Here in Tuscany, the temperature has dropped and it’s time for soup. Most people think that Italians eat pasta all the time for lunch and dinner, but Florentines are big fans of soups. Minestrina, Brodo, Minestrone, Pappa al Pomodoro, Ribollita, and lots of soups with beans. The list is endless. Today I am celebrating our…
Water Salad from Puglia- Acqua Sale
It’s been so hot this month that cooking has been a real sacrifice. I try to wait until it cools down enough and to find recipes that are quick and easy or something I can stick in the oven or stove top and walk away. Since losing all work when Covid broke out, I was…
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…
Artichokes- Leaf to Stalk
I hate waste. We often talk about nose-to-tail cooking meat, but as an ex-vegetarian, often what we clean away from a vegetable is wasted. Last spring, while cleaning fava beans, the bag of the pods was much larger than the bowl I had of the tiny fava beans. I began to do research. In one…
Ingredients- Radicchio Variegato Bean Soup
When I meet someone from a different region in Italy, I always love for them to share a recipe with me. Some of the simplest recipes and my favorites are home cooking. Sitting at the Dario+ restaurant for a burger at lunch, as I often do, we were seated next to a family from Verona….
Zuppa di Ceci e Farro con ‘Nduja
This year nature is taking revenge around the world. We had horrible storms and flooding again in Florence a few weeks back and this week a cyclone hit Sardegna. What makes it all worse is the over building of homes in the wrong places, as soon as a storm comes, the land no longer holds…
Old pasta– new to me
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…
My Chianti- Chilly days, warm soup
When September comes to Chianti, I go to Chianti too! The wine harvest fills the air with drunken perfume, too strong to ignore. Grape must fermenting , sends me spinning every breath. Indian summer skies with a light that explains why so may great artists came and stayed. A new color palate is required. As…