" (fresh fish), "alici" (anchovies), "anguilla" (eel).  

Click here for all of our fish recipes.

Zia Giovanna used her stovetop to prepare a traditional eggplant parmigiana and the result was outstanding: delicate and thin eggplant with sweet tomato sauce and just the right amount of melted provola.

(photo: fried potatoes with flat romano beans, garlic, and tomato paste)

(photo: two cocktails inspired by Averna and St. Germain, the dark drink in the foreground is the Sofisticato and the drink in the background is the Appeaser)

Now don't take this to mean I'm a full fledged wino, but I get really excited about well prepared cocktails, good wine, and nicely crafted beer.  On the cocktail side, I've waxed philosophically about the benefits of aperitifs and amari such as Lillet, Antica Carpano, and Nonino and I've enjoyed them straight up with a bit of ice for the last couple of months.   However with the summer season in full swing I've brought out the cocktail shaker and ice and have been experimenting a bit.  The "Spring research phase"  has yielded two, in my humble view, spectacular drinks: