It’s early spring but I’m already jumping ahead to the great summer fruit that’s soon to come. Plums are some of the first to appear – purple, red and yellow – and although they are delightful to eat on their own I especially love them in a plum tart. And we’re lucky to have our…
Summer
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…
Tomato Ricotta Tart
It’s that delightful time of the year when our vegetable garden is exploding and yielding scrumptious produce in spades. We always plant lots of varieties of tomatoes; it’s the true staple in Italian cuisine and we won’t settle for anything but the best in the tomato department. Our favorite snack is bread, tomato and olive…
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…
Delicious deep fried zucchini flowers
In our cooking classes students have the recipes in front of them, making various dishes, including how to clean and stuff zucchini flowers…without tearing the flowers. Students are always fascinated to see the difference between the male and female flowers and to realize that the anchovies in the stuffing are actually a lot tastier than…
Curried Eggplant Soup
Every summer my garden reaches the point where it’s so prolific that I can hardly keep up with it. I’m at that point of explosion right now. One of my favorite vegetables is eggplant; it has fabulous texture and flavor. It’s beautiful: from its deep purples to striated violet varieties; and round to thin and…
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…
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…