It's winter vegetable season again and Oven Roadted Brussels sprouts are one of my favorites! There are many wonderful ways to prepare them but they all stem around some variety of roasting which gives them their nutty, delicious flavor. Boiling and steaming are a no-no as this brings out a metallic, unpleasant flavor. Stick with...
Vegan
Preserved Lemons
I first tried preserved lemons last spring in San Francisco and loved them immediately. What attracted me to preserved lemons was finally having a new recipe to help me use the dozens upon dozens of lemons our trees produce every year. I love limoncello, who doesn't, but we make it every year. I'm always racking my brain to come up...
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...
Ginger Carrot Cake
Carrot cake is a universally loved cake by all. Carrot cake, zucchini bread or other desserts made from vegetables are not typically Italian, but once they taste these sweets they become instant converts.I'm in a ginger phase right now: I'm drinking ginger tisanas, making ginger scones, cookies and cakes. And I've always loved Thai and...
Merangola Orange Bruschetta
Yesterday Isabella della Ragione's book, L'Occhio Ammira e Rimane Incantato, was presented in Terni. Isabella Dalla Ragione has spent her career as an agronomist protecting rare fruit tree varietals, many that she and her father located and began to propagate with care. Together they dedicated their time to scouring the Italian countryside searching out these rare...
Roast Sunflower Seeds
Last year I decided to take a day trip in search of fields of sunflowers to capture some great photographs. Our timing was off and in the end we missed the season. We swore to each other that we wouldn't miss the season this year so in June I started scoping out sunflowers. About ten...
Wild Spinach (Lambsquarter) Pappardelle
The fields behind our house are a veritable forager's dream. Last weekend we spent all day Saturday enjoying the prolonged Indian summer we've been having in Rome this October. As we walked along we managed to pick a variety of greens for a misticanza salad. We also picked bunches and bunches of wild spinach...
