One of the very best seafood for grilling has got to be the octopus. Grilled baby octopus has incredible flavor, it is a pleasantly chewy but not tough—when properly prepared—and it crisps up beautifully under the grill’s intense heat. There’s a good reason why it’s a favorite summertime dish all … Read More
Sformato di tonno (Baked Tuna Sformato)
A sformato (the word literally means ‘unmolded’) is something like a soufflé without the puff: the main ingredient is mixed with a very stiff béchamel sauce and eggs, then baked in a mold until set. But since the eggs are left whole rather than separated and the whites whipped, a sformato only … Read More
Astice alla griglia (Grilled Lobster)
It seems I can’t get enough of grilled seafood! We’ve already featured grilled fish, grilled mollusk and grilled cephalopod, so let’s complete the series with grilled lobster, which may be the most delicious of them all. Here in the US, we are blessed with an abundance of lobster and, much … Read More
Quick Note: Vongole alla brace (Grilled Clams)
I don’t know about you, but even for an inveterate cooking enthusiast like myself, the dog days of summer take their toll. I like to keep time spent over a hot stove to a minimum, so I turn to lots of quick and easy dishes that need little or no … 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
Pesce al forno con patate e carciofi (Roasted Fish with Potatoes and Artichokes)
Fish and vegetables are a fabulous combination. We’ve already posted about fish and potatoes—a classic–as well as the less well-known fish and fennel. Now that spring is here, let’s take a look at another great pairing: fish and artichokes. Like the other combinations we’ve seen, the method is very simple: … Read More
Sautè di cozze (Italian Steamed Mussels)
When we were living in Rome, there was a great little roadside restaurant close by called “Il Cantuccio”. They made a number of dishes well, but one of our standbys was sautè di cozze, literally “mussel sauté”. They are, in fact, an Italian version of that near universal dish: steamed mussels. … Read More
