Strozzapreti is translated as “priest choker.”  The legend has it that the priests of  Emilia-Romagna and surrounding regions enjoyed the long pasta so much that they choked while eating it.  I can certainly understand eating Strozzapreti quickly as it is, indeed, a delicous pasta. I prepared our 500 grams of Rustichella Strozzapreti with tomato sauce and then added some finely chopped mozzarella.  I […]

Orecchiette is the little pasta (or “little ear”, literally translated) that could; that is to say, at first glance the pasta shape from Apulia seems unremarkable, but when paired with vegetables it springs to life!  In southern Italy, Orecchiette are made by way of wheat flour and the traditional method includes pressing down on dime sized pieces of dough to get […]

OK, so you know how sometimes you find a new love, maybe you start playing tennis on a given weekend in the Spring and have a realization about how invigorating it feels to drive a crisp forehand over the net or maybe, on a whim, you decide to try the local Sushi place and realize how nice raw salmon tastes […]

Nothing says special occasion like ravioli!  You see, as a young lad, standard dry pasta shapes like penne, linguine, and rigatoni, made their way to my mother’s dinner table about 1x-2x per week.  However, whenever the regal ravioli made an appearance for lunch we knew it was a special day.   Ravioli were reserved for holidays or a special occasion such as a birthday […]

I view homemade roasted peppers as the ultimate condiment; that is to say, you can include roasted peppers in your antipasto, sandwich, as a side with grilled meats, or even include them in your favorite grilled cheese sandwich or omelet.  Sound tasty; then stop buying the jarred stuff and make them at home!  Here’s the full ingredients list, including the items […]

Recently, a heated food debate has surfaced between the dyed in the wool “food expert” Michael Ruhlman (he’s written some fine books on food, appeared on TV, and speaks at conferences) and the food philosophies espoused by celluloid FoodTV starts such as Rachel Ray and Jamie Oliver.  In a Huffington Post article, Ruhlman argues that people should make the time […]

Ricotta Recipe My first memory of ricotta wasn’t pleasant.  I remember thinking that the cheese was tasteless and had a consistency of something akin to white mud rather than some wonderful food concoction.  Fast forward about 20 years and I’m in love with ricotta (and the associated ricotta recipe) and value its subtle flavor profile and creamy texture (not to […]

For many Italians, soup equals pasta; that is to say, a primo serving of soup in many Italian households includes some sort of pasta mixed in with Lentil, Peas, Chickpeas, etc. (or for example our Chickpea and Brocolli Soup with Ditalini recipe).  Adding a small amount of pasta to a soup increases the hardiness of any given soup dish and […]

Ah, the humble sandwich or panino; two pieces of bread with some filling in between can be as vile as bologna on wonder bread or as elegant as prosciutto di Parma with extra virgin olive on slices of pane Pugliese.  My leanings, as you probably guessed, are toward the elegant side of the sandwich world.  I like pairing salty and […]

  If you haven’t noticed I’ve been consuming a ton of pasta lately given the Scordo Pasta Challenge.  I’ve had everything from bucatani with olive oil and parsley to tripoloni with tomato sauce.   However, I’ve also been consuming another starch with equivalent joy, namely the almighty arancini or rice ball (click here for my recipe)!  And while my love […]