It may come as a surprise, but Italians make crepes. They’re called crespelle in Italian (even if many Italians just call them by their French name, as we do in English). The most common use for crepes in Italian cookery is not as dessert, but as stuffed pasta. They can … Read More
Crema di zucca (Winter Squash Soup)
Who doesn’t love winter squash soup? It is savory yet sweet, warming yet light. It makes a wonderful first course, to be followed by a roast, or a light supper after too many hearty holiday meals… My version of this soup is extremely easy: Ingredients Serves 4-6 1 kilo (2 … Read More
Mock «puntarelle» alla romana
One of the dishes I miss most from my Roman days is the winter salad known as puntarelle, a kind of chicory native to the countryside around Rome. In fact, the vegetable is sometimes called “Roman chicory” in English. The shoots are rather thick but tender, white at the base and green … Read More
Tiella pugliese (Puglia Potato and Mussel Casserole)
Even though my paternal grandfather was from Grumo Appula, a small town outside Bari in the southeastern Italian region of Puglia, I don’t remember eating much pugliese food growing up. Other than a few dishes—orcecchiette with cime di rape (also known as broccoletti), that wonderful calzone di cipolla (onion pie) … Read More
Cardi gratinati (Gratinéed Cardoons)
Cardoons are one of my favorite winter vegetables but they can be hard to find. So when I spied some in the market the other day I did a double-take and smiled. I hadn’t had them quite literally for years. The bunch I found was a bit bruised but would … Read More
How to Make Homemade Broth
Making homemade broth is so easy to do, and the results are so wonderful and so almost infinitely useful, I really don’t understand why it’s almost disappeared from home cooking. Well, actually, I can guess: fewer and fewer people cook anything at all, let along things like homemade broth, which … Read More
Risotto alla «zucca» (Pumpkin Risotto)
Risotto alla zucca, or pumpkin risotto, is one of the most popular autumn and winter risottos. Zucca is Italian for pumpkin, but Italian pumpkins are quite different from their American cousins: their taste is more intense and much sweeter, their texture finer, less fibrous. Most recipes aimed at the non-Italian cook recommend … Read More
Strozzapreti ai funghi (Strozzapreti with Mushrooms)
There are all sorts of mushroom sauces, some of which have made their appearance on this blog. The mushroom and tomato sauce, for example, that goes so well with dried pasta, or the mushroom cream sauce for gnocchi or even ox tongue. None of these are very hard to make, … Read More
