Seasonal Recipes

It’s the beginning of artichokes season in Italy. This time of the year is when they are tender and not too big, in fact so tender that they can be eaten raw, thinly cut and simply seasoned with salt, olive …

While in Umbria on vacation a few years ago, we went in search of fabled Castelluccio lentils. We had seen these lentils for sale when we were visiting the town of Norcia—so devastated by Italy’s earthquakes earlier this year—but despite …

Lentils and pork sausages, the first to represent coins, the second for abundance, served up together, has long been considered an auspicious dish with which to usher in the New Year in some parts of Italy. Take Modena’s lenticchie di …

My grandfather always ended our big family meals by slowly rising from the table and carrying a large bowl of fruit from the sideboard to the table.  That fruit bowl was a constant fixture on their kitchen table and the …

Everyone has favorite childhood memories, and one of mine is of the lovingly prepared food whose aromas filled the air of my old neighborhood in the Cape Cod village of Sagamore. It was genuine Italian food, rich, honest and simple. …

It’s almost Carnevale, and Carnevale, in Italy, means chiacchiere! Learn how to make these delciious treats with Nonna! 

You will love these for dessert or just a snack…pillowy soft dough with raisins, deep fried until golden beautiful then rolled in sugar while still warm. Can you say yummy!!! Where my parents come from in Pofi, Frosinone we call …

I’ll never forgot the first time I had Ribollita. It was in  the speck of a hill top town called  Montebenichi, Tuscany at Osteria L’Orciaia. The owner of the nearby Tuscan farm house where my entire family was staying recommended …

The first and only time I served a whole, intact rabbit was several years ago for Easter dinner (insert humorous comment about serving a bunny on Easter). The adults at the table were freaked out; fortunately no kids had been …

Escarole has always been a mystery to me. Not that we didn’t eat it when I was growing up, but as far as I could tell, no one else ever did in the bland suburbs I grew up in north …