Italian Food and Wine Classifications What are all the Italian food and wine acronyms and classifications, what do they all mean and why do they matter anyhow? They are all part of how Italy protects its food and wine. In Episode 12 Michele Di Pietro from @mangiawithmichele and I chatted about Italian food labeling acronyms...
Italian
Pecorino Cheese: what is it anyway?
Pecorino cheese is any hard, semi-hard or fresh cheese that is made using sheep's milk. Seven pecorino cheeses have protected designation of origin status, or DOP, under the European union law. This means they’ve been aged upwards of 8 months and are a stagionato, pasta dura (hard) cheese. The Italian word for sheep is pecora,...
Traditional Italian Christmas Cookies and Holiday Desserts
Holiday baking is one of the cornerstones of the holiday season and many of us have recipes for traditional Italian Christmas cookies and desserts that stem from family and local traditions. Almost every single town and region throughout Italy has fabulous holiday recipes and many of these have been adapted by Italian Americans and Italian...
In-Person or Virtual Regional Italian Cooking Classes
Flavor of Italy's In-Person and Virtual Regional Italian Cooking Classes explore Italy’s various regional culinary traditions. Cooking classes can be tailor-made to explore a region of your choice in depth. Choose Tuscany with its hearty ribollita, roast game, fabulous Chianti wines. Or perhaps Sicily with its Arab and Greek influenced cuisine: couscous, bottarga, sarde beccafico,...
Puntarelle salad
Puntarelle or cicoria di catalogna (or cicoria asparago) is a variant of chicory. The heads are characterized by an elongated shape (about 40–50 cm), light green stems and dandelion shaped leaves. Puntarelle have a pleasantly bitter taste.Puntarelle appear on vegetable stands in late winter and throughout the spring. Puntarelle are picked when they are young...
Eggplant Parmesan
Eggplant Parmesan is one of my favorite dishes, and one I make a lot when we have our summer garden.You can roast or grill the eggplant, but it doesn't yield the same flavor and texture satisfaction that frying does.Everyone has a different idea on how to prepare eggplant for frying: peel or not, salt & drain first,...
Vignarola, a celebration of spring vegetables in Rome
Vignarola is a celebration of spring and tastes just like spring in a dish. Prepare it at that magical moment when winter turns to spring and artichokes are still in season but you’re heralding the arrival of fresh spring peas and fava beans.Make this dish vegetarian or add some umami-rich pancetta or guanciale to the...
Flavor of Italy Podcast chat with Tina Prestia
In this Flavor of Italy Podcast episode Tina Prestia from tinastable.com and I chatted about three classic Emilia Romagna regional recipes, classic versus tweaked recipes and a few ideas for your Easter table. A little bit about Tina Tina moved to Bologna some years back with her husband and daughter for what was going to...
Spaghetti Carbonara with Artichoke Wedges
The inspiration for this Spaghetti Carbonara with Artichoke Wedges recipe came from the March 2021 issue of the Italian culinary magazine, Sale e Pepe. I tweaked it to fit my own taste and it’s absolutely delicious. The addition of artichokes to the recipe takes it to another delicious level by adding seasonal globe artichokes. It’s...
Ossobuco alla Milanese
Ossobuco alla Milanese is one of my favorite recipes. It’s a special and flavorful dish and one that I love to serve to guests. Make sure to purchase the veal shanks from a great butcher!Ossobuco is most often associated with Milan and the Lombardy region and dates back to the Middle Ages. To prepare it...
Dark Chocolate Cake: fudgy and simple
Dark Chocolate Cake: fudgy and simple! I’m constantly on the hunt for delicious, easy to prepare dark chocolate layer cake that uses ingredients you almost always have on hand. So far my favorite is the flourless Torta Caprese but it’s also nice to have a great recipe for a classic rich dark chocolate layer cake....
A Food Guide to Le Marche Region
Last week James Martin and I chatted about our travels through the Le Marche region and in today’s episode we share the best of the region’s food and local recipes.The region has a long Adriatic coastline and inland it’s filled with rolling hills, mountains and delightful, curious villages each with their own unique dishes. Le...