Onions are everywhere in Italian cooking. They form part of the flavor base for just about every savory dish you can think of but, besides that, they make for a perfect contorno because they go with just about anything. The most common onion side dish is no doubt cipolline in agrodolce, baby onions braised in a […]
Where would we be without onions, I ask you? The onion and other members of the allium family provide the flavor base for practically every savory dish in the Italian repertoire. Countless dishes begin with the preparation of a soffritto which, almost always, includes onion. In fact, although it might come as a surprise, I […]
A fine side dish for roasted or braised meats, these carrots are a snap to make. Just combine baby carrots, milk, butter and seasonings and let them simmer together until the carrots are tender and the milk is fully absorbed. The milk brings out the natural sweetness of the carrots. The whole thing requires no […]
One of things that most fascinates me about cooking is how a very slight change in technique, even using the same ingredients, will produce a very different end result. We’ve already explored on this blog the ripassare technique, perhaps the most common in central and southern Italian vegetable cookery, in which parboiled vegetables are then […]
One of the oldest nicknames for the people of Campania was mangiafoglie, or ‘leaf eaters’, because they were known for their prodigious consumption of leafy green vegetables. It was probably a matter of necessity as much as preference back in the day. Wander around just about any open piece of land in Italy and […]
Summer is the season for grilling, as we all know, but don’t limit yourself to meat. Seasonal vegetables are gorgeous on the grill, too. The intense heat of the grill concentrates their flavors and adds a smoky undertone that is very appealing. The main tip for grilling vegetables of whatever kind is to keep the […]
A little thing called a ‘derecho’ rolled through town last Friday and left us all without electricity (for three days) or Internet (for six days) so if you missed last weekend’s post, now you know why! Life is, more or less, back to normal now and, thankfully, property damage was relatively minor, so we’re back […]
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