One of my favorite cold weather salads back in Rome were puntarelle, a kind of chicory typically dressed with a kind of garlic and anchovy vinaigrette. Fond memories…! This salad is a more refined French cousin, fit for elegant dinners but rustic enough for an everyday dinner. It makes a … Read More
Penne ai funghi (Penne with Mushroom Sauce)
Fall is my favorite season, and one of the best reasons to love the fall is all the wonderful food you get to eat! The sprightly but rather thin dishes of summer give way to more substantial fare: game, soups and stews of all kinds, pumpkin and other squashes, beans, … Read More
Salade frisée aux lardons (Frisée Salad with Bacon)
This rustic salad was one of my favorite starters when I lived in Paris. It is sheer simplicity to make: just brown some lardons slowly in a bit of oil (I like olive oil) until they have rendered their fat and are lightly crisp. While the lardons are browning, rub … Read More
Chiocciole con salsiccia, piselli e ricotta (Pasta Shells with Sausage, Peas and Ricotta)
This was a dish I made up on the spot today, finding a stray single link of Italian sausage, some leftover ricotta and some frozen peas at the bottom of the freezer. The result was very good indeed—I thought I had stumbled on a new classic, until I check it … Read More
Insalata di arance rosse (Blood Orange Salad)
I recently found some blood oranges from California at the market–and I love blood oranges–so I made a blood orange salad as ‘dessert’: you just peel and slice the oranges, sprinkle over some black olives (Gaeta or nicoise are best), bits of red onion and parsley. Season with a bit … Read More
Tagliatelle alle zucchini (Tagliatelle with Zucchini)
Vegetables and pasta were meant for each other. And no vegetable says summer like zucchini. Ergo, there’s no more iconic summer pasta than tagliatelle with zucchini! Start by sauteing some sliced baby zucchine in olive oil with a chopped up shallot over moderate heat, seasoning with salt and pepper as it … Read More
Aglio, olio e peperoncino (Pasta with Garlic, Oil and Hot Pepper)
Here’s another super simple pasta that I call the “mother of all pasta dishes” since its garlic and oil base forms the foundation for countless other pasta sauces. It’s also the quintessential impromptu snack the Italians call una spaghettata. I’m sure all the Italians and Italo-Americans out there have grown up … Read More
Insalata Caprese
It’s a warm, wonderful Summer-like day, and I didn’t feel like doing any ‘real’ cooking (yes, even I feel lazy about cooking sometimes) so I just threw together—almost literally—this typical summertime salad of tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil that we’re all familiar with. This is a ‘composed’ salad like the … Read More