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…
Comfort Food- Bollito Misto
This recipe was from my old website as part of a newsletter for Andrea’s Xmas Dinner. My husband loves tradition and this is one that also saves me time and takes very little actual cooking time to prepare and feeds us for several meals. This is true comfort food. For Christmas we serve tortellini…
Ballotte-Stewed Tuscan Chestnuts
When the chestnuts come out you know the temperature has gotten chilly and we have broken out the down comforter, put the mattress heater on the bed (called scaldasogno) and turned the heat on in the house. The grapes have been harvested and driving past the wineries you can get drunk smelling the wine fermenting….
Make Soup not War
It is hard to think about fun things when the world has been attacked. First Beirut and now Paris. Daily I read about shootings in USA which kill more people than these “terrorist” attacks. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD. I try not to bring politics into my blog, but I am feeling sick to…
Truffled Farro Salad-Chicchi
Ages ago on a trip down to Umbria, we stayed in a castle hotel run by locals that has restored the abandoned castle. We dined there one night. Chef Donatella Lauteri, the young wizard in the kitchen, shared this incredible recipe with me ,warm truffled farro (spelt) salad. She called it Chicchi, little kernals. …
Seasonal Recipes- Grapes
This summer was killer hot. The hottest summer in 30 years. It wouldn’t be so bad if Italians used ice in their drinks and liked air conditioning. For me, just a little too extreme! But, August 15 is the breaking point almost always. It is a national holiday, based on a religious celebration, which are…
A Taste of Puglia- Plic/Plac
I have been going down to Puglia for about 8 years, each time researching new areas and looking for places to organize culinary weeks. I finally put it all together and created something special for a group of women that met on one of my Chianti Kitchen weeks and enjoyed each others company so much…
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…