How to Use This Site

I like to think of this site as something more than just a blog. Over the years, we’ve accumulated a large collection of recipes—about 500 at last count—plus articles on all aspects of Italian food culture and history. There’s a lot here to explore, so here are some tips on getting the most out of this site:

Getting around

There are several ways to get at the recipe or other information you want on this site.

In the navigation bar on the top of the page, you’ll see various tabs:

• About: This tab provides basic information about the site, a FAQ page with guidance on how to use the site (as you probably know, since you’re here now!), feedback from readers and a note on how to deal with the Italian-style measurements in our recipes.
• Index: Click on the Index tab and a drop down menu, organized by the various courses of an Italian meal, will send you to hyperlinked indices of the recipes on the site. (NB: The index currently needs some updating…)
• Browse: Click on the Browse tab in the navigation bar at the top of the page, and a drop down menu links you to a series of pages that will allow you to search and browse for recipes using various parameters: the regions of Italy, the seasons of the year or the courses of an Italian meal. So, for example, if you want to see all the recipes on the site that come from Lazio (where Rome is) click on Browse, the “By Region”, then “Lazio”. The last tab will send you to vegetarian and vegan recipes.
• Essentials: If you’re new to Italian cooking, clicking on this tab will send you to the basics of Italian cookery, whether it’s how to make a simple tomato sauce, a step-by-step guide to making egg pasta at home or our three-part primer on authentic Italian cooking, it’s all here.
• Glossary: This site uses some Italian and other cookery terms you might not be familiar with, so I’ve included this handy reference with the most common of those terms, defined in easy-to-understand everyday language.
• Links: This tab includes links to some of my favorite food blogs, Italian and non-Italian, as well as some useful online resources about Italian culinary culture and history.
• Contact: This tab sends you to page where you can send me a message anytime you have a question about the site, provide feedback, ask advice or sign up for our free newsletter.

On the right hand side of the page, there is a sidebar that includes:

• At the very top of the sidebar, is your handy-dandy search bar. Just type in the topic you want—for example, if you want some recipes for beef, just type in ‘beef’. You will be sent to a page with all a list of all the posts on the site featuring beef recipes.
• A widget below that gives you a place to sign up for our free newsletters, just fill in your email address and you’re good to go.
• The widgets below that show you what’s happening on our social media pages—and let’s follow us there if you like.
• Further down the sidebar, you can also find an image gallery of the current most popular posts on the site.
• Then you’ll find our “tab cloud”. Click on any term you see there like “Fish and Seafood” and you’ll land on a page with all the recipes on the site that have been tagged with that term.

NOTE: The sidebar also includes lots of ways to subscribe to the site, so you’ll get posts fresh off the presses, so to speak. You can like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, Pinterest, or Google+ or subsribe to our RSS feed using your reader of choice. You can also follow us on Feedly or Networked Blogs.

And if you ever want to get back to the home page, just click on the title at the top left of any page on this site.

Recipe Posts

Each recipe post is set out in four main parts:

• Introduction: Each posts begins with a brief paragraph or two that gives you a quick overview of the featured dish, how it’s cooked and how you might make it a part of your meal plans. 
• Ingredients List: A list of all the ingredients you’ll need to make the featured dish, in the order you’ll need to use them. If a dish has one or more sub-components, the list will be divided up into sub-lists. The number of servings (typically 4-6 persons) is also indicated.
• Directions: This part of the post will guide you, step by step, to show you how to prepare the featured dish. Some posts—the ones that feature the more complicated dishes like lasagna—include photos to illustrate some or all of these steps.
• Notes: Every post (well, almost every one) includes notes at the end. You don’t need to read these notes if you’re short on time, but they provide useful tips and tricks, tell you about variations on the main recipe and ingredient substitutions and, once in a while, a little historical background on the featured dish.

Posts also include, at the end, related posts on the site with even more background on the featured dish or a similar recipe you might enjoy trying.

Last, but certainly not least, at the bottom of each post you’ll find a place to leave a comment or question. You’ll need to scroll down to the very bottom of the page, below any other comments. (NB: Your’s will show up at the top once you post it.) Please don’t hesitate to do so—I love hearing from you! Since I don’t monetize this site in any way, my only ‘income’, so to speak, is your feedback.