The poor eggplant, melanzane in Italian; from mela–non sana, “not healthy apple”. The eggplant, like the potatoes, bell peppers and chili peppers are edible nightshade vegetables. When these foods were first introduced into the Italian diet, the first reaction was that they were not good for you and were often planted for their flowers in…
Market Day Recipes
I am really blessed. I lived in front of Florence’s Central Market for 20 years while running my cooking school Divina Cucina and since closing the school in Florence and moving out to the countryside while I finally got my book published, I now have 2 market days in my village of Certaldo. I first…
My favorite side dish!
When you are planning your BBQ for the 4th of July or the next summer party, try making these sweet and sour onions as a side dish and stand back and receive the compliments! Tiny pearl onions are cooked in an infusion of water with sugar and vinegar. I like to add a little chili…
Celebrating the Season- Summer Soltice
A sure sign summer has arrived is the appearance of sun-ripened tomatoes to make Pomarola, simple tomato sauce. To celebrate, yesterday I picked up my first kilo of Fiorentini, a local heirloom tomato for sauce. The best flavor and consistency for sauce comes from these kind of tomatoes. One does not make sauce from salad…
How do I love thee- let me count the recipes!
They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Nowhere is that more true than in Italy! When I want to show my husband how much I care, there are certain recipes I will make for him, some of them are the recipes his mother taught me that are family favorites. But…
Sicilian Involtini
Here is what I had for dinner last night. I often think that Italian cooking has a bad rap, for taking a long time to make. Actually, short prep and long cooking are great! These beef rolls, which I learned in Castelvetrano at the cooking class we went to at the Becchina Estate, take little…
A small gift for Pigging out in 2009- Porchetta
For those of us who don’t want to try to get whole hog or even a half a hog to make porchetta, here is a smaller home version I do using pork belly, known as pancetta in Italy. Not the pancetta which is already cured like bacon, but meaning just “the belly”, la pancia. I adore…
Why I make Bollito Misto- simple and satisfying
As I have written before, I always make the Bollito Misto for Andrea for Christmas, mostly for the wonderful soul warming broth which we serve several ways, first with tortellini and a dusting of parmesan cheese. This year I also bought some Passatelli, an extruded “paste” which cooks in the broth, served in Emilia Romagna….