(photo: fennel salad with radish and feta) By now most of you are well aware of my passion for lazy weekend lunches (see my tomato salad and sardine lunch and leftover salad).  Optimally, a lazy weekend lunch is consumed under a bit of shade (with temperatures in the mid 70’s), with a loving family, a beautiful bottle of wine (yes, […]

(photo: mint: easy to grow and very versatile) Nothing gets me more excited then roasting a chicken, but I’ll admit that there are times when it’s more convenient to work with chicken parts.  One of my favorite parts of the chicken is the thigh as it combines both dark and white meat and is almost impossible to overcook.  I’ve been creating […]

Chicken Cutlets, Homemade Breadcrumbs, and the Importance of Good Pollo I made my first chicken cutlet when I was 12 years old and it was a complete disaster.  From what I remember, I over seasoned the breadcrumbs, placed the breaded cutlets in below temperature oil, had very little of that magical “golden brown” color, and undercooked the chicken.  Fast forward […]

Farro: History and Guide to the Ancient Grain The ancient whole wheat grain farro has a long and interesting history and for many years fed almost the entirety of the Mediterranean and Near East – hence our article Farro: History and Guide to the Ancient Grain.  Specifically, it fed the vast majority of Romans from 44BC to the collapse of the […]

I categorize pizza in the United States into two tidy compartments; namely: Thin style “NY Pizzeria” pizza comprised of tomato sauce and some variation of mozzarella, made from water buffalo milk or the cow milk variant) and  “Pizza Calabrese” which includes a minimal amount of cheese (that is to say, usually grated cheese post baking), a slightly thicker crust, possibly a bit […]

Ask any person from Calabria over the age of 50 to describe a dish from the region that both represents the best and worst of the southern most province in Italy and s/he would probably utter, “minestra.”  That is to say, minestra (a type of thick soup with a substantial base including potatoes, vegetables, beans, tomato pieces, etc. <minestrone is […]

Our good friend Dr. K has passed along his homemade chèvre (goat milk) cheese recipe and I’m excited to be able to share it with our loyal Scordo.com readers.   Goat cheese is made in Calabria, of course, and it’s some of the best produced cheese on the planet.  In Aspromonte, close to our family’s village in Pellegrina, you’ll find Caprino […]

Zucchini Flower Blossom Fritters Our mother has been using the same Zucchini Flower Blossom Fritters recipe for nearly 30 years here in the United States, which includes grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and plenty of finely chopped parsley.  Our mother’s technique also includes “flattening” out the batter when it hits the hot oil so that thin frittelle are produced.  Note, you can also simply batter […]

Interview with PBS Host Mary Ann Esposito and Ciao Italia Every big idea or theory has an associated sound bite.  The French philosopher Rene Descartes is remembered for his famous line, “I think, therefore I am.”, the chef Jacques Pepin loves to utter, “fast food my way”, and the chef, turned uber capitalist Lidia Bastianich (see the mega Italian Mall, […]

Lazy, weekend, lunches are one of the small pleasure in life and I define a lazy lunch as a simple plate of food (with little to no manipulation), fresh, crunchy, bread, and a bottle of exquisite wine (psychologically, get an exquisite bottle of wine for under $20, there are fabulous wine deals out there if you stay away from California, […]