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
Pollo al forno con patate (Baked Chicken and Potatoes)
The weather this Labor Day weekend hasn’t been too congenial for a cookout. It seems Mother Nature has been in a changeable mood, sunny for a while, then cloudy, then stormy, and hot and muggy the whole while. So I took the chicken I was meaning to grill indoors and … Read More
Angelina’s Pizza Dolce (Italian Cheesecake)
For most of us, pizza means just one thing: a round disk of dough topped with tomato, mozzarella and other goodies and baked in a hot oven. But ‘pizza’ really just means pie, and can refer also to Italian cheesecake, typically made with ricotta and eggs, flavored with sugar and other … Read More
Chiacchiere (Fried “Ribbons”)
I wasn’t much on sweets even as a kid, but these little sugar-dusted ribbons of fried dough—variously known as chiacchiere, nastrini, stracci, cenci, frappe and a myriad of other names—were my one weakness in the sweets department. They are a traditional treat for Carnival, a time for over-indulgence, culinary and … Read More
How to Make a Frittata
One of the wonders of Italian cuisine is its incredible variety, and much of that variety comes from the mix-and-match nature of so many of its dishes. You take a staple base ingredient like rice or pasta, and you pair that with all sorts of flavoring ingredients and come up … Read More
Purpetielli affogati (Braised Baby Octopus)
Purpetielli affogati, or Braised Baby Octopus is one of Naples’ favorite dishes. Octopus is a popular food all around the Mediterranean basin and yet elsewhere it is often, for some reason, ‘controversial’. Many people who will happily scarf down fried calamari will shudder at the thought of eating its close … Read More
Parmigiana di melanzane (Eggplant Parmesan)
Being a lover of good food, I find it almost impossible to answer the question ‘what’s your favorite dish?’ But if I had to, my answer would probably be Eggplant Parmesan—parmigiana di melanzane in Italian—the way Angelina used to make it. This is a simple dish to make, but it … Read More
Pasta con la cicoria (Pasta with Chicory)
Cicoria, or chicory, also known in English as ‘curly endive’, is a staple of the central and southern Italian diet, or at least so it was traditionally. People from Campania like Angelina were said to be especially fond of leafy green vegetables, so much so that they were sometimes called … Read More
