How to Use This Site

I like to think of this site as something more than just a blog. It’s a online resource with a large collection of recipes—about 700 at last count—and articles on Italian food history and culture. 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.

Home page

First off, there’s our handy new home page launched at the beginning of 2025. From here you can quickly access our latest recipes and key information about Italian cookery with a single click. The page is organized into various sections:

• The first section shows our five most recent recipes, with the most recent given top central billing.
• The second section changes from time to time, featuring a curated selection of recipes appropriate to the current season or an upcoming holiday.
• The third section features our five most popular posts at the current time.
• The fourth section features a sign up sheet for our newsletter—and if you haven’t done so, please subscribe now! Plus a short welcome message and link to our About page with some background about yours truly and my grandmother Angelina, to whom this blog is dedicated. It also provides some basic information about the blog.
• The fifth section is dedicated to the Fundamentals of Italian Cooking. It includes basic information about Italian food culture, a beginner’s guide to authentic Italian food, the ABCs of Italian pantry items, and a glossary of basic Italian food terms. It also includes links to posts about three iconic cookbook authors that every aspiring Italian cook should get to know.
• Finally, the following sections set out our most recent recipes by course, from starters/antipasti to dessert.

Menu Bar

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, 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.
• Browse: Click on the Browse tab in the navigation bar at the top of the page. A drop down menu will allow you to browse for recipes by regions of Italy, the seasons of the year or the courses of an Italian meal. The last tab will send you to special diets, including vegetarian and vegan recipes.
• Essential Recipes: If you’re new to Italian cooking, clicking on this tab will send you to the most basic recipes in Italian cookery, Here you’ll find how to make a simple tomato sauce, homemade pasta and basics frittatas and gelatos. Plus some basic techniques like how to cut up a bell pepper.
• 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.

And if you ever want to get back to the home page from anywhere on the site, just click on the logo at the top of any page on this site or “Home” on the left of the search bar.

Search Bar

You can also use our powerful search features to access our posts by any search term you want to use. You can find the search bar in the upper right hand corner of every page on the site, as well as the top of the sidebar for individual posts.

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 recipes with beef in them. And from there you can drill down by category (such as region or course) or tag (e.g. season or cooking technique), as well as post type or year, using our new filter feature!

Side Bar

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

• A search bar (see above)
• A widget that allows you to search by category
• Today’s top posts
• A sign up form for our free newsletters, just fill in your email address and you’re good to go.
• A sign up widget for our social media.
• A little bit about me
• A widget to search our achives by date

Recipe Posts

Each recipe post includes four main parts:

• Introduction: Each post begins with a brief overview of the featured dish, how to cook it 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. 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, on how to prepare the dish. More complicated complicated dishes may include photos to illustrate some or all of these steps.
• Notes: Every post (well, almost every one) includes notes at the end. Of course, you don’t need to read these notes if you’re short on time. But I highly recommend them. They provide useful tips and tricks, tell you about variations on the main recipe and ingredient substitution. Once in a while, i also give you a little historical background on the featured dish.

At the end of each post you’ll find links to related posts on the site. These provide even more background on the featured dish or a similar recipe you might enjoy trying.

And feel free to leave comment!

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.