Rome is not especially known for its love of polenta, perhaps because its winters are relatively mild compared with those up in true polenta country skirting the southern rim of the Alps, but there is one polenta dish you are bound to find if you visit Rome in the cold … Read More
Pasta al pesce spada (Pasta with Swordfish)
Pasta with swordfish is the kind of carefree pasta dish that, for me, typifies summer eating. The recipe is quick –you can make the condimento (sauce) in the time it takes for you to bring the water to a boil and cook the pasta–and precise measurements hardly matter at all. (The … Read More
Spaghettini al caviale di salmone (Thin Spaghetti with Salmon Roe)
Elegant cooking doesn’t need to mean complicated. Thin spaghetti with salmon roe is a pasta dish that you can whip up in the time it takes for the water to come to a boil and the pasta to cook—yet it is fancy enough for the most important or better yet, intimate … Read More
Tomato Sauce 101
I’m all for convenience when it actually makes life simpler. But it’s always been a mystery to me why people buy those jars of wretched “spaghetti sauce” that line our supermarket shelves, when you can make real tomato sauce with only a tiny bit more time and effort. I … Read More
Braciole alla napoletana (Neapolitan Beef Rolls)
Braciole—beef slices rolled up with a savory garlic, parsley and cheese filling—is one of those dishes common to both Italian-American and ‘Old World’ Italian cooking—of the Neapolitan variety. Italian-Americans will often add them to the pot when making Sunday Sauce, but they are equally good on their own, simmered in … Read More
Risotto primavera (Spring Risotto)
Well, Spring is finally here! All those lovely seasonal vegetables that are just beginning to arrive in the markets, the kind that Italians call primizie—asparagus, baby artichokes, fresh peas in their pods—are beginning to make their appearance in the local markets. There are so many ways to enjoy these vegetables, … Read More
Jota triestina (Beans and Sauerkraut Soup from Trieste)
One of the things that make Italian cuisine so fascinating is its vast variety of flavors and cooking styles. Going from one region of Italy to another, in culinary terms (and not only) is something like going from one country to another—not surprising, I suppose, if you consider that the … Read More
Tortellini fatti in casa (Homemade Tortellini)
Among the dizzying variety of stuffed pastas in the Italian repertoire, perhaps none—with the exception of ravioli—is more famous than tortellini. These ring-shaped bits of bliss are ambassadors of Italian cuisine abroad and these days they (or aberrant facsimiles) can be found on the shelves of almost any supermarket. Within … Read More