In terms of meat in Lazio, the region of which Rome is the capital, the place of honor went to abbacchio, milk-fed lamb. The name probably derives from bacchio, that is, the stick used for herding. Dictionaries of Romanesco dialect define abbacchio as just-weaned baby lamb whose season in the centuries following the stabilization of […]
Bigoli, The Latest Hot New Pasta
April 16, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Bigoli is actually not the latest hot new pasta as Venetians have known of it for centuries. However, in America, where food fads are driven by newness rather than tradition you’ll be hearing more about it. Bigoli in salsa, an old and beloved Venetian preparation made on Good Friday. A Venetian would know that bigoli […]
Puntarella Chicory Arrives!
February 1, 2018 by 6 Comments
Chicory is an herbaceous wild biennial or perennial found all over the Mediterranean. The leaves of chicory have a basal rosette of runcinate leaves, that is, with lobes are deeply incised and recurved at the tip. The heads are large with loose, dark green leaves that taste bitter. The flowering stalk emerges out of this […]
Lasagna for the Financiers?
November 24, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Lasagne alla Finanziera–Lasagna in the Financier’s Style–is a particular preparation in the Piedmont region of Italy. This preparation—and any with the name finanziera—is a nineteenth-century or perhaps eighteenth-century invention. One finds this kind of preparation in the province of Turin, but also in Lombardy and Liguria as well in French cuisine. So-named dishes are probably […]
Minestrone alla Genovese – The Classic Minestrone
October 11, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The famous Genoese-style minestrone is a very dense and satisfying meal. It utilizes both seasonal vegetables and the famous pesto alla Genovese, made of garlic, basil, pine nuts, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. But, as the Italian gastronome Massimo Alberini has said, as good as minestrone is, it is not a gastronomic specialty but rather an elemental […]
Fava, Artichokes, and Porcini Mushrooms with “Straw and Hay” Fettuccine
June 14, 2017 by 3 Comments
June is the time for fava and artichokes and what better way than to cook them with pasta as is typical of Italian cooking. In this recipe inspired by Tuscan cooking, the name of this pasta dish in Italian, paglia e fieno, is a slight twist on a typical dish in Siena, that means “straw […]
Christmas Eve Risotto from Venice
December 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
This is a typical Christmas Eve dinner preparation and is unusual for two reasons: it is not cooked according to the risotto method even though it’s called a risotto, and it combines cheese with fish. The dish probably evolved from a simple fish pilaf, one using, perhaps, gò (goby, an ugly little fish that lives […]
Make Rigatoni Like Romans–With Chitterlings
March 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Virtually everyone who has been to Italy has been to Rome, but not everyone who has been to Rome has had Roman cuisine. Most of the famous foods of Rome, such as pizza, fettuccine alfredo or spaghetti carbonara, either were invented for tourists or came from elsewhere. The Romans eat in a way that is […]
It’s Real Fettuccine Alfredo. It Never Used Cream.
September 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
T he rise and fall of fettuccine Alfredo is a story of a simple dish taken from its home and embellished with flourishes before sliding into culinary familiarity, dullness and bastardization. Although it has its roots in Roman cuisine, it is nothing but a restaurant dish in Italy and America. Fettuccine Alfredo became a classic […]
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