Apart from lasagna, nothing says Sunday dinner to me like a roasted chicken, sitting on the dining room table golden brown, with crispy skin, tender, juicy meat and—for special occasions—a savory stuffing. It’s a dish that was almost a universal feature of family dinners back in the day but, sadly, … Read More
Sartù di riso (Neapolitan Rice Timbale)
When we think of Neapolitan cooking—and southern Italian cooking in general—we think of pasta and pizza. So it may come as a surprise that one of the most emblematic dishes of Neapolitan cooking is actually a rice timbale, the sartù di riso. The word sartù, the story goes, is an Italianized … Read More
Rose di radicchio (Radicchio “Roses” Stuffed with Sausage)
I like to think that I have a good knowledge of Italian cookery but, every once in a while, I stumble on a dish that I’ve never heard of, let alone tried. So it was with a recent blog post from fellow blogger Judy Witts, whose blog Over a Tuscan … Read More
Pasta e fagioli: The Authentic Recipe
Pasta e fagioli, or pasta and beans, which goes by the amusing nickname ‘pasta fazool‘ in Italian-American slang, is one of the most internationally famous dishes in the entire Italian repertoire. It is a victim of its own success, however, too often made badly—very badly—which is why I would never … Read More
Sformato di tonno (Baked Tuna Sformato)
A sformato (the word literally means ‘unmolded’) is something like a soufflé without the puff: the main ingredient is mixed with a very stiff béchamel sauce and eggs, then baked in a mold until set. But since the eggs are left whole rather than separated and the whites whipped, a sformato only … Read More
Polenta con salsicce e spuntature (Polenta with Sausage and Spareribs)
Rome is not especially known for its love of polenta, perhaps because its winters are relatively mild compared with those up in true polenta country skirting the southern rim of the Alps, but there is one polenta dish you are bound to find if you visit Rome in the cold … Read More
