Pasta e fagioli (pasta and beans) is a very typical Italian soup, simple, easy, yet incredibly versatile, as it is prepared many ways all across Italy. For thousands of years, beans have nourished people from every social class, but its richness in proteins allowed the survival of the most of population who could not afford…
This risotto recipe is typical of Tuscany and Northern Italy, where asparagus is a symbol of Spring. I use a local asparagus variety that is smaller but tastier than bigger varieties. Risotto is a much appreciated first course on Italian tables, and while this recipe can be used with other vegetables, the main steps are…
Meat stock or broth (nowadays the distinction is quite blurred) is a very popular dish in Northern Italy. It is not only used for adding juices to roasted meats, stews and meat sauces during prolonged cooking, but it also creates wonderful dishes on its own. Northern Italy offers a wonderful variety of pastas created to…
This onion soup sinks its roots deeply in Tuscan tradition, even though it only became famous when it was adopted by the French and became known as soup à l’oignon. According to Tuscan tradition, the recipe includes the red Certaldo onion, whose reputation was so renown that it was quoted in Boccaccio’s Decameron. Certaldo (link…
This rabbit stew (the rabbit can be substituted with chicken) is a vintage dish. I found it in a 1970s collection of recipes from an elementary school project in Pergola. Each child was asked to bring one of their grandmother’s recipes to school to assemble a traditional regional cookbook. Pergola is a tiny hillside village…
This chicken with bell pepper recipe is truly a typical summer one. The lively colours of the peppers and tomato create a unique blend that you can really appreciate only if you can find fresh sun ripened vegetables. It is a typical Roman dish, and there is a whole generation of Roman’s who are in…
This pasta recipe is quite rustic. Savoy cabbage and Italian sausage give a robust quality to this dish, and you can play with different flours. In this case I prefer blending durum wheat and pastry flour, in Italian a “00”, but also using whole wheat or buckwheat is an excellent choice. I do not love…
The stuffing of this gnocchi is very similar to the one of Ascoli olives, a skilled mix of meats cooked in a soffritto, whose taste is made lighter by a touch of lemon zest. The only complicated phase is finding the procedure to fill the gnocchi; I think that using a piping bag makes the…
A luxurious braised beef in a precious wine like Barolo, again a recipe from Piedmont.A real comfort food,above all if served with polenta and its sauce or with borretane onions. Beef braised in Barolo is typical of festivities and holidays. This special dish contemplates the cost of the ingredients and the time – both the…
This simple dish demonstrates the deep interconnection of Italy with the Middle East and the Arab world. In all Italy, mainly along the coasts, we have the introduction of pine nuts and raisins in many dishes; see for example the Liguria cuisine, or Venice one, as a demonstration that along the century the contacts have…