The recipe for green onion and tomato fettuccine came about on a whim at the last minute. We went for our morning walk much later than expected, just before lunchtime. On the way home we stopped by our garden to see what, if anything, was left of last summer's produce. Oddly enough the long red...
Pasta
Ravioli Caprese
Ravioli Caprese have a pillowy, dumpling-like dough filled with mozzarella, caciotta cheese, eggs and fresh marjoram. They're unlike any other ravioli you've ever tried and if ravioli can melt in your mouth, they do! Ravioli Caprese are so distinctly different from any other ravioli because of the way the dough is made, along with its...
Stinging Nettle Fettuccine
Stinging Nettle Fettuccine is a gorgeous way to add color to fettuccine! Sometimes foraging happens purely by chance. Yesterday was one of those occasions when my husband and I went for a country walk in our neighborhood and came upon a huge amount of stinging nettle growing in a wooded area. Stinging nettle is not...
Homemade pasta: easy and fun to make!
No dish is more quintessentially Italian than homemade pasta. It can be long, short, filled or cut small to use in soup. There are also pastas that use a variety of whole grain flours, water instead of eggs, or hot water and butter instead of eggs. Despite innumerable variations, this classic homemade pasta recipe is perfect as the...
Radiatori Pasta with Zucchini, Cherry Tomatoes, Ricotta & Fresh Mint
Radiatori Pasta with Ricotta, Zucchini, Tomatoes & Mint We’re moving into late spring and pasta dishes are already starting to take on a light and fresh twist. Not too terribly far south of Rome there are already some luscious tomatoes and tender zucchini available. And our mint plants are exploding with leaves, just begging to...
Pumpkin & Pecan Ravioli in a Brown Butter Sauce
Pumpkin ravioli are one of the tastiest pasta dishes! They herald the arrival of fall and the holiday season. This year we didn't plant pumpkins so I wasn't expecting to prepare the abundance of pumpkin dishes we usually do: soups, risottos, pasta dishes, pies and breads. And yet it ended up to be quite a prolific...
Rigatoni with Smoked Salmon & Mascarpone
My husband is retired now which means most of the time he's home for lunch. I'm usually the food preparer and find myself in a quandary at lunchtime. When I'm on my own its leftovers, salad, something simple. But Maurizio loves his pasta for lunch so that's what I make. I try to keep it...
How to Make Homemade Pasta
On our way home this morning we stopped to visit some neighbors and before we left they gave us a precious gift; five freshly laid eggs. So I decided to use two of them to make fettuccine for our lunch. How to make homemade pasta: The recipe for pasta is simple: 100 grams of flour...
Pappardelle with funghi porcini
Pappardelle with funghi porcini: they lend themselves well to a long, and wider, pasta shape like this. Fettuccine work well too, but also a shorter pasta like rigatoni, penne and my current favorite. Funghi porcini are best fresh but they also freeze well for future use. Pappardelle with funghi porcini (four people): Ingredients:Pasta, 400 grams...
Arugula Ravioli
At yesterday's cooking class we made arugula ravioli and frankly it's a brilliant use of this bitter green that is used most frequently in salads. Give them a try, they're marvelous! INGREDIENTSFor the pasta:600 grams (1 ⅓ pounds) durum, hard grain wheat flour6 eggsFor the filling:300 grams (11.5 ounces) ricotta100 grams (3 ½ ounces) grated...
Linguine with Shrimp, Tomato and Zucchini
One of my favorite dishes that allows me to use the abundance of zucchini from my garden is Linguine with Shrimp, Tomato and Zucchini. It's simple to make; follow your personal taste and instincts when making it. The potato ricer is a must for preparing this dish. You miss out on lots of flavor if...
Penne with Cherry Tomato Sauce & Fried Eggplant
Penne with Cherry Tomato Sauce & Fried Eggplant...this happens to be one of my all time favorite pasta dishes and when the garden is producing plenty of fresh tomatoes and eggplants it's the time to go for it! The dish reminds me of the classic Sicilian dish, Pasta alla Norma. The main difference is that...
