We are great fans of the baked pasta concept and whether it’s lasagna, pasta al forno, or cannelloni we can’t imagine a better way to prepare pasta.  However, baked pasta requires two steps; namely, cooking the pasta and thereafter  baking the pasta along with cheese, ricotta, tomato sauce, etc.  If a two step pasta dish isn’t in your playbook or […]

Our Italian tartar sauce is a great compliment to baccala fritters or most any fried dish.  Moreover, you could use the sauce alongside eggplant, potato croquettes, zucchini flower fritters, etc. Italian tartar sauce is comprised of traditional ingredients with the addition of anchovy, capers, etc. We like to make a large batch of Italian tartar sauce and keep in the fridge […]

Frascatula is a southern Italian classic especially revered in Calabria.   Frascatula can be best described as a porridge made with corn meal and closely resembling pollenta.   Our version features broccoli, Pecorino Romano, and extra virgin olive oil. We enjoy the velvety consistency of Frascatula as a main dish; accompanies by a rustic glass of red wine and perhaps a […]

Preparing and eating mushrooms can be either and an easy or difficult affair.  My Italian born parents, for example, are fans of wild mushrooms and go to great lengths to forage for exotic species and then pickle and preserve the delicacies.  On the other hand, I enjoy garden variety Shiitake mushrooms sauteed with garlic and extra virgin olive oil and plenty […]

In my view, biscotti (plural for cookie) were created as a vehicle to enjoy coffee.  For example, my daily routing includes making a cup of coffee in the morning accompanied by a single biscotto (the hard cookie satisfies my initial hunger in the morning and provides a buffer against drinking coffee on an empty stomach).    So, while biscotti are […]

In my parent’s region of Italy (Calabria) almond paste cookies are abundant, but rainbow cookies aren’t found in southern Italy (and to the best of my knowledge the rest of Italy is also devoid of this moist and luscious cookie).  Rainbow cookies are an Italian American invention and most likely created to honor the color of the Italian flag.  However, […]

You won’t find an Italian American household which doesn’t produce a version of the ubiquitous stuffed peppers with ground beef and to be honest we weren’t always fans of the dish. Our dislike for stuffed peppers most likely emanated from bland, rice based, stuffings and semi cooked green, bell, peppers .  However, stuffed peppers can be made well as well as […]

As our fans know and understand we’re big believers in from scratch cooking but we’re also food pragmatist; that is to say, we understand that homemade food can, at times, be semi-homemade.  Case in point, is a wonderful semi fresh pasta from the Italian company Giovanni Rana.  Giovanni Rana, a 50-year old Italian pasta company with an excellent reputation in […]

Italian Corn Bread When my wife (then girlfriend) visited my parent’s home for her first Italian themed Thanksgiving she was bewildered by the selection of non traditional Thanksgiving day foods such as pasta, salumi, olives, various vegetables, nuts, fruits, cheeses, and pastries (I offered no explanation, but suggested she eat as much as possible so as to not offend the […]

Scordo Thanksgiving Food Tradition My immediate family immigrated from Italy in the early 1970’s and immediately adopted the traditional Thanksgiving meal.  My parents, who lived with my grandparents, tell me the first Scordo Thanksgiving meal featured a whole turkey, mashed potatoes, and something akin to sausage stuffing.  Of course, the meal included other “essential” best Thanksgiving side dishes such as […]