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 […]

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, […]

August is prime season for canning tomatoes and this year’s Jersey plum tomatoes are outstanding!  The Scordo family purchased about five bushels of locally grown plum tomatoes and canned only passato (passato is essentially pureed tomato, in the past we canned a combination of passato and whole tomatoes).  As the site e-rcps.com points out: Tomatoes are usually preserved in three […]

Recipe: Homemade Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil One of my favorite, all purpose, condiments on this little planet is sun dried tomatoes preserved in olive oil.  Authentic sun dried tomatoes capture the essence of the tomato and can be enjoyed year round.  There is a difference between tomatoes that have been truly dried in the sun and dehydrated tomatoes (click here to […]

One of the reasons I love the summer season is the availability of locally grown tomatoes and hence the amount of times I can utilize our tomato salad recipe for lunch or dinner..  Tomatoes are incredibly versatile and, like extra virgin olive oil, are a staple of eating well.  My favorite Summer-time use for tomatoes is the simple and elegant tomato […]