Here’s a quick note on another staple weeknight dinner: pasta al tonno. Very fast and almost as easy as opening a can. Ingredients Serves 2-3 200g (7 oz) spaghetti, linguine, penne or other pasta of your choice For the soffritto: 1 or 2 garlic cloves, slightly crushed and peeled 1 … 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
Penne all’arrabbiata (“Angry” Penne)
Here’s another signature dish of Roman cooking, penne all’arrabbiata or ‘angry’ penne, perfect for an impromtu meal or snack when you crave something spicy. It is a very simple dish—basically an aglio, olio e peperoncino with tomato and extra peperoncino added for more heat. Ingredients Serves 4-6 persons 500g (1 … Read More
Spaghetti fatti in casa con pomodori al forno (Homemade Spaghetti with Oven-Roasted Tomatoes)
This dish of homemade egg pasta spaghetti with roasted tomato sauce is one of my favorite dishes from one of my favorite cookbook authors, Giuliano Bugialli. The sauce is simple to make and, if you use dry spaghetti (or store-bought fresh) the dish becomes extremely simple to execute. But if … Read More
Pappa al pomodoro (Tuscan Tomato and Bread “Soup”)
In the days when freshly baked bread was a staple of everyday life, a plethora of recipes grew up for using leftover stale bread. This classic Tuscan recipe is, to my mind, the very best of the lot—pappa al pomodoro, literally “mush with tomatoes”. (Sounds better in Italian, doesn’t it?) … 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
