Cibreo's Yellow Pepper Soup

Years ago when my daughter was studying in Florence, I had a transformative dining experience there. I ate at Cibrèo. That first dinner at Cibrèo stayed with me forever, so when my brother-in-law and sister-in-law invited me to be their guests at a villa in Florence this month, I knew Cibrèo also had to be in my future. After eating dinner at Cibrèo twice in the last two weeks, I'm happy to

Calamarata

It's fun to try new pasta shapes, especially when they mimic the main ingredients you're pairing with the pasta. In this case, it's calamarata, which closely resemble the calamari, or squid, that I cooked with them. In the past, it was nearly impossible to find calamarata here in the states, but nowadays, I have seen it not only in Philadelphia and New York, but even in my hometown of Princeton,

Amaretti Crostata

This may look like a drab, brown tart, but I assure you, once you try it, you'll be licking the plate clean. You're familiar with the crostata - a tart made with jam that's a standard dessert in any Italian housewife's repertoire. This one takes it a step further, adding amaretti cookies and almonds and some liqueur to the mix. The recipe comes from my friend Lilli, who got it from a cookbook tha

Raw Artichoke Salad

Raw artichokes? Yes, raw artichokes. Cast aside those thoughts of chewing through cardboard. That might be the case if you used regular artichokes. But this salad is made with baby artichokes - the ones that measure only about three inches long and are in markets right now. Even so, you can't just bite right into these artichokes. They do look a bit foreboding with those prickly leaves, don'

The Cheesecake Chronicles

The perfect hairdresser and the perfect cheesecake recipe are two things that I can never seem to find. I keep trying one after the other, and while I have found some good ones, something's always missing. So I keep searching - and trying. Naturally, when I saw a cheesecake recipe at the end of a post from one of my favorite bloggers - Mozzarella Mamma - a American journalist who works in Rome -

Quick and Easy Manicotti

I'm a big fan of manicotti, including the ones that use a crepe batter as the wrapper, like the ones I posted years ago here. But my favorite are the ones made of pasta, like the ones in the photo above. You can make your own pasta or go the easy route, as I did, and buy some packaged fresh lasagna sheets at the grocery store. For the stuffing, I would normally use a mixture of chopped spinach an

Torta Della Nonna

Torta della nonna is one of those iconic desserts that every Italian grandmother has in her repertoire. After all, it consists of not much more than two layers of pasta frolla with pastry cream in the middle and pine nuts on top. But put those simple ingredients together in a tart and suddenly it feels like Spring. Ok, so maybe the sounds of birds chirping outside my window has cheered me too.&nb

Rana Pastificio

 When I lived in Italy, I never made homemade pasta because I had Giovanni Rana -- the eponymous fresh pasta brand, that is. After eating a primo piatto of brodo with exquisitely delicious tortellini at my friend Clo's home near Rome, I was dumbfounded to learn that the pasta came from the supermarket. They were the next best thing to homemade and became a staple in my Trastevere kitchen.&nb

Food, Writing, Intimacy

Caveat: This post contains no recipes, but there will be plenty of food for thought here.One of the best things about living in Princeton is the access to events at the university, including a lecture yesterday on "Food, Writing, Intimacy." It was standing room only, as some of my favorite writers and chefs spoke on a topic near and dear to them (and me). In the photo above, from left to right, a

Rosemary Flatbreads

 This is going to be trouble. When I spotted these flatbreads a few weeks ago on the blog Marcellina in Cucina, they immediately reminded me of what's heaped in a basket at you sit down to eat at Cafe Fiorello, a New York City restaurant across the street from Lincoln Center. I've munched on that basket of flatbreads dozens of times over the years before heading to the opera or ballet b

Zeppole di San Giuseppe

The feast of Saint Joseph is celebrated on March 19 throughout Italy and the feast wouldn't be complete without zeppole de San Giuseppe, sometimes called sfinge or bigné. Italy also celebrates Father's Day on March 19 as well as Saint Joseph, spouse of the blessed Virgin Mary.The zeppole are round to symbolize the family and are made with the same dough that's used for cream puffs. They can

Baked Fennel Two Ways

 If you wait long enough, everything comes into fashion -- even culinarily speaking. I grew up eating things that most Americans had never tried, much less heard of, and today they're as common on restaurant menus and home kitchens as hamburgers and French fries. Think of squid, polenta, broccoli rape and fennel, to name a few. Fennel was always on our holiday table, and even now, I can pict

Olive Oil Biscotti

Unless you've been living in a cave somewhere, the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, with its emphasis on olive oil, has been all over the news lately. Olive oil has so many beneficial uses, from culinary to skin care, that it makes sense to reach for it whenever you can. Which is why I decided to come up with a recipe for olive oil biscotti, my favorite all-time cookie.And why not use my favor

Scallops in Blood Orange Sauce

They're still out there folks -- blood oranges that is. I don't know for how much longer though, so try this before the season is gone. It's so quick and easy to make but tastes like something you'd pay a lot of money for in a fancy restaurant. You can use regular oranges if you like, but of course you won't get that striking red color that contrasts so beautifully against the scallops. This

Sauerkraut and Roast Pork

Spring isn't that far away, but old man winter is definitely making his presence known here in the northeast U.S. and many other states. Even though it was summertime when I first tasted this sauerkraut recipe, to me this dish says "winter." I never liked sauerkraut until I tried this recipe by my dear friend Alessandra, who died two years ago. It must be nearly thirty years since my family

Avocado-Beet-Blood Orange Salad

It's that short period of time when blood oranges are in season and I can't get enough of this beautiful citrus fruit. Of course, you can squeeze it and have yourself a perfectly delicious glass of sweet juice, but I love to use it in savory recipes too. When arranged on a plate with some chioggia beets, avocado and radishes, it makes a colorful, flavorful and healthy salad - just the right thing

Broccoli Raab, Rape et al

This vegetable goes by many monikers, both here and in Europe. Most Americans call it broccoli raab or broccoli rabe (pronouncing it "rahb.") I've always know it as broccoli rape (pronounced "RAH-pay") as Italians call it. But it's also called cima di rapa, rapini, and sometimes broccolini or broccoletti. Who knew that this delicious vegetable, a staple of Chinese diets as well as Mediterranean o

Pasta with Shrimp and Romesco Sauce

  If you're familiar with romesco sauce, you know it's from the Catalonia region of Spain, and it's frequently served as an accompaniment to fish, chicken or lamb. The recipe always includes roasted red peppers, but there are umpteen variations when it comes to the rest of the ingredients. Some include tomatoes, some not; some include almonds, some not. Think of it as a Spanish version

Hazelnut Ricotta Pear Cake

There are times I wish I didn't like cakes, cookies and other desserts -- especially when I'm shopping for jeans or a bathing suit. There are times I wish I could say "no" and finish the meal with a piece of fruit -- basta.  But then there are times when a recipe like this comes along and I cave in to my predilection.  I mean come on, look at that luscious concoction. Could you resist a

Making Bigoli With Dad

When it comes to kitchen heirlooms, I've inherited more than my share of cool stuff that was used by my ancestors, both here and in Italy. I've got hand-carved wooden spoons used by my paternal grandmother to stir kettles of tomato paste and melting lard; an anolini cutter that my maternal grandmother in Italy employed when she made the traditional pasta of her region; and a 75 year-old enor

Some Enchanted Evening

Wake me if you must, but it's been nearly three days and I'm still dreaming about Saturday night's dinner with "The Glorious Friends of Abruzzo," prepared in my kitchen by Joe Cicala, chef at Philadelphia's Le Virtù restaurant -- the same restaurant named yesterday by Zagat one of the "hottest Italian restaurants in the U.S." "How did this happen?" people have been asking. "Can I be one of t

Almost "No-Stir" Polenta and Mushroom Ragù

With daytime temperatures dipping to below freezing here in the Northeast U.S., it's time for heartier foods. Yea, I know, you're all sated from rich holiday foods, but if there's one thing I can't resist during cold weather, it's a heaping plate of polenta - with cheese, with sausages or in this case, with mushroom ragù. It's featured on many of the menus along the mountain huts in Italy where s

Bagna Cauda

If there's one dish that's typical of Italy's Piedmont region, it's bagna cauda, sometimes spelled "caôda." Although bagna means "bath" in the Italian language, in the Piemontese dialect, it means sauce; hence bagna caudo translates to "warm sauce." Along with a glass or two of wine, it's the perfect way to warm up during the cold winter months. The origins of the dish are a mystery, but it was t

Bicerin

 Fontina cheese, barolo wine, grissini -- all products from Piedmont, Italy that are as ubiquitous here in the U.S. as pierogi in Poland or chopsticks in China. But this drink - bicerin (pronounced bee-cheh-REEN - and roll that "r") - synonymous with the city of Torino  - is rarely found here in the states or even in other places in Italy. I'm not sure why because it's an unforgettable

Stuffed Onions at Osteria Battaglino

 Have you ever eaten stuffed onions baked in their skin? Me either. I would never have thought to bake it this way - covered in a salt crust, then emptied out and filled with a mixture of ground beef, chopped onion and oozing raschera, a local cheese from Italy's Piedmont region. I ate this, along with other truly memorable dishes, at a restaurant called Osteria Battaglino, a small family ow

Kir Royale and Champagne

With New Year's Eve approaching, you'll most likely be breaking open some champagne, but instead of pouring a simple glass of the bubbly, why not have a Kir Royale, a festive drink made with champagne and crème de cassis, a sweet, dark liqueur made from black currants. I never drank a Kir Royale until my trip to Paris this fall, when I made up for all those decades of neglect.  I even went o

Involtini di Pesce Spada (swordfish rollups)

Christmas eve is the one night of the year when my family's table is laden with fish - everything from spaghetti with mixed shellfish, to baccala' cakes, to stuffed squid and lots more. We never called it the "Feast of the Seven Fishes" because we never counted. My mom just served fish - and plenty of it. The first time I went to Italy, I found it odd that my relatives there in the north don't re

Torino and Salone Del Gusto

Enough with the macarons, the tarte tatin and the tapenade. It's time for me to get back to Italy, and I did just that in late October and early November. Immediately following my trip to France, I took a train to Torino (Turin) to revisit one of my favorite Italian cities and spend some time in the exquisitely beautiful countryside of Piedmont, where this picture was taken. I have plenty of post

Remembering

Making Macarons

You're looking at a box of colorful macarons on a park bench. They didn't come from a fancy shop. Mais non, I made them. In Paris. And I may never make them again. They are as fussy to make as you might imagine, and now I know why they cost nearly $4 each at the Lâdurée store in New York.  I signed up for a morning of macaron making at "Cook'n With Class," a cooking school in Montmartre

A Perfect Filet Mignon

Christmas came a little early at my house this year. A few weeks ago, a package containing this high quality cookware was sitting outside my front door. The folks from BlueStar, a company from Reading, Pennsylvania that also manufactures top quality stoves and ranges for commercial and home use, asked me to review their cookware. After first reading about their products online, I was happy t

Italian Rum Cake

When I was younger and there was a special occasion -- a wedding, a christening, a bocce banquet (yes, I went to one of those and sat next to "Lefty") -- there was always a multi-layered Italian rum cake. As a kid, it didn't appeal to me, but as an adult, I think it's got to be one of my favorite desserts. All the essential ingredients are there -- a tender cake to bite into, chocolate and vanill

A "Whelk-come" Fish Soup

Part of the joy of traveling to foreign countries is sampling foods you don't normally eat every day. This fish soup is one of them. When I'm traveling, I'm likely to choose fish at a restaurant -- anything from waterzooi in Belgium, brodetto in Italy, or crab soup in Maryland. A lot of times I think I'm being virtuous by staying away from a fat-laden steak, but truth be told, I make up for the c

Angelina's Chocolat Africain

Come on....You know you want it. Even if you haven't spent the last hour shoveling the driveway. Even if you hid the leftover pumpkin pie and ate it secretly over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Because this isn't just any hot chocolate. This is Angelina's chocolat l'Africain.  This is why they line up in Paris across the Louvre at the eponymous cafe on the rue di Rivoli. The choco

Spiced Persimmon Cake

If you've never eaten a persimmon, they're in supermarkets for a short time only, so give them a try before the season is over. There are many varieties of persimmons, and they fall into either the "astringent" variety, like Hachiya persimmons, or the "non astringent" variety, like the Fuju. Persimmons taste sweet and delicious when perfectly ripe, but if you bite into one before it's n

Tapanade in Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Got your Thanksgiving menu all planned? How about throwing a little French curve ball before the meal and making a tapanade appetizer? It's a classic olive paste frequently served in Provence with toasted bread. It's also great as a condiment alongside fish or chicken. Its name is derived from the Provençal word for capers, or tapenas, because capers are an essential ingredient in the recipe

Tarte Tatin in Provence

It's hard not to fall in love with Provence. Spend some time there and you'll be enchanted by the picturesque villages, the delicious array of foods and wines and the magnificent scenery. I recently returned from a wine-tasting and photography trip through Provence, organized by Wendy Jaeger of Bliss Travels. Erase from your mind any thoughts of leaders waving small banners to corral a passel of

Give Us This Day

Our daily bread. Simple things like food and shelter and heat that I take for granted, but I find myself thinking about more and more in the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy. I live in the hurricane's path and had little or no damage to my house, other than an inconvenient power outage for a few days. I was in Europe and returned home shortly after my neighborhood's power was res

Hurricane Sandy

Like much of New Jersey, my home was without power for several days as Hurricane Sandy came barreling through Princeton like a raging monster, scattering limbs and destruction along her path. Trees that stood several stories high toppled over like building blocks. This one, whose roots uplifted, crashed into a house across the street - another pummeled a car at the end of the bloc

Cranberry Squares

Looking for something sweet and seasonal that comes together quickly and tastes great? This cranberry cake fits the bill. My neighbor Polly gave me a slice of this a while back and I could have sworn it had almond paste in the recipe. But no, it's almond extract and the rich taste comes from the butter - 1 1/2 sticks of butter. I served it in small pieces at a reception recently, but you can

Butternut Squash Bread Pudding

 The headline is a misnomer. I should have called it Butternut Squash, Mushroom, Sausage and Kale Bread Pudding. But that was a mouthful - granted, it's a good mouthful, but too long for a title of this recipe. Anyway, it's that time of year when butternut squash is abundant -- a vegetable that just screams "fall." I love it in soups, simply baked with olive oil and salt, or gussied up in la

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

There was a time decades ago when I would make poppy seed cake using a cake mix; and -- ok I fess up -- Harvey Wallbanger cake using a cake mix; and lots of other concoctions using cake mixes that I wouldn't think of doing today. Except this one.  While I long ago moved past those commercial products and have prepared my own cakes from scratch for years, this cake mix holds a spot near and d

Frittatine

These appetizers get the award for cuteness. And they taste great too. It's a simple frittata made with spaghetti and cooked in a mini-muffin tin, then topped with a little pesto and tomato sauce. A friend named Diana found these on the blog "Foodalogue" and offered them at a recent reception. They were gone quicker than you can say "frittatine," a word that means more than one small fr

Squash and The Columbian Exchange

OK, you may be wondering "What's The Columbian Exchange?" And what's it got to do with this recipe of couscous and butternut squash? Well, for those of you in the U.S., it's Columbus Day today. Now I know there's a huge controversy surrounding the Italian explorer's trips to the Western hemisphere and the "discovery" of America. But this is a blog about food and travel, so I steer clear of geopol

Per Se Perfection

Dear Mr. Keller - I would like to thank you sincerely for opening Per Se, the East coast satellite of your Yountville, California restaurant "The French Laundry."  Sure, it's taken me a while to get here, given that Per Se opened in 2004. Until now, the closest I've gotten was a goodie bag from your restaurant given to me by my son a few years ago. But now, having finally dined at Per Se&nbs

Eggplant and Pasta Timballo

 Looking for a way to use up some of that late summer eggplant in a show-stopping presentation? This eggplant timballo fits the bill, and it's much easier to make that you'd think. Imagine the surprise on your guests' faces when you slice into this, unveiling the pasta interior. Some of my blogger friends - Rowena and Marie - have also posted similar recipes and I always find inspi

From the Grill: Pasta with clams

 While there's still some summer weather left for a short while, and grape tomatoes are still ripening on the vine, here's a chance to put the grill to a little more use. Everything is cooked outdoors -- even the water for the pasta is boiled on a separate burner beside the main grill. I place aluminum foil pans directly on the grill. At left, I've got clams cooking. In the one on the right,

Zucchini Crostata

 As much as I love stuffing those globe zucchini growing in my garden, it was time for a change and Panini Girl gave me just the inspiration I needed for those cute little green orbs. Yes, you can make this with the regular long zucchini too, but you'll need to line up a couple of rows of zucchini slices, rather than one overlapping disc as you see in the above photo.Roll out the p

Lemony Fig Olive Oil Cake

 I know, I know. I just posted a grilled fig pizza, but figs are still in the market for a short time, and for those of you with fig trees, you may be up to your ears in these sensuous beauties and looking for ways other than fig pizza or fig jam to make use of them. This lemony olive oil cake will not disappoint. It's the best version of an olive oil cake I've ever eaten (caveat - it does c

Grilled Pizza with Figs and Other Delights

Whoever thought of making pizza on the grill deserves a medal from the culinary medal committee. The grill can get much hotter than my inside oven, delivering that crunchy, nearly burnt crust that's so loved and so authentic. I've made it several times in the past, always placing the pizza dough directly on the grates. This time, I wanted to heat up my pizza stone on the grill and toss the dough