The Tetrazzini family of dishes is hard to classify. Despite being a kind of baked pasta dish with an Italian name, it is most definitely not Italian. In fact, it’s not really even Italian-American, if you define that term as meaning the cooking of the Italian diaspora in America. In … Read More
Pasta con la zucca alla napoletana (Pasta with Winter Squash, Naples-Style)
Pairing pasta and vegetables is common throughout Italy, but it is probably fair to say that no region puts so much emphasis on this classic combination as Campania, the southern Italian region from which Angelina hailed. Campanians are so associated with their love of vegetables that they used to jokingly … Read More
Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe (Orecchiette con cime di rapa)
A quick pasta dish with vegetables that you can whip up in less an 30 minutes, Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe makes for a fine meatless dinner, with cheese and fruit for dessert. It’s pretty typical of the kind of thing we like to eat in our house on a weeknight when there’s … Read More
Lobster «Fra Diavolo»
As regular readers will know, it’s become a traditional here at Memorie di Angelina to feature an Italian-American dish every Columbus Day weekend. This year’s entry is Lobster Fra Diavolo, or “Brother Devil’s Lobster”. A distant cousin to Southern Italian seafood and pasta dishes like spaghetti allo scoglio, its pairing … Read More
Calamarata con Salsiccia, Ricotta e Piselli (Calamarata Pasta with Sausage, Ricotta and Peas)
This was a dish I made up on the spot one day, finding a few stray links of sausage and some leftover ricotta in my fridge, and some frozen peas at the bottom of the freezer, to serve as a condimento for some calamarata pasta I had in the pantry. … Read More
Fettuccine «Alfredo»: The Original Recipe
Fettuccine Alfredo has a unique place in the multifaceted world of Italian cookery. The dish is famous in America and hardly known in Italy, but it is actually Italian, not Italian-American, at least originally. It was invented by Roman restauranteur Alfredo di Lelio, who—the story goes—invented it to suit his pregnant … Read More
Tagliatelle alla crema di asparagi (Tagliatelle with Asparagus Purée)
Spring is a special time of year. There’s nothing that lifts a body’s spirits quite like the green shoots and gentle sun of spring. And then there’s the wonderful produce that starts to appear in our markets—tiny peas, artichokes, slender green asparagus, fava beans in their hefty pods, plump strawberries… … Read More
Pasta alla capricciosella (Pasta with Squid, Mushrooms and Peas)
My nostaglia for Rome often brings me to a website and Facebook page called Roma Sparita or, literally, “Disappeared Rome”. The site features a entrancing combination of old photographs and prints of a by-gone Rome along with amusing poems written in romanesco, Roman dialect, in the style of Trilussa. I recently … Read More
