This recipe for torta di porri (Tuscan leek pie) comes from the Florentine chef and food historian Giuliano Bugialli. He is one of my favorite Italian cookbook authors. But he’s is relatively little known, particularly as compared with his near contemporary Marcella Hazan. Bugialli produced a number of wonderful cookbooks, … Read More
Carote marinate (Marinated Carrots)
Carote marinate, or marinated carrots, are beautiful to look at and wonderfully versatile. In season year ’round, they serve equally well as an antipasto or side dish, or as part of a buffet spread. Best of all, they take almost no effort to make and can—indeed, should—be made ahead of time. … Read More
A Neapolitan Christmas: Insalata di rinforzo (Cauliflower and Pickled Vegetable Salad)
This zesty cauliflower salad is a fixture on family tables in Naples during the Christmas season. The salad is called insalata di rinforzo—’reinforcement salad’—is because it was customary in the old days to make a first batch as an antipasto on Christmas Eve and to keep on ‘reinforcing’ it with more cauliflower … Read More
A Neapolitan Christmas: Capitone fritto (Fried Eel)
It wouldn’t be Christmas Eve without fish, and capitone fritto, or fried eel is one of the most popular choices in Italy, where the tradition goes back for millennia. While eel is almost unheard of in the US outside sushi circles, there’s a good reason for its popularity: eel has a meaty … Read More
Insalata russa (Russian Salad Italian Style)
Russian Salad, known in Russian as Салат Оливье or Salad Olivier, was once a common feature on festive tables all over the world. Russian salad Italian style is distinguished by the use of Italian-style mayonnaise made with fruity olive oil. This venerable dish seems to have gone out of fashion, perhaps … Read More
Barchette di radicchio (Manu’s Radicchio “Boats” Filled with Mascarpone, Gorgonzola and Glazed Walnuts)
It will only be a quick post this busy holiday weekend, dear readers, but I didn’t want to let too much time pass without making good on my promise to prepare at least one dish from fellow blogger Manuela Zangara’s holiday cookbook. My choice, her recipe for these pretty radicchio … Read More
Pallotte cacio e uova (Cheese and Egg Balls)
An iconic dish from the Abruzzo region in the cucina povera tradition, pallotte cacio e uova—cheese and egg balls—probably got its start as a way to use up leftover bits of cheese and stale bread. The mixture is then bound together with egg and formed into balls and, just like … Read More
Gattò di patate (Neapolitan Potato “Cake”)
Another example of the French Bourbon legacy in Neapolitan cooking, this gattò—from the French gateau—is a savory potato ‘cake’ made of mashed potatoes enriched with eggs, butter and grated cheese, a mixture you may remember from our recipe for crocchè di patate (Potato Croquettes). The filling for this cake is … Read More
