La Buona Tavola

Agnolotti are Piemonte’s best comfort food: warm, filling, tasty, they are so quintessentially Piedmontese they are part of the region’s official list of traditional products (P.A.T.).  Reassuring in their ubiquitous presence on Piemonte’s festive table, they are today  declined in …

If you had to define Italian cuisine with one, single adjective, what would you chose? Personally, I’d go for “simple.” Simplicity is key in many of our most famous recipes, just as attention to using quality ingredients is. But I …

Fall is magnificent in Umbria. Wisps of morning mist envelope the fields like a veil. Later in the day, the sun is mellow, the light is golden, the leaves on the trees a rainbow of orange and reds. This is …

Naples has her sfogliatella, the North plays with the Teutonic idea of krapfen, but Rome… Rome has the maritozzo.  You look at it and it’s perfect: golden and shiny, sliced in a half, its creamy filling perfectly levelled all at …

Umbrian stringozzi, also named strangozzi, umbricelli, or ciriole are rustic noodles similar to Tuscan pici, but thinner. They are suitable for pasta sauces that pair well with spaghetti, for example norcina, carbonara or cacio e pepe. Stringozzi are delicate and …

Every time I make meatloaf I have to think of my friend, AnnMarie. A sophisticated American-Italian journalist from New York, she told me that her mum would serve meatloaf only to close family. Apparently, she did not consider it presentable …

Towards the end of October, chestnuts finally make their irresistible appearance on our markets in Umbria. This humble fruit has been a staple of the Mediterranean diet for millennia. Near Mount Etna in Sicily, there is a chestnut tree which …

I only ever cook sweet peppers in the summer when they are in season. They are thick fleshed, sweet, and flavorful, in contrast to their sad winter counterparts. In Italy, as the weather turns cold in the fall, they become …

If you consider Italy’s ancient culinary tradition, it’s quite astonishing that the recipe for tiramisù is not 500 years old. I actually remember my first tiramisù, when it became popular in the early 1980s. Classic coffee tiramisù had just been …

This is a healthy, warming, and attractive-looking soup. I often prepare these types of soups when I am in need of a light and but comforting meal full of color and aroma. This soup is also perfect as a healthy …