There’s nothing like a good pot roast on a cold winter’s day! Though it may come as a surprise to some, Italians also make pot roast, which is known variously as brasato or stracotto, but with a ‘continental’ twist: the favorite cooking medium for Italian pot roast is red wine. … Read More
Côtes d’agneau Champvallon (Lamb Chop and Potato Casserole)
Lamb chops Champvallon brings me back to my Paris days, when I took a couple of years off from the law to teach English. Hearty but easy on the pocketbook, it was just the ticket for a temporary bohemian. These days my pocket are a bit deeper, but I still … Read More
Pollo fritto per Chanukà (Hanukkah Fried Chicken)
Continuing with our Italian Hanukkah dinner, after the first course of riso coll’uvetta, proceed to the second course: Hanukkah Fried Chicken which is, of course, fried in olive oil. This dish is popular in Rome and all over Italy for this Jewish holiday. Ingredients Serves 4-6 One whole chicken For … Read More
An Italian Hannukah: Riso coll’uvetta (Rice with Raisins)
It may come as a surprise to some, but Italy has a Jewish tradition going back not just centuries, but millennia. A Jewish community existed in Rome dating from during the Roman Republic, even before the Empire, in the first centuries BCE. That presence grew during the late Middle Ages, … Read More
Lasagne alla bolognese (Bolognese Lasagna)
There are many types of lasagna dishes in Italian cookery, and in each is wonderful in its own way. But to my mind there are two “Ur-lasagne“, each typifying the northern and southern poles of Italian cuisine: Lasagna for Carnival, or lasagna di carnevale from Campania—the kind of lasagna that nonna Angelina … Read More
Ragù alla bolognese (Bolognese Sauce)
One of the most famous sauces in all of Italian cookery, ragù alla bolognese—known in English as Bolognese Sauce—is one of those archetypical sauces simmering for hours and hours on the back of the stove that so many people associate with Italian cooking. It is the northern equivalent of that … Read More
Buseca alla milanese (Milanese-Style Tripe)
As we’ve mentioned before on this blog, Saturday is tripe day in Rome… sabato trippa, as the saying goes. The tripe served in our house is usually alla romana, but today I made something a bit different: buseca (which is Milanese dialect for tripe). While Roman-style tripe is quite assertive, … Read More
Mock «puntarelle» alla romana
One of the dishes I miss most from my Roman days is the winter salad known as puntarelle,  a kind of chicory native to the countryside around Rome. In fact, the vegetable is sometimes called “Roman chicory” in English. The shoots are rather thick but tender, white at the base and green … Read More
