New Year’s Eve in Italy, as for so many other special occasions, means a special meal, the cenone di Capodanno, or ‘big supper’. Like Christmas Eve, this meal is often “lean” or fish based—at least before midnight, when it’s time to break out the cotechino sausage and lentils for good fortune. (In modern times, however, … Read More
Peperoni ripieni di carne (Italian Meat Stuffed Peppers)
This iconic summer dish—and, as far as I’m concerned, it’s still summer—is one of many recipes for stuffed peppers in the Italian repertoire. Tuna Stuffed Peppers are a Neapolitan classic, while other recipes call for a vegetarian eggplant or bread stuffing. But today I’d like to show you how to make Italian Meat … Read More
Homemade Giardiniera
There are many ways in Italian cookery to put up food, relics of the days before refrigeration and freezing and commercial processing. There is straight up canning, of course. I can remember Angelina’s yearly day-long ritual of putting up summer tomatoes for the winter. The mason jars nearly filled one … Read More
Insalata di patate e tonno (Potato Tuna Salad)
Potato salad is a summer staple on American tables, but if you’re interested in a different take, here’s an idea for you: Potato Tuna Salad. At its most basic, Potato Tuna Salad is a close cousin to that staple of Italian buffet tables, fagioli e tonno. You take slices or cubes … Read More
Cialledda (Bread and Tomato Salad)
One of things I find fascinating about Italian cookery—cookery in generally, really—is how you can take a culinary idea and, with a few subtle changes in ingredients or technique, get very different results. The frugal idea of mixing stale bread with chopped up tomatoes to make a salad, for example, gave … Read More
Olive ascolane (Ascoli Style Stuffed Olives)
Olive ascolane—with their soft and savory meat stuffing surrounded by a crisp, breaded crust—are a speciality of Ascoli Piceno in the region of Le Marche, but they have become a staple on the tables of pizzerias in Rome, where I lived for so many years, and elsewhere in Italy. They are perfect for … Read More
Asparagi all’agro (Asparagus with Lemon and Olive Oil)
Asparagus with Lemon and Olive oil, or asparagi all’agro, is one of those dishes that is so quick and simple you might argue it hardly needs a recipe. But simple doesn’t necessarily mean easy or obvious. In fact, simple dishes can be quite tricky to pull off. The very simplicity leaves you … Read More
Impepata di cozze (Peppered Mussels)
Here’s a recipe that’s so simple you could call it a non-recipe: impepata di cozze, or Peppered Mussels. To make this Neapolitan classic, you simply steam mussels in their own juices with nothing but generous amounts of freshly ground black pepper. Garnish them, if you like, with some chopped parsley and lemon … Read More
