When they think of anchovies, most people, at least here in the US, think of salt-cured anchovy fillets packed in oil. If you’re a bit more au fait with Italian cookery, you may even know about anchovies sotto sale, or packed in salt. You may also know cured anchovies are a fantastic way to … Read More
Uova alla fiorentina, Bugialli’s Original Eggs Florentine
Delicious as it may be, the dish known in most of the world as Eggs Florentine —eggs sitting on a bed of spinach braised in butter, topped with mornay sauce and shirred in a hot oven— is, in fact, not Italian but a French invention. Some say it was invented … Read More
Baccalà lesso (Boiled Salt Cod)
Lent—la Quaresima in Italian—is the roughly six week period on the Catholic calendar between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Traditionally a period of self-sacrifice and fasting, in the old days the faithful were expected to abstain from eating meat and rich foods, and live on simple vegetable, fish and grain dishes. A whole range … 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
Salsicce all’uva (Sausages and Grapes)
The use of fruits in savory dishes was once common place in Italian cooking, as it was in European cooking generally. Giuliano Bugialli, for example, tells us that the original duck à l’orange was a Tuscan dish. But with some notable exceptions like mostarda for boiled meats and strawberry risotto, it’s become a … Read More
Peas and Eggs (Piselli cacio e uova)
Columbus Day is right around the corner, and as regular readers know, that’s the occasion each year for us to feature a classic Italian-American dish. This year we’re sharing an old family recipe, one that I’m sure will be familiar to many readers “of a certain age”: Peas and Eggs. … Read More
Fritto misto di mare
There’s a saying in Italian: fritte son bone anche le scarpe, meaning “even a shoe tastes good when it’s fried”. Well, I’ve never actually tried fried shoe, but I couldn’t agree more when it comes to seafood. It tastes especially delicious when it’s fried—good enough to convince even the piscatorially … Read More
Tomato Tonnato
Vitello tonnato (Tunnied Veal) is one of my favorite summer dishes, but I had never thought about other uses for tonnato sauce until I saw a Facebook post by fellow blogger and Tuscanycious honoree Judy Witts Francini. (You definitely shouldn’t miss her fabulous Divina Cucina website.) Judy’s post mentioned she was going … Read More