I was inspired to do a simple recipe by a fotograph taken of the panic in the local grocery stores around Italy with the Corona Virus scare. The circle is around the Penne Lisce pasta, obviously not a favorite with many people. Italians are fanatics about what sauce goes with what shape of pasta and…
Feast of the Seven Fishes by Daniel Paterna |Book Review
I received a copy Feast of the Seven Fishes by Daniel Paterna to review for my site. As you know, I am not Italian American, but have been living now longer in Italy than I lived in the USA. In Italian years, I am 35. I always hear people complain when coming to Tuscany, that…
Feast of the Seven Fishes- Cacciucco
I have heard from so many of my Italian American friends about the Feast of the Seven fishes for Christmas Eve, but no one in Florence has ever heard about it. Like many Italian American traditions, they came with the immigrants and found new life in the USA. Regional Italian cooking, would trace that recipe…
Sicilian Swordfish Polpette – Fish balls
What do you call meatballs made from fish? Fishballs? Italy simplifies things, polpette are small balls of minced anything, bound with an egg, seasoned and fried. When I am in Sicily, we tour the Capo food market in Palermo and stop and enjoy lunch at a small trattoria run by a fish shop. As part…
Simply Divina- Sicilian Swordfish
Swordfish is a beginner’s fish. One of the least fishy and more meaty fishes. There are some recipes which just grab you the first time you eat them and remain in your memory. This is one of them. When we go to Cantina Siciliana for our cooking class, Pino is more than generous to share…
Pesce Finto- Fake Fish
Pesce Finto, fake fish is on my list of favorite recipes that I learned from my mother-in-law, Tina. It is one I love to teach kids of all ages. Fabulous for parties, inexpensive and flavorful. She served it in a bowl. Italy is surrounded by water, but in Florence we rarely eat fresh fish. They…
Tuscan summer dishes
As the city empties, locals fleeing to the beaches leaving towns to the tourists, I enjoy the silence that comes from the lack of traffic. Walking through villages it is common to see an older person, in the cool of their house, perhaps too old to go with the family to the beach, watching the…
Puglia….Tiella with mussels
I LOVE PUGLIA Last trip we visited the more famouse towns, Lecce, Alberobello with it’s trulli, Ostuni and Otranto. This year I wanted to see the other side. We headed over to Gallipoli and our trip was cut short due to my bad back….. but Egullet is talking about the cuisine of Puglia and I…