At times, one can feel glutinous about consuming too much pasta especially if the portion size is large (even for a dyed-in-wool Italophile) .  So, when we crave pasta (in a slightly larger portion size) we turn to any number of leafy greens as a condiment.  The following Rigatoni with Spinach, Garlic, and Parsley recipe is hearty and packed full of good for you […]

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 […]

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 […]

One of the interesting culinary tidbits in Calabria is that most home cooks do not use their oven during the summer months given the intense weather.  The logic makes sense, however what does the dedicated cook do when s/he has a desire to make a baked dish?  Well, how about using your stovetop? Zia Giovanna used her stovetop to prepare a […]

Back in August, we published a slightly unorthodox eggplant parmigiana recipe where I first roasted, mini or baby eggplant, (these are usually smaller versions of the generic eggplant found in most US supermarkets) and thereafter covered with tomato sauce, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, and baked.  The result was outstanding but not as cheesy and decadent as the more classic, Italian American, version […]

(photo: mint: easy to grow and very versatile) Nothing gets me more excited then roasting a chicken, but I’ll admit that there are times when it’s more convenient to work with chicken parts.  One of my favorite parts of the chicken is the thigh as it combines both dark and white meat and is almost impossible to overcook.  I’ve been creating […]

Ask any person from Calabria over the age of 50 to describe a dish from the region that both represents the best and worst of the southern most province in Italy and s/he would probably utter, “minestra.”  That is to say, minestra (a type of thick soup with a substantial base including potatoes, vegetables, beans, tomato pieces, etc. <minestrone is […]

Our good friend Dr. K has passed along his homemade chèvre (goat milk) cheese recipe and I’m excited to be able to share it with our loyal Scordo.com readers.   Goat cheese is made in Calabria, of course, and it’s some of the best produced cheese on the planet.  In Aspromonte, close to our family’s village in Pellegrina, you’ll find Caprino […]

There are some terrific fish on our little planet and while we are, indeed, overfishing our seas , I constantly marvel at how delicious certain varieties of aquatic vertebrates are, including mackerel, sardines, cod, swordfish, trout, branzino, striped bass, salmon, etc.  Much of the overfishing talk centers on Tuna, which is a large industry in Southern Italy, especially near Sicily (where the world’s best tuna is […]

When it comes to consuming food, a golden rule we aim to follow is centered on eating “whole foods”; namely, minimally processed from scratch food items.  For example, buying whole bean coffee (and roasting it yourself if possible) and grinding it before each use is better than buying a mega container of preground, and unforgiving, Folgers or Maxwell House and, […]