Coming in March, available on AMAZON A sequel to Clifford A. Wright’s groundbreaking A Mediterranean Feast, which won the 2000 James Beard award for Cookbook of the Year and the James Beard award for the Best Writing on Food, An Italian Feast celebrates the cuisines of the Italian provinces from Como to Palermo. An illustrated […]
How To Cook Lamb The Roman Way
March 13, 2019 by Leave a Comment
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 […]
Christmastime in Venice with Cuttlefish in Its Ink
December 4, 2018 by Leave a Comment
The cooking of cuttlefish in its own ink is a method that goes back at least to the fourteenth century, as we know from an early cookery manuscript fragment from about 1300 (Frammento, Biblioteca Universitaria della Università di Bologna, MS 158, ffº 86r – 91v) where it is cooked with leeks, garlic, and spices to […]
Exotic Watermelon Pudding from Sicily
August 15, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Watermelons are a typical, and beloved, conclusion to an American summer grill party. In Sicily, watermelons are also popular eaten in their raw state as well as being the main ingredient in an amazing sweet pudding for dessert. The main ingredients of this Sicilian gelu ‘i muluni, watermelon pudding, were all introduced by Arab farmers […]
Sardinia’s Way with Peas in Soup
May 14, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Springtime in Sardinia means fava beans, peas, and a variety of other vegetables and fruit. One favorite way with fresh spring peas is in a minestra. A minestra can mean both a soup and a first course. But the difference between a zuppa (soup) and a minestra is that a minestra is usually a thicker […]
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 […]
Rib-sticking Whole Wheat Pasta for Winter
February 12, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Winters were much colder when I lived in New England and rib-sticking meals like this pasta dish were meals often made. In southern California it never really gets cold enough to want something rib-sticking, but I love this preparation anyway even for nostalgia’s sake. This preparation was originally inspired by the rib-sticking cooking of the […]
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 […]
Duck, Sausage, and Chestnut Stew from the North of Italy
November 6, 2017 by Leave a Comment
This duck, sausage, and chestnut stew from the province of Verona, also called ragù d’anitra, is often made with goose and is made too in Brianza in Lombardy and around Lake Garda. Preparing this dish is a more or less all-day affair. Don’t let that put you off. Gather around the hearth and keep the […]
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 […]
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