Homemade Pasta

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Making fresh home made pasta is easy but a little lengthy. For the most part, in hour house we use regular dry pasta for all of our recipes however, when the right ingredients like a fresh hunted duck or a succulent chunk of Boar come around, nothing better than prepare some fresh pasta to go with it, on the spot!

When I learned to make my very own fresh pasta from my grandmother we never used a scale, a measuring cup or a pasta rolling machine. She used to have a metal spoon, like the ones you used to find in groceries stores that sold beans, lentils and other dried goods… Continue Reading…

Straccetti con Speck e Porcini

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Porcini Mushrooms are a “Northern Hemisphere” delicacy that can be purchased fresh from mid Autumn until mid Winter, depending on temperature and rain precipitation. These Fungi should preferably be eaten fresh, but given the limited time they can be sourced through the year, it is very convenient to purchased them dried which makes for easier storage and convenience of use.

Needless to say, if you know mushrooms there is no comparison between the fresh Porcini and the Dried ones, however if we exclude recipes that call for raw mushrooms like salads and carpaccio, both version are totally interchangeable. Continue Reading…

Tiramisu’

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Let’s not be of any disgrace to the common Italian Stereotype, and introduce this recipe for what it is…
Tiramisu’ is the Italian food equivalent of Viagra, and it comes without the risk of the “4 hours” side effect!
Eggs, creamy cheese, sugar, cookies chocolate and coffee; in the right proportions this recipe will keep you going for a few days. Just remember, in case you have kids, to use decaffeinated coffee (or prepare two separate trays of cake)… On adults the effects of this cake are spectacular, on kids however, it would not be excessive to describe them as catastrophic! Continue Reading…

Prosciutto, Taleggio and Radicchio Sandwich

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In Italy Panini are everywhere. In every bar, at any roadside stand and gas station… It is our go to quick fix in between meals, and very often a preferred lunch substitute.

It is true that in general Italian Sandwiches are extremely simple; this has to do with the incredible amount of cold cuts, cured meats and cheeses that you can source throughout our peninsula. Good meats and good cheeses do not require much company when trapped between two slices of bread. In Tuscany for instance unsalted bread is the favorite way of preparing most of our panini, that allows us to enjoy the flavor of whatever we put inside at its best. Continue Reading…

An Italian Love Story and Beer Celebration

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I’m going to teach you a little Italian. Don’t be shocked! I recently thought about the most defining moments in my own life, and my marriage sits right near the top. So I decided to help you shy guys get up your courage so you can propose romantically in Italian. Speak slowly, with a confident look in your eye and swagger in your voice. If you do that, I don’t believe that any of you can screw this up!

However, just in case, I am going to offer a few beer options to pair with a Thumbs Down answer in addition to the expected Thumbs Up Celebratory Beers.

Memorize it, Romeo. You can’t read it! Continue Reading…

Ribollita (Stale Bread and Vegetables Soup)

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Aside from the stale bread, the main ingredient for Ribollita is “Cavolo Nero”, which gets translated into black cabbage. The closest vegetable to the Italian variety (about 3 ft. tall) is Lacinato Kale, which is very similar in color and texture, but lacks the size Italians are accustomed to…
Ribollita is a dish that gets better while it sits, and can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days (no freezer for this one); Therefore the amount of ingredients that we will give you for this recipe will be enough for a soup that can either feed a small army, be an appetizer for 40, or just sit in the fridge for a few days while the whole family nibbles at it. Continue Reading…

The Dirty Sicilian

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One of my first jobs at the Library Bar at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel was to make the three most common asked for drinks great, one of them being the Dirty Martini. My philosophy was if I could make the popular drink even better, then I had a good chance of getting them to try one of my more experimental cocktails. Continue Reading…

Lemon Brulé Tart

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Do you ever wake up with a craving? Do you ever start titillating with the idea of a luxurious dinner, even before taking the first sip of your morning coffee? I usually do. Very often it gives a whole new purpose to the day I am about to live, setting the pace for what I will shop for, when I will start cooking, and also very often it dictates what I will have for lunch… yes, when I plan my family dinners I often find myself starving throughout the day, to make sure that when 7 pm comes around I am ready to literally attack the table. Continue Reading…

Saltimbocca alla Romana

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It is true indeed, Tuscans for the most part are obnoxiously fixated with their own regional cuisine! We come from a small region, with small villages and many grandmothers: each one of us has a family recipe for anything that you can find on a traditional Tuscan menu. We are good eaters and hungry people by default, we enjoy our traditions on a plate and we always need a full glass of red wine to accompany our meals…. but what happens when we encounter foods that do not belong to our region? We just incorporate what we like in our menus, we stop talking about our traditions and we simply add the name of the region to whatever recipe we are preparing. Continue Reading…