Memorie di Angelina

Carpaccio is one of the most famous of Italian antipasti but the version most people are familiar with—thin beef slices macerated in olive oil and lemon, adorned with arugula and shavings of Parmesan cheese— is actually more precisely carne cruda all’Albese, a Piedmontese dish. The true carpaccio was invented by Venetian hotelier Giuseppe Cipiani, of Harry’s […]

Turkey is a popular meat in Italy, often providing a less expensive alternative to veal in dishes ranging from scalloppine to ossobuco. But a whole roast bird, Thanksgiving style, is a rarity. Back in Rome, I remember we had to special order our bird from a local butcher and presented it with much flourish, and […]

I once knew a charming couple from Milan named Omer and Maria Grazia. My memory of them is a bit hazy by now—sadly, we lost contact and it’s been years since I’ve seen them—but two food-related memories still stick out in my mind. The first was the time I made them minestrone alla milanese and […]

Some readers may remember last winter’s post on brasato al vino rosso, the wonderful red wine pot roast from northern Italy, in particular Lombardia and Piemonte—where it is often made with Barolo, the local big red, and called brasato al Barolo. Well, here is another typical pot roast, this time from central Italy: Florentine-style ‘stracotto’, […]

  Besides ragù alla napoletana, la genovese is probably the most iconic of all Neapolitan pasta sauces, and yet it is little known outside Italy or, for that matter, little seen outside Naples itself. And, for reasons I cannot quite figure out, it did not seem to survive the trans-Atlantic voyage; in my experience, la […]

  If you’ve been reading this blog lately you may be wondering if we’ve been switching themes on you. Well, it’s true that summer somehow brings out the experimental side of my otherwise rather staid culinary character. But, fear not, gentle reader, Memorie di Angelina is still, first and foremost, an Italian food blog. Now […]

We hosted a block party on the 5th of July and I was casting around for inspiration when I hit upon a great post on barbecue by my fellow blogger Drick of Drick’s Rambling Cafe. Drick is from Alabama, where they know a thing or two about real barbecue. Now, I’ve done a lot of […]

It’s the 4th of July here in the US and the national holiday naturally makes me yearn for… paella! Well, not just any paella, but a Mexican-style version inspired by my fellow blogger Non Chef Nick’s latest post on “In the Kitchen with Nick“. I absolutely love paella. Having not prepared it for quite some […]