Pasta all’Amatriciana Recipe Given the recent earthquake centered in and around the town and comunes of Amatrice in the province of Rieti, in northern Lazio, we thought we’d post our recipe for Pasta all’Amatriciana which is referred to as Sugo all’amatriciana or alla matriciana. This traditional Italian pasta sauce is made everywhere in the Lazio region near Roma and is based on […]

Our linguine with shrimp scampi recipe is a slight variation on pasta with clam sauce.  The dish starts with the best shrimp you can find (avoid farm raised shrimp if you can), lots of sliced garlic, tomato paste, fresh parsley, red pepper flakes, and copious amounts of extra virgin olive oil.  We also like to dice the uncooked shrimp into […]

March 20th marked the first day of Spring in the US (the 21st in Italy) and with the passing of the winter season comes renewed food ambitions.  Our Penne with Peas, Onions, and Pecorino Romano is an ode to Spring and your waiting taste-buds. In our view, peas have two food soul-mates; that is, fish and pasta.  On the pasta pairing […]

We are great fans of the baked pasta concept and whether it’s lasagna, pasta al forno, or cannelloni we can’t imagine a better way to prepare pasta.  However, baked pasta requires two steps; namely, cooking the pasta and thereafter  baking the pasta along with cheese, ricotta, tomato sauce, etc.  If a two step pasta dish isn’t in your playbook or […]

As our fans know and understand we’re big believers in from scratch cooking but we’re also food pragmatist; that is to say, we understand that homemade food can, at times, be semi-homemade.  Case in point, is a wonderful semi fresh pasta from the Italian company Giovanni Rana.  Giovanni Rana, a 50-year old Italian pasta company with an excellent reputation in […]

Pasta Alla Norma or Pasta with Eggplant, Tomato Sauce, and Ricotta is perhaps the most popular pasta dish to emanate from Sicily.  Pasta alla Norma dates back to the 19th century and the legend goes that it was so popular that it was named after Sicilian composer Bellini’s successful opera Norma to honor both the dish and the opera (according to […]

How to Make Light and Tender Homemade Gnocchi Making gnocchi, or potato pasta, can appear difficult or daunting but like making standard homemade pasta the process is fairly straightforward if you keep a few tips in mind.  For example, if you use starchy potatoes (along with the glutten from the flour) the dough will hold very well.  Further you should […]

When it comes to Fettuccine Alfredo (Fettuccine al Triplo Burro) one ingredient separates the dish as it’s prepared in the United States versus Italy; viz., cream.  The original dish was created (or popularized) by Alfredo di Lelio when he supposedly tried to cook something satisfying for his pregnant wife.  Alfredo created a sauce of butter and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and the dish was enjoyed by both his wife,and later, the many […]

To say that the sea is important to the Province of Calabria would be a considerable understatement.  In fact, the sea is probably the single most important geographical attribute in all of southern Italy where, in some places, it’s a little over 30 miles from one side of the peninsula to the other; e.g., from the Tyhrrenian to the Ionian in Calabria. […]

We’re big fans of the classic eggplant pasta dish pasta alla norma but when we have a big appetite and are craving a pasta dish that is slightly more substantive we turn to our Eggplant Bolognese recipe prepared with large rigatoni. Eggplant Bolognese is a meal in and of itself and combines delicate pieces of fried eggplant with satisfying ground beef and tomato […]