Frascatula is a southern Italian classic especially revered in Calabria.   Frascatula can be best described as a porridge made with corn meal and closely resembling pollenta.   Our version features broccoli, Pecorino Romano, and extra virgin olive oil. We enjoy the velvety consistency of Frascatula as a main dish; accompanies by a rustic glass of red wine and perhaps a […]

The best broths usually contain chickens that have been butchered with fully attached heads and feet; this little known fact was made abundantly clear to me when I asked my grandmother when she would be removing these parts after slaughtering chickens for a large family meal (I won’t elaborate on her response but you can take a guess).   The simple idea […]

The variety of kale known as Lacinato is critical to Italian food history and specifically to the second-most-populous region of Italy known as Campania (Napoli being the most well known city in the province).  Lacinato kale has a bitter and sweet flavor profile and is comprised of a rich blue green color.  Lacinato kale is traditionally used in minestrone soupand […]

(photo: thanks to thegivenschronicles.com for the photo) We’re big fans of soup and we’ve covered many varieties such as chicken soup with tortellini, Italian cauliflower carrot, pea, escarole and bean, pasta e fagioli, broccoli bean soup, minestra, chickpea, and our perennial favorite lentil soup. We like to begin our meals with a soup and then usually prepare a protein such as fish […]

(photo: courtesy of Dr. K.; from a clockwise position: raw onions, reduced onions, water added to reduced onions, onions prior to cooking, and finished product). When our die hard fan Dr. K. mentioned he tried a new recipe from Michael Ruhlman’s excellent new cookbook Twenty I was eager to hear which dish he attempted.  And when Dr. K. sent us photos […]

In Italy Cranberry beans are known as borlotti and they are at the heart of the traditional pasta and bean soup or Pasta e Fagioli soup.  An uncooked cranberry bean has red marks but when cooked turn a brown / white color.  Cranberry beans are excellent when fresh and particularly suited for hearty soups given their chestnut like flavor and texture.  As […]

  (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 […]

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: 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 […]

Chickpea Soup with Perch and Roasted French Fry Potatoes We had a simple, yet satisfying, dinner last night consisting of chickpea and scallion soup, Perch with savory Italian breadcrumbs, baked French fries, and arugula salad. Process and Ingredients: We layed our fish fillets (about a pound) in a baking dish and added 1/2 cup of white wine and the juice of 1/2 […]