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…
Vegan
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…
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…
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…
Chick peas with roasted red pepper, green onion and a hint of balsamic
One of the best ways to eat well and lose those extra pounds painlessly is by focusing on beans and whole grains. I happen to love both, so it’s not hard for me. So today I chose to have chick peas for lunch. There are really so many ways to prepare them; here’s one…
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 which…