One of the most popular side dishes in Calabria is String Beans Stewed in Tomato Sauce or Fagiolini in umido.  The key to this very simple recipe is a good basic tomato sauce and fresh green beans (broad beans work as well).  This dish is a variation of our fried potato and broad bean recipe.  String beans in tomato sauce […]

Eating Well Equals Eating Simply It’s easy to assume that folks who love food eat wonderfully rich, complex, and exotic foods all the time.  After all, even your Facebook friends post pics of the fanciful foods they’re currently eating and the likes of Anthony Bourdain, Mike Colameco, and Guy Fieri eat luscious plates of roasted meats, glistening noodles, and fried delicacies like […]

The following Pagnotte di Enna recipe was adopted from theArtisan.net web site who adopted their recipe from the book, Scienza e Technologia della Panificazione by Prof. Giovanni Quaglia.  The actual 100% whole durum flour bread pictured above was made via our esteemed contributor, Dr. K.  In turn, this lovely recipe is many levels removed from Scordo but I, nonetheless, find […]

Making Bread “Under the Fire” The Italian word focacciameans “under the fire” and it shares many of the same traits as pizza.  However, focaccia is usually about 3/4 of an inch thick (versus the standard less than 1/2 inch thick pizza found in most parts of Italy) and is meant to be served at room temperature.  Focaccia is also prepared […]

Everyone should love frittata – the glorified egg dish that is easy to prepare, cheap, and has enough flavor to wake up a Calabrian from an afternoon nap in the middle of August.  Frittata can be prepared with herbs, vegetables, leftover pasta, and cheese.  In fact, the very best frittata recipes are comprised of any high quality leftover you may […]

(photo: courtesy of Dr. K; pita bread puffing up in the oven) In the spirit of spreading love on Valentine’s Day I’d like to share a wonderful bread recipe and guest post by way of Dr. K.  This week the super home cook made homemade pita and the results are outstanding, as usual.  While pita isn’t an Italian food product […]

By now, you must be tired of hearing how easy it is to prepare Italian food at home and you’re probably ready to drown me in extra virgin olive oil (that actually wouldn’t be a bad way to go as long as I had some good bread with me).  However, I woke up this morning with a cold chill running […]

(Photo: Courtesy of Dr. K., whole wheat and durum ciabatta) The importance of quality bread cannot be overstated and I’m convinced that access to the very best bread would cause a food revolution in the United States (how’s that for a shocking claim on a Tuesday afternoon).  Like pasta (or noodles) and beans, bread is a staple food product found […]

(photo: thanks to howtoeatlikeabird.com for providing the image) Fresh fish requires very little manipulation and (quality) whole fish can be roasted in the oven with olive oil, Kosher salt, and freshly cracked pepper (you can stuff the cavity of the fish with parsley and lemon slices if you want to get fancy).  Firm fleshed fish like cod, red snapper, sole, […]

For as long as I can remember my father has foraged for wild mushrooms both here in the United States and, of course, in Calabria.  And while my mother would use the mushrooms in pasta sauces and fried with bits of tomato and garlic it was the pickled mushrooms that drove (and continues to motivate) my father to acquire as many prized […]