La Buona Tavola

Summer, sweet summer is finally upon us. My garden has begun to take its shape as the temperatures soar and nature begins to work her magic.  My basil plants have exploded seemingly overnight.  If I sit quietly and watch, I …

As summer’s heat bears down on folks from Italy to America, time is best spent under a striped beach umbrella at la spiaggia or under a shaded pergola with a chilled, frosty spritz in hand. One needs some fresh, simple …

It’s summer, and that means gelato and sorbetto aplenty.  Try these two recipes for delicious and refreshing desserts.  The sorbetto is easy to do, and with its clean bright taste, it captures the best of summer blueberries.  It makes a …

Gelato is one of Italy’s great gifts to the world, and once you have tasted authentic Italian gelato, you understand why this is true. Italians consider gelato to be their ice cream, but it really is quite different from American …

The heat of mid-summer calls for ease and simplicity in the kitchen.  My summer repertoire evolves into one that allows the flavors of the simple ingredients to shine through while leaving plenty of time for me to enjoy the fruits …

It’s summertime—gardens are bursting with tomatoes and zucchini and hot peppers! Over the last few years I have been setting up little garden beds wherever I can fit them in my Los Angeles home’s small yard, but last winter I …

My introduction to grilling started when I was a very young child. My grandfather would place a large steak in a grill basket, take my hand and lead me down the narrow cellar stairs to the coal furnace that heated …

Say hello to Fernet Branca, one of Italy’s most famous amari. Made by the Fratelli Branca Distillerie, the alluringly herbaceous liquor with its distinctly bitter taste and spicy finish was invented in 1845. There are other brands of Fernet, but …

Bring on summer in all its beautiful glory! Life always feels so much more colorful during the summer months – sort of like the iconic scene in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy emerges from her sepia-hued Kansas landscape to …

If Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily, with 2,000 kilometers of spectacular coastline and some of the most pristine scenery in the world, you might ask, why don’t Americans know much about it? That question …