La Buona Tavola

Growing up in a Sicilian-American family, holidays were always an event to savor. As a child, days leading up to a special event were spent with my nonna and her sisters in the kitchen preparing each dish. These dishes were never …

In Italy, a well-prepared sformato is revered almost as much as a good plate of pasta, especially in the summer.  A sformato is a typical Italian savory flan, somewhere in between a French soufflé and a frittata. It has the same creamy …

Umbria explodes with a kaleidoscope of wildflowers from April until well into June. If you walk through any of Umbria’s pretty hill towns like Assisi, Spello, or Perugia, you will notice buildings adorned with huge bushes of blossoming rosemary and lilac. Walk outside the town …

As everyone knows, zucchini (aka courgettes) are a staple of modern Italian cookery. Italians have come up with a nearly endless variety of recipes for their beloved cucurbita pepo: They can be sautéed in garlic and olive oil, stewed in tomato sauce, stuffed, fried …

If you like pasta – and who doesn’t? – and if you like cake -and again, who doesn’t? – then you’re sure to like timballo di pasta, pasta baked in a mold then served as a kind of pasta cake. Italian …

Eating in Italy is one of life’s greatest pleasures. And eating seasonally in Italy is off the charts delicious. Bright red, ripe tomatoes. Sweet, ripe strawberries picked at their peak. Melanzane pa0cked with a smoky punch. MAMMA MIA, ma quanto è buono! …

Here in Umbria spring does not want to arrive this year: it’s cold and wet. The countryside however, is dotted with marvelous flowers. Wisterias and lilac adorn edges and walls, cherry and almond trees look like heavenly clouds. Poppies make …

For centuries, Umbrians have considered game a great delicacy. Besides the more famous wild boar, you might find pheasant, pigeon, or guinea fowl taking the center stage in the menu of an exclusive dinner.  On the other hand, visitors are often surprised …

In Italy, humble sagra (plural sagre) is a festival that celebrates a specific type of food, drink, or product from a town. Sagre have become such popular events that almost every village in Umbria, and probably in the whole of …

One usually associates Roman cuisine with hearty and robustly flavored dishes and, by and large, the image holds true. But there are some exceptions, like today’s offering: stracciatella, a light, and delicately flavored “egg drop soup.” Stracciatella is utterly simple and—if you have …