The first year we made homemade blackberry jam Maurizio picked the berries and I did the cooking and canning. Blackberries have so many seeds which we find unpleasant in jams and tarts so I decided to remove them. It’s a laborious, time consuming task and I cursed myself the whole way through making the jam…
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Bread and Tomato Appetizer
Bread and Tomato is just about the easiest and most delicious of all appetizers. If truth be told we have it just about every night while we prepare dinner, and often at lunchtime too. The key to preparing a delicious Bread and Tomato appetizer is simple: high quality ingredients! It sounds obvious, doesn’t it? Just…
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
One of the best loved cakes worldwide is undoubtedly Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing. Beyond the fact that the flavor is divine it’s simple to make as it can be done entirely in a food processor. And if a cake can be nutritional Carrot Cake is right up there as it’s laden with carrots….
Lemon Lavender Cake
Lemon Lavender Cake Serves 8-12 This cake is a great way to use fresh, seasonal lemons and lavender. You can never go wrong with a lemon cake and the delicate hint of lavender adds something unique and magical to this dessert. It also makes a beautiful presentation when topped with a few sprigs of fresh…
Chicken and Apricot Tagine with Prunes and Preserved Lemons
This summer our apricot tree yielded hundreds of apricots. We made the usual jam and froze some, but I decided to experiment with some new ideas. Chutney and apricot gelato were great successes, but my favorite by far was this Chicken and Apricot Tagine with Prunes and Preserved Lemons. Usually dried apricots are used in…
Ciambellone Breakfast Pound Cake with Fresh Blueberries
Most Italians have a go-to coffee bar for their breakfast: usually an espresso or cappuccino and a cornetto (a croissant). If you get to the bar on the late side you might find you’re out of luck on the pastry side. You’ll almost always find the bar’s homemade ciambellone, which is quite similar to a…
Corzetti Pasta
What are corzetti? I love making unusual pasta shapes and forms and one of my favorites are corzetti, a disk shaped pasta with an imprinted design; the below corzetti have a giglio fiorentino (fleur de lis) design. The Encyclopedia of Pasta, by Oretta Zanini de Vita and masterfully translated into English by Maureen B. Fant, dedicates a…
Orecchiette with Spicy Baby Calamari
Orecchiette with Spicy Baby Calamari When our now 31-year-old daughter was an infant we started spending our summers in Sperlonga at the seaside home of a delightful Italian family of contadini (farmers). Although already well into retirement age this couple still dedicated their days to their vegetable garden, lemon orchard, chickens and many plants on…
Ricotta and Pear Filled Pasta Sacks
Pears are delicious when in season; I adore baked pears and pear tarts but my favorite by far are these delicious ricotta and pear filled pasta sacks. I first tasted these ricotta and pear filled pasta sacks at one of our favorite restaurants, located in the northern Lazio hill town, Civitá Castellana. We’ve not been…
Steamed Cauliflower Florets with a Balsamic, Caper & Anchovy Dressing
For those of you who live in Italy, or have visited Italy, you will surely have noticed how delicious the vegetables are on restaurant antipasto tables. The vegetables are served at room temperature…the ideal temperature for flavor to come out to its fullest. Sometimes it’s hard to tell exactly what flavoring restaurateurs have used because…
Pasta alla Carbonara
Pasta alla Carbonara is a delectable and quite simple pasta dish that is a cornerstone of the Roman cuisine. There’s not a restaurant in Rome that doesn’t serve it. Follow these simple tips and it’ll be perfect every time! One of the key ingredients in Pasta alla Carbonara is guanciale (pork jowl) which adds amazing…
Fennel, Orange & Olive Salad
There’s nothing like the fresh crunchy flavor of fennel bulbs and they’re a perfect ingredient in this fennel, sliced orange and olive salad. I put fennel in just about any kind of salad; use a to slice fennel paper thin for your salad. Fennel tends to turn brown so toss the fennel slices in…