(photo: courtesy of Dr. K., whole wheat bread toasted with a pesto and sun dried tomato topping) One of the most attractive principles of Italian cooking is that with a few simple, yet high quality, ingredients one can create wonderful dishes that are cheap, healthy, and exceptionally flavorful.  The simple bruschetta, with an almost limitless variation list, is the  epitome […]

Our friend and avid home cook Dr. K. continues his mastery of all things Italian with a terrific homemade bread from Sicilia; namely, Durum Pane Siciliano – a bread shaped in the form of the Occhi di Santa Lucia (i.e., a pair of eyeglasses in homage to Santa Lucia, the patron saint of vision). Dr. K. utilized a recipe from Carol Field’s, The […]

  (photo: cauliflower carrot soup finished with extra virgin olive oil, parsley, and Sriracha sauce). One of the prized crops on the small Calabrian family farm Nonno Lattella worked until a a few years ago was Cauliflower and like many Italian farmers he respected the vegetable for both it’s taste and value.  In fact, Italy is the top producer of Cauliflower […]

Like many of the kitchen tools we recommend, we like foods and ingredients that are versatile and when it comes to fish there’s no more versatile type than Hake.  Hake has a delicate and almost sweet flavor profile (a little bit like crab or lobster) with thick firm white meat. Hake can be grilled, baked, poached, roasted, or sautéed. Hake […]

Homemade Italian Breadcrumbs with parsley, lemon zest, and oregano I love versatile foods because, like many home cooks, I’m lazy and time deprived.  I look for shortcuts and want my food to taste good with minimal effort and, moreover, I think even the most respected food experts on the planet secretly feel this way.  After all, there’s more to life than […]

(photo: grilled chicken, fennel and feta salad, a few pieces of good bread and a bottle of Brooklyn Pilsner) We eat tons of fennel during the winter months and usually consume it in a salad or immediately after a meal (as a digestivo).  Recently, we put together a fennel salad comprising of a simple vinaigrette and lots of good feta cheese […]

Crostini literally means “little toasts” in Italian and they are Italian appetizers or tapas consisting of flavorful toppings.  Crostini are usually made from Italian baguette, sliced about 1/2 thick and quickly toasted or grilled.  In the US, the word bruschetta is used to refer to crostini with a fresh tomato, basil, salt, and pepper topping.  Bruschetta, like crostini, can be topped […]

One of the tricks to eating well, in my humble opinion, is to eat simple meals comprised of high quality ingredients. The high quality ingredients will allow you to “cheat” because they’re, A priori, spectacular food items to begin with and the simple meal part will ensure you (read me) won’t screw up the cooking process because simple means little manipulation or […]

(photo: homemade yogurt courtesy of bfeedme.com) History of Yogurt Historical fun facts about food provide great joy for me; I can’t explain the phenomena but I enjoy the epistemological randomness that, for example, yogurt prior to the mid and late 19th century was used primary as a cleaning agent (that’s right, including as a body wash and shampoo)!  In the early […]

(photo: chicken soup with tortellini) 1. Pasta e Fagioli Pasta e fagioli is found in every region of Italy and the only two common ingredients tend to be beans and pasta.  In northern Italy, you’ll find cranberry beans used for the dish while in some southern provinces you’ll often see cannellini beans.  You’ll also hear folks refer to it incorrectly […]