Scialatielli con frutti di mare

FrankCampania, pasta, primi piatti29 Comments

Scialatielli

I was in the lovely town of Praiano on the Amalfi Coast recently for a family wedding. There I discovered a rather thick semi-long fresh pasta called scialatielli, served with a delicious sauce of lobster simmered in fresh tomato. It was a most memorable meal, made even more special by … Read More

Bigoli in salsa

Frankpasta, primi piatti, Veneto26 Comments

Bigoli in salsa

Venice isn’t really pasta country. As Hedy Giusti-Lanham and Andrea Dodo put it in their lovely 1978 cookbook The Cuisine of Venice and Surrounding Northern Regions, now sadly out of print, “In and round Venice, a series of polenta dishes will be mentioned first, then some rice dishes and at … Read More

Pesto di cavolo nero (Tuscan Kale Pesto)

Frankprimi piatti, Toscana27 Comments

Pesto di cavolo nero

Generally speaking I’m not a picky eater. Just the opposite in fact. There are very few things I won’t eat or at least try. I’ve had alligator in Florida, live lobster sashimi and rattlesnake in New York, fried lamb’s brains and pasta with calf’s intestines in Rome, fermented cassava balls … Read More

Timballo teramano

FrankAbruzzo, pasta, primi piatti30 Comments

Timballo teramano

Timballo teramano, one of the signature dishes of the Abruzzo region of Italy, is a kind of lasagna, but a very special one, made with the ultra-thin regional version of crepes called scrippelle instead of pasta. The filling can vary from locality to locality and even family to family, but … Read More