As long time readers may remember, my very favorite pasta when I was a kid was Angelina’s austerely simple but delicious pasta e lenticchie (Pasta with Lentils). I liked it so much so that most of the time I’d prefer to eat pasta e lenticchie even over her extraordinary Sunday … Read More
Chicken Francese
October is Italian-American Heritage month, and long time readers will know that each year, around this time, we feature an Italian-American dish. This year, we’re serving up Chicken Francese, a perennial favorite you’ll find on the menu of just about every Italian-American restaurant in the country. Despite its fame, the … Read More
Pasta alla crema di peperoni (Pasta with Bell Pepper Cream Sauce)
The bell pepper may hail from the New World, but Italians have embraced it whole-heartedly. It appears in an extraordinary range of dishes, and you can find a good number of those recipes right here on this blog. But Pasta alla crema di peperoni, or Pasta with Bell Pepper Cream … Read More
Carciofi in fricassea (Artichokes in egg and lemon sauce)
Artichokes and eggs get along very nicely, don’t they? Artichokes are a classic filling for frittata and if you’ve ever tried it, you’ll know why. They’re delicious baked with egg or fried in egg batter. Or what about an egg, sunny side up, as a topping for braised artichokes? There … Read More
Calamari ripieni (Stuffed Calamari)
Everybody, it seems, loves fried calamari. But there are lots of other ways to enjoy this tasty mollusk. It’s delicious braised with peas in the Roman manner, for example, or with greens, after the Florentines. But I think calamari really comes into its own when it’s filled with a savory … Read More
Spezzatino di maiale con piselli (Pork Stew with Peas)
All of us—even us “foodies”—need some reliable and straightforward recipes in our lives for everyday cooking. This one for spezzatino di maiale con piselli, or Pork Stew with Peas, fits the bill rather nicely, I think. If you make your stew in a pressure cooker—and like many stews it’s ideal … Read More
Pollo in fricassea (Chicken Fricassée)
The Italian cooking term fricassea is a bit of a false friend for English or French speakers. Like a fricassée, it usually involves a two-step cooking process of a sauté followed by a braise. But for Italians the thing that makes a fricassea a fricassea—and not, say, a spezzatino—is the … Read More
Pollo in potacchio
Pollo in potacchio is braised chicken dish that hails from Le Marche, a region that sadly I never got to visit during my years in Italy. And truth be told, I know little of its cookery, other than olive ascolane from Ascoli, which we featured on the blog some time ago, … Read More