Recipe For Light and Airy Italian Almond Cookies Referred to as  Sospiri di Monaca (or Nun’s Sighs) When our mother-in-law prepared a fabulous cookie for Easter (I’m not just saying that because she’s our mother-in-law, I know what you guys are thinking) we knew we had to document the recipe or, at the least, share a photo.  However, when we […]

Our Weekly Round Up of the Best Food Articles with an Italian Focus 13 Year Old Cooking Prodigy, Foodie Neurology, Varying Tomato Sauce Recipes, Bittman’s Potato Pizza and Food Processor Dough, and David Rocco on the Italian Lifestyle: The New Yorker – Ian McGarry is a 13 year old cooking prodigy who charges $100 for a multi-course meal served out […]

An Easy Guide To Making Guanciale (Cured Pork Jowl) at Home   The following is a guest post (on homemade guanciale)  from our friend and Scordo.com super fan Dr. K. (make sure to read all of his wonderful guest posts and recipes) . All photos courtesy of Dr. K. Charcuterie originated as means of preserving meats for extended periods. Cured meats (e.g., […]

The History of the Negroni Have you ever dreamed of being an Italian Count? You know, a fancy aristocrat with an ocean-side villa, a butler, and a few exotic Maserati’s and Ferrari’s in the “stable?” I have to admit I’ve had a few of these Italophile inspired dreams, but I’m quite happy living the Italian life in the US. There […]

I’ve only recently realized the tremendous gratification in eating a well prepared salad for lunch (including a recent Wild Arugula, Chicken Breast, Red Onion, and Tomato salad).  Yes, I know the realization isn’t mind blowing but I’m upset at myself for not having more stand alone salads for lunch (hence the excitement and public declaration).  I’ve been missing out on […]

I have a love hate relationship with broccoli that is very similar to my opinion about zucchini.  Namely, both vegetables are fairly plain tasting and need to be manipulated thoroughly to be enjoyed optimally.  Our standard way of consuming broccoli is to do a quick parboil and then toss with plain breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, red pepper flake, garlic, and lots […]

How to Make Great Coffee at Home: 5 Tips Writing about Italian food we get plenty of questions on topics such as “my favorite Italian food or recipe” (answer: too many to choose just one) or my favorite Italian restaurant (answer: cook Italian food at home).   On occasion, we also recieve questions having to do with coffee, in general, and […]

Italian Potato Chips, Preserving Mozzarella, Stracciatella alla Romano, A Sicilian Duchess, and 10 Great Italian Cookbooks SeriousEats – Can you rescue poorly stored fresh mozzarella?  The folks over at SeriousEats.com look at different methods for reconstituting and storing fresh, whole milk, mozzarella.  Here at Scordo we recommend you buy only what you’ll consume for the day. NY Times Dining and Wine – Roman style […]

Baked Artichoke Hearts Many people love artichokes but are turned off by the intense preparation associated with the fresh variety.  If you fall into this camp, then don’t despair you can have your artichokes (and eat them too!) though in a frozen or canned variety.  Pre-processed artichokes are a great convenience food and the wonderful canned or frozen artichoke hearts […]

Ricotta has always been part of my culinary life.  My mother makes ricotta on a weekly basis and I grew up eating it smeared on fresh bread, with pasta, extra virgin olive oil, and grated Parmigiano Reggiano, and, of course, stuffed in fresh pasta such as ravioli and tortellini.  Given Ricotta’s versatile nature it’s no surprise many Italian cooks make […]