I travel a lot in Italy, often doing research and development for new trips. Discovering the regional pasta dishes and other specialites is like a treasure hunt. I was invited on a PR trip to discover the area outside of Naples, which makes one of my favorite liquore, Strega. The town of Benevento and the…
Porcini
Every class feels like iron chef, the market changes and we jump at the chance to use the seasonal best. I don’t repeat lessons week after week or I would be bored to tears. This week I was asked to make fresh pasta and show how to make ravioli, the porcini inspired a simple mushroom…
‘A Pasta- Gragnano Pasta Festival 2012
Sometimes I get so overloaded with information I need to let it sink in to think about it. The pasta festival in Gragnano was one of those events. Traditionally, the festival is held the first week in September it is three days packed with music and food. I attended a pre-festival in collaboration with the…
Learning from the Masters- Timballo di Pasta
Each trip back to Sicily, especially back to the Foresteria Planeta in Menfi, is like going back home. We stay at the Foresteria as a base for most of our trip, as they have a fabulous teaching kitchen and Chef Angelo Pumilia shares the secrets of the Planeta family recipes with us. One of the…
Diva’s Dirty Little Secret- Gnocchi in 10 minutes
I am not a kitchen Nazi. I also use short-cuts when I can or teach people how to make life easier and simpler. One of my favorite tricks in the kitchen I learned living here is to use instant mashed potatoes for gnocchi. I had bought some incredibly tender potato gnocchi in the grocery store…
Happier Notes- Tomato Season is Here
pomodori fiorentini- from Sicily My two loves go hand-in-hand. Florence and Sicily. The first lovely ripe tomatoes we get are from Sicily, land of volcanic soil and sun. These funny pumpkin shaped tomatoes are called Fiorentini and are the BEST for making a simple fabulous tomato sauce, Pomarola. Pomorola Tomato Sauce The inside of…
Special Pasta with Special Students
I love kitchen gadgets, who doesn’t? When I was on my way to Torino one year, we passed Chiaveri which is one of my favorite towns. I already wrote up the story about my visit to Franco, my master of Corzetti stamps. Everytime I make this recipe, I have remember the trip, what we ate and…
Charcutepalooza- February- Salt Cure
do you charcutepalooza? When they announed that the February project was the salt cure, perhaps I went a little wild. I did pancetta, the stesa style, which is most typical in Florence for cooking with. Then the bacon, i did not use pink salt, but did the sugar cure which was in the…