Fare La Scarpetta

Buono!: Penne alla Vodka

2012-01-31T07:16:00.001-05:00

“Tonight’s dish will be healthy,” I declare, almost every morning these days.

My husband responds, “Let me guess, you’re adding vegetables to our regular meal?”

That’s right. I still believe – deeply – in the purity of certain dishes. (I’m not one who takes, say, a bowl of nuts and calls it “nutty risotto.” “Risotto” means something and that something isn’t a bowl of nuts.) I do, however, want to be healthier this year. So, if we add something here or there, we've mostly retained the integrity of the original dish (I know, it is a stretch at times.)

To help make healthier meals happen, I’ve declared 2012 THE YEAR OF HEALTH. (When you say this, you have to bang your hands down on the nearest table for emphasis.) I declared it as a writer and now I’m declaring it as a home chef, food shopper and eater.

So, to start, I decided to make penne alla vodka. Ok, you’re thinking that the heavy cream and the vodka make this an obviously unhealthy choice. Here’s the deal: I want to be healthy, but I don’t want to be a. crazy, b. angry or c. deprived by not eating dishes like penne alla vodka. So, I’m preparing penne alla vodka and I’m adding broccoli. There, it is healthier. I’m also going to eat less of it and use a fiber rich pasta: Barrilla’s Piccolini Mini Penne Rich In Fiber. The best part of this pasta is that it tastes a lot like regular pasta and looks the same since it is white.

I admit that I accidentally bought fat free heavy cream, which is a strange invention. It was too thin to fill out the sauce the way it should have. Oh, well.

More or less, I followed this recipe from Epicurious. Instead of scooping out the garlic, I left it in (why take it out?) The main difference though, is that I added the hot pepper to the vodka and let it sit over night (well, a few nights, since I forgot about it the first night.) This step helps to make the dish even spicier. I learned this trick from my great Uncle Bruno.

How do you prepare penna alla vodka?

Re-Publishing Recipes: SOPA? Fair Use? Copyright Infringement?

2012-01-23T07:00:00.002-05:00

You can always ask your librarian for help when you have a question about copyright issues

(like the use of this picture I took of a library's poster using Batman's image?)

Readers sometimes lament that they can't find certain recipes on this blog. When I blog about someone else's recipe, I do not reprint the recipe. Instead, I refer to the original cookbook and encourage readers to purchase it. I know it would be easier for everyone if I retyped the recipe without permission, but this would be unfair to the original author.

Writers, at the very least, should be fair to other writers. And fairness is a two-way street that includes respecting copyright laws and fair use laws.

In light of the recent SOPA discussions, writers need to be particularly aware of their rights. With this recipe example in mind, if I’m not creating something new (doing more than simply tweaking a recipe), then I don’t have the right to re-publish someone else’s work. Under current fair use laws, I have the right to comment upon and republish small sections of the recipe.

Writers can analyze or respond to something in the public sphere and/or create something new. SOPA works against what fair use currently allows, rather than supporting writers and other creators by protecting them.

In general, recipes (creations drafted, tested, retested and then clearly written out, edited, revised and eventually published) are only yours to reprint fully if you are the author or if you have permission from the author and/or publishing company. Like with photographs, poems or other creations, it isn't enough to simply give the creator's name and/or include the copyright symbol (if you didn't actually ask permission to use the work, it is even worse to pretend that you did.)

Especially as writers and creative people, we need to help protect each other's rights to our original work and the right to earn a living from that work. For more on Fair Use in creative writing, read the Poetry Foundation and American University’s “Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Poetry”. While focusing on poetry, it applies quite well to all genres of creative writing. You can also go directly to the U.S. copyright office’s explanation of Fair Use.

If you are using materials for educational purposes, check with your school’s policies or read through New York University’s clear Handbook for use of Copyrighted Materials.

I'm currently teaching a food writing workshop online at Fairleigh Dickinson University and this is one of the issues that we discuss in class. We read Will Write for Food by Dianne Jacob. If you are interested in doing food writing and tackling these issues yourself, I recommend that you refer to her book or blog for more.

What other resources would you recommend?

Book Review: Notes on Cooking

2012-01-17T06:24:00.000-05:00

I read Notes on Cooking from start to finish while sitting in a bookstore. Then, of course, I bought it. Later, I bought another copy as a gift for my Dad. That’s how great it is.

This clear, little book explains everything from understanding a recipe to straining stock to presenting your dish. The authors’ approach makes it seem possible to cook almost anything and enjoy it while you do. Here’s a great example from the chapter on temperature:

86. Never jump food more than one temperature state at a time.

There are four functional temperature states: 1) frozen, 2) cold, 3) room temperature, 4)warm or hot.

When you move food from one state to another (in either direction), don’t skip over a temperature state by, for instance, taking a roast directly from the refrigerator to the oven, or from the oven to the refrigerator. Only one state can change at a time.

Perfectly reasonable, understandable and helpful, right? The entire book is like that. I learned so much reading it.

When I teach writing, I remind the students how important it is to read. Read widely and read regularly. When you read something that you know in your heart you wish you wrote, you’ve come upon something great that you can learn from. I wish I knew enough to sit down and write Notes on Cooking. Luckily, Lauren Braun Costello and Russell Reich did. And you can read it, too.

For more, see the Notes on Cooking website.

Buone Feste!

2011-11-29T05:15:00.003-05:00

The end of the academic semester and the holiday season is a busy time. With that in mind, this blog is taking a holiday hiatus until January 2012. I look forward to seeing you then.

In the meanwhile, here is some celebratory Italian vocabulary for you. You can also send Italian e-cards (Christmas, New Year or Befana).

Happy Holidays: Buone Feste!

Merry Christmas: Buon Natale!

Happy New Year: Buon Anno!

Happy birthday: Buon Compleanno!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-21T16:45:00.000-05:00

This year, as I plan our menu, my mind turns to those who passed this last year. As some of you know, this has been a very hard year for our family because we lost many loved ones.

At Aunt Dora’s funeral in April, a friend said that soon after his mother died, he continued to pick up the phone to try to call her. It was both a habit and a wish. Another friend who lost her longtime partner was only part joking when she that she wished she could just Google to find out where he is now.

I have the same instinct to want answers and continued intimacy.

I haven’t spent Thanksgiving with my aunt since I moved out of New Jersey in 2008. My parents have travelled to spend the holiday with my husband and I first in Michigan and now Washington, D.C. While I spoke with Aunt Dora almost every day around noon, on Thanksgiving the call would be earlier and last longer. She’d ask to speak with everyone and then check on the menu. She’d ask not only what I was making, but how I was making it. And she’d joke that I should save her a turkey wing, her favorite part of a bird she otherwise disliked.

Aunt Dora was always my go-to person when I had kitchen disasters. Even when I called from Italy, she walked me through hamburger patties that were falling apart and ruined caramel sauces that wouldn’t unstick from my pot. She was a confident and generous home cook. While she would sometimes laugh at my questions (there were, after all, some funny problems), she would always (eventually) answer me seriously.

I wish I could call her to wish her a happy holiday. She’d end the conversation by asking, as she always did, “When am I going to see you again, kid?”

While there is no longer an answer to that question, there is a menu and turkey to attend to. She would expect me to. And the things I do, starting with cooking, keep her memories awake in my actions and thoughts. It is far from being the same as it was, but it is what we have.

Moka Express: Italian espresso coffee at home

2011-11-15T06:57:00.001-05:00

Every morning, I prepare Italian coffee (what we can “espresso” in America and the Italians call “caffe”) in my Bialetti Moka Express. I think I’m as addicted to the ritual as I am to the coffee itself.

My mokas last a few years each. And a new one is reason for celebration! It feels good to start even fresher than usual in the morning.

There is a certain art to making coffee in this pot. Fill the basket with espresso ground coffee (coffee that is ground much thinner will clog the machine.) Do not pack coffee down in order to squeeze in more coffee (this will make it harder for the pressurized water to push through the grinds.) On the stovetop, the flame shouldn’t be larger than the base. (At least two friends I know have melted the plastic handle with a much stronger flame. That’s always disappointing. And a mess.) For more details on how to prepare the prefect tazza (cup) and other Italian stovetop coffee pots, see this Under the Tuscan Gun video.

After you’ve finished your coffee, be sure to let your pot cool off before opening it. You can run cold water over the pot while holding it by the handle. After making the coffee, the earlier pressure might make it hard to open the pot. The bottom container has flat sides. In the sink, balance the machine on one side in order to open it more easily.

The moka, a simple metal construction, requires easy cleaning. That is to say, cleaning without soap. Never put your moka in the dishwasher or use dish soap on the metal. A thorough rinse with hot water will clean your moka. Be sure to let it stand open in order to fully air dry after cleaning it.

To help eliminate any buildup or polish the surface, soak your moka in baking soda and use a clean sponge to wash the pot down. To help make yours last even longer, you can also buy the necessary replacement parts.

Help support this blog and buy your moka through our Amazon store.

What kind of Italian coffee pot do you use? Do you have a favorite coffee roaster?

Buono!: Carbonara Sauce

2011-11-10T07:11:00.004-05:00

Thank you to a reader for the Buono! question about carbonara sauce. She wrote, "I'm fascinated by carbonara recipes (egg yolks vs. whole eggs/ cream vs. no cream or broth). Would love to read how you do pasta coal miner's style."

I followed this recipe for carbonara sauce from Under the Tuscan Gun almost exactly. (Don't you love those two? Their videos crack me up.) I didn't have any spaghetti on hand, so I used a package of strozzapreti pasta (whose name translates to, "priest choker." Yikes.)

This creamy sauce is known as "coal miner's style" because the black pepper flakes look like the (hopefully apocryphal) coal that flaked off of the miners when they prepared these simple dishes. Traditionally, there isn't any actual cream in these sauces. The creaminess originates from the combination of grated cheese, slowly cooked eggs (mostly yolks), fat from the pork and water. The recipe calls for the water to come from the pasta water (the water serves to thicken the sauce because it is starchy from the pasta.)

You know I'm not a purist. I invite you to change the recipe anyway you see fit. If you are hesitant to lightly cook (and eat so many) egg yolks, you can cheat and use cream. Substituting broth for the water would add more flavor, although I'm not sure that's necessary with the garlic and pork. I wouldn't use too much broth because without the starch, it might thin the sauce too much.

If you choose to use a lower fat pork (bacon, pancetta or guanciale), you might need more oil in the sauce. I used a thin, lower fat bacon and added some extra olive oil. Butter or margarine could work, too.

A friend emailed me her mother's recipe for this dish and it included vegetables (mushrooms and peas.) I imagine that the result is delicious and I look forward to trying that in the future. I also think we would have enjoyed some hot pepper (dried or fresh) on top.

Next time! There's always a next dinner.

What's your secret to a good carbonara sauce? Share your answer below in the Comments section.

http://underthetuscangun.com/food/pasta/28-spaghetti-alla-carbonara/

Save Counter Space with a Cookbook Stand

2011-11-01T05:40:00.000-04:00

It is the little things that make all the difference. Literally. We have a very little kitchen with very little counter space. While I’m cooking, there’s no room for a cookbook.

I’ve been balancing cookbooks on the top of my toaster oven (not a good idea while its on) or running to check them in another room.

We finally came up with the idea of a cookbook stand that hangs on the wall. A fantastic (and perhaps obvious) easy solution to the problem.

You can find this and other items in my Amazon store. Thank you for shopping there and supporting this blog.

What have you done to make your kitchen more user-friendly?

Buono!: Bolognese Sauce

2011-10-25T08:59:00.000-04:00

Onions and garlic sautéing

Bolognese sauce simmering

Dinner is served!

Welcome to Buono!, a new series where you ask questions about Italian food and I answer them the best I can. Learn more about Buono! here.

In response to a reader question, today I’ll help simplify Bolognese sauce. This is a red meat sauce for pasta that originated in the city of Bologna. I first learned how to make this sauce properly in a cooking class run by chef Benedetta Vitali in her restaurant Zibibbo in Florence, Italy (she still offers classes and I’d highly recommend them.) You can find her recipe in Soffritto, her lovely cookbook named after the onion, celery and carrot mixture that begins many Italian dishes. This recipe from Anne Burrell on the Food Network is fairly similar.

As you’ll learn in this series, I don’t actually cook by the book. Most nights I don’t have time to do everything the exact traditional way. I use what I have on hand to save time and money.

With that in mind, here are the key elements of my Pasta Bolognese Sauce recipe. Feel free to alter it however you see fit.

Pasta Bolognese Sauce for Four Hungry Folks

1 yellow onion diced

2 cloves of garlic diced

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 lbs of lean ground beef

3 14.5 oz. cans of diced tomatoes

¼ cup of (cheap, but tasty) red wine

2 bay leaves

salt, pepper, hot pepper to taste

While it would be proper to start with a soffritto, I usually just start with onions and garlic. So, with that in mind, let's get started. In a pot, slowly sauté the onions and garlic in the olive oil until the onion pieces become mostly clear. While a large saucepan with a heavy bottom would be ideal, I use a pot I bought at Ikea over five years ago. It works fine, as long as you keep the heat low so that the olive oil doesn’t burn.

Add the beef and slowly brown it. It is more traditional to use a beef, veal and pork mixture, but you can use whatever meats you prefer. You can buy a package with the three meats mixed together, buy them separately or squeeze out the pork from sausage casings for pork. Some friends like to use ground turkey because it is leaner. I like the heartier taste of the beef.

Once the meat is brown, add the three cans of tomatoes. Fresh Roma tomatoes would be optimal, but I usually use canned tomatoes. Again, canned Roma tomatoes are great, but no one has complained with my Target brand canned tomatoes. There, I said it. I sometimes shop at Target.

To get all of the tomato goodness from your can, run a little water in each can and swish it around before pouring it into your pot. You’ll be boiling the sauce down and a little extra water won’t hurt.

Now pour in the wine. This step isn’t obligatory, but it does help to thicken the flavor and sauce. Some folks will add sugar here to help counter the acidic flavor of the tomatoes. The sugar in the wine will do this for you, too.

Add a bit of salt, pepper, hot pepper and the bay leaves. Bring the sauce to a boil and then lower the heat to a low simmer. Since it is such a thick sauce, it will need to be mixed regularly (every twenty minutes or so) and, as it settles, it will start to bubble and splash a bit.

Let the sauce simmer for about two hours. Your goal is to boil down the water and thicken the sauce. If the meat is fully cooked and you like a more liquid sauce, then don’t boil it too long. You can always add more water (or wine or broth), if you like.

Serve over al dente pasta: spaghetti or your favorite pasta that can hold a heavy sauce. Garnish with grated cheese. While I’m lax about the soffritto, I’m firm on this point: Freshly grate your own cheese. The cheese sold on a shelf far from the refrigerated section doesn’t taste like cheese. It needs its own category. Buy a hand grater like this or this or toss the chunk of grating cheese (parmesan or pecorino romano) into your food processor the day you are serving the dish.

If you have leftovers and start to get bored with eating the same dish again and again, try adding a scoop or two of ricotta in your re-heated pasta. You could also bake it with a layer of mozzarella on top of the pasta and meat sauce.

You can freeze extra sauce, if you’ve made too much and want some more for later. I don’t recommend freezing cooked pasta. It gets quite mushy when it is defrosted (I’ve tried.)

I look forward to hearing how it goes!

Introducing Buono!

2011-10-18T08:31:00.000-04:00

I’m very excited to introduce a new series entitled Buono! I’ll be taking reader questions about Italian cooking and answering them here. For more details, check out the new Buono! page.

Upcoming recipes: Bolognese Sauce (red meat sauce), Cannoli, Stuffed Peppers and Meatballs.

What would you like to read about?

Prosciutto, Fig & Arugula Salad

2011-10-11T08:30:00.000-04:00

It was such a good eating summer that I’m still thinking about it. Not only did my mother make the most wonderful fried zucchini flowers, but she also prepared Mario Batali’s recipe for grilled fig and prosciutto salad from his cookbook Simple Italian Food. Lightly grilled figs, olive oil, rosemary, parsley, arugula, and balsamic vinegar made this dish perfect.

There were fresh fig trees growing outside of my apartment on New York University’s campus in Florence, Italy. I would pick a few and eat them fresh and whole. Those were the days. Of course, I was on duty 24 hours a day and lived on campus, but, the figs! The figs!

I’ve seen them in supermarkets around Washington, D.C., late summer and early fall, but they never look spectacular. Or, they do and they are terribly expensive. Have you found a great market for figs?

Tuscany in Photographs: Photographer Melabee Miller's new book, "Tuscany June 2011"

2011-10-04T07:06:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to my mother, photographer Melabee Miller, on her new book Tuscany June 2011!

This book is a collection of what she saw through her camera’s lens this summer in Tuscany. She took a watercolor class in the countryside and traveled around the region. In total, she documents four towns: Radda in Chianti, San Gimignano, Siena and Florence. (Yes, I'm as jealous as you are.)

Preview the book to see a sample of the pages. There are classic images, like those of the Florentine duomo’s dome, and more intimate, original views that you’ve likely never seen before, such as carved, architectural details.

This book is the next best thing to traveling to Tuscany yourself. That is, traveling with a curious guide who reveals beauty even in the texture of the cobblestones.

Purchase the book here.

A Serving of Food Literature?

2011-09-27T07:30:00.000-04:00

Not only am I an Italophile, but I am also a writer and writing coach. Food, as you might imagine, finds its way into my poetry and memoir. To prepare for an upcoming (and now sold out) memoir writing class I will be teaching at Politics & Prose, a bookstore in Washington, D.C., I’ve been reading more examples of memoir. You might be interested in reading yesterday’s writing coach blog post on Garlic and Sapphires, the secret life of a critic in disguise by former New York Times food critic Ruth Reichl.

What food literature, memoir or otherwise, have you read and enjoyed?

Zucchini Flowers Take 2

2011-09-20T05:39:00.000-04:00

Our neighbors have zucchini growing in their front yard. Every morning I see those lovely flowers open to the sun. Every morning I think about stealing them and bringing them back to my kitchen.

Of course, that wouldn’t be right. I just don’t understand how it is right for them to let the flowers bloom and die as if the only prize from a zucchini plant is the zucchini itself.

Last August I blogged about my mother’s zucchini flowers and shared her recipe. This September I simply want to remember the taste of the zucchini flowers my mother made this July. She grew the flowers herself, cleaned them (after the above picture with the bugs was taken) and fried them up.

Zucchini flowers are hard to find. When I do find them in a market, they are often wilted. I did see zucchini flowers listed on a pizza at Comet Ping Pong in D.C., but that seems like too heavy of a dish for such a delicate flower.

Eataly, New York City

2011-09-13T07:21:00.000-04:00

Eataly, a marketplace, restaurants and bookstore, is an amazing collection of Italian food and kitchenwares in New York City. Friends have been raving about it since it first opened about a year ago. Have you been there? I finally visited this summer.

The organic vegetables, cured meats, stark white cheeses, imported pastas and sauces, gorgeous four-color cookbooks, coffee bar, gelato stand and more reminded me of my time in Italy. I wanted to stop for lunch, then shop in the market and carry my prizes down to D.C. and re-create my Florentine life.

Wait. That never was my life. I never ordered a $95.00 Porterhouse steak for two at dinner or stocked my kitchen with an Alessi citrus squeezer.

Oh, well. I did enjoy a little food sight-seeing and being reminded of how some people lived in Italy. I left Eataly with a very cute tin of cinnamon candies that I bought mainly because of the very cute tin and I wanted a souvenir.

Unlike Eataly, Italy taught me how to simplify. There are few things that a good kitchen truly needs. (Today I’d vote for a moka and a good knife.) It is possible to grow fresh vegetables, buy locally (not buying locally wasn’t always an option in a market) and make do with what we have. And wow, can we make do with a little flour, water, yeast and salt…

Il Cantuccio in New York City and Florence, Italy

2011-09-06T07:44:00.001-04:00

(New York) Storefront

(New York) Interior

(New York) Florentine schiacciata with prosciutto di Parma and cheese

(New York) Mixed cookies: "Brutti ma buoni" with almonds, chocolate, fig and apricot

(Florence) Mixed cookies

(Florence) Marta

A friend called recently to talk about how much she wants to return to Florence, Italy. Of course I agreed. While the streets of New York City might look more like Milan (in places), Il Cantuccio is a portal to Florence on Christopher Street.

Il Cantuccio, with stores in both cities, sells the most delicious cookies (much like biscotti, but softer, so you don’t have to dip them in vin santo or coffee to save your teeth.) In the New York store, you can also try the most amazing panini.

Read the New York Times review for more reasons to stop there.

Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City

2011-08-30T06:00:00.000-04:00

The Rizzoli bookstore is one of those old school, New York City bookstores with dark wooden bookshelves and hand painted decorations on the ceiling. That is to say, it is a beautiful bookstore.

They carry many books that the Rizzoli publishing house puts out, but also many others. If you are looking for literature in Italian, including children’s books, Italian cookbooks or Italian language learning guides, this is the place to shop. They also have a number of shelves of Italian language magazines that you can’t find most places.

Of course, it isn’t the cheapest bookstore around (would that one carry Italian poetry in the original language?) and I kind of wished I had brushed my hair again before walking in. That said, it is a lovely place to browse and they had a large number of discounted, more affordable books. Considering the high price of imported books, though, their high prices are fairly understandable.

Stuffed Calamari - boiled, not broiled

2011-08-23T05:22:00.000-04:00

I often start with a recipe from the Silver Spoon cookbook and then adjust it as necessary. That’s just what I did when I made these stuffed calamari: I looked at the recipe and then called my mother.

The recipe called to broil the stuffed squids, but that didn’t sound familiar. Here’s my mother’s foolproof advice for avoiding overcooking the squid: Fully cook the freshly made marinara sauce and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat and quickly add each stuffed calamari so that they are fully submerged in the sauce. Let them cook for about five minutes and then take them out.

Delicious!

Fresh Pasta in Washington, D.C.: Pines of Florence, an Italian Restaurant

2011-08-16T05:33:00.000-04:00

We haven’t found many restaurants in Washington, D.C., that serve fresh pasta, although we have found delis that sell it. (Prove me wrong and tell me what I’m missing in the Comments section below.)

Pines of Florence in Arlington, Virginia, specializes in southern Italian food and fresh pasta. Ok, so the name doesn’t match the food exactly, but the pasta was still light and delicious as only fresh pasta can be.

We had the Fettuccini Alfredo and a special, Lobster Ravioli. Each dish featured fresh, homemade pasta.

Che buono! I look forward to returning to try the other fresh pastas.

Italian Bread: Focaccia with Olives and Fennel Greens

2011-08-09T06:29:00.000-04:00

I’ve really been enjoying making bread this year. For this focaccia, I mixed in not only olives, but also fennel greens. We had a bunch of this lovely, light herb in a recent CSA delivery.

The end result was delicious although, admittedly, the flavor of the fennel greens was mostly missing. Ok, it was entirely missing. The greens throughout the bread made the surface more visually appealing, but it did nothing for the flavor.

Perhaps the bread was too thick or the olive taste too strong. It did seem a little like a waste of such a lovely herb. I was told, too late, by a friend that I should have used the fennel greens in a prepared pasta with them and sardines. This recipe from Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo looks delicious. Next time.

Pizza Dinner in D.C. at Comet Ping Pong

2011-08-02T06:44:00.000-04:00

I love Comet Ping Pong Pizza in Washington, D.C. You can play ping-pong (or browse a few doors down to Politics and Prose bookstore) while you wait for a seat.

My husband and I recently had the Yalie pizza with clams and the Stanley pizza with sausage. We ordered local beers, that is, local to D.C. and Michigan, where we used to live, and finished the evening with some ping pong. (No one won since we didn’t keep score.)

To learn more about Comet, watch their feature on Diners, Drive-ins, Dives. The Yalie pizza is prominently featured. Notice what fresh, simple ingredients go into their pizzas. I was happy to learn that they make their own ricotta, sauce, and more.

The moral of this story? Eat more Comet pizza.

Italian Movie: Passione

2011-07-26T05:58:00.000-04:00

The movie Passione, by John Turturro, seemed like a movie I would like. I know, I’m a sucker for all Italian movies, but this one seemed right on target: A musical documentary about the history of music in Naples. Cool.

Not withstanding a positive review on Salon, I could barely sit through the entire movie. Turturro was the audience’s guide through the historical and contemporary musical world in Naples. Unfortunately, his introductions were broad, and while positive, mostly devoid of facts.

The movie was primarily a series of staged and overdone music videos, not impromptu performances as the scenes would try to portray. Yes, yes. I know that Naples has a particular “spirit.” Still, the entire piece felt forced.

Alas. Not everything Italian or Italian-American is perfect.

Italian Lunch at 2Amy's Pizzeria

2011-07-19T08:01:00.000-04:00

We don’t go to 2Amy’s Pizzeria nearly enough. Here’s why we should change that: The food is fresh, very Tuscan (even if they advertise that they are very “napoletano”) and the environment is lovely.

Here’s what we ate on our last visit:

Artichokes (off the ‘specials’)

Deviled eggs with green sauce

Stuffed pizza (Ricotta, grana, salami, prosciutto, pancetta, tomato)

Caffe macchiato

Cookie plate

This recipe for the Carciofi alla Guidia (Roman Jewish Artichoke), looks a lot like what we had. I look forward to trying to make it at home one day.

Everything was delicious. In fact, I’m hungry again just thinking about it. Who’s free for lunch?

Cannellini Bean & Fennel Salad

2011-07-12T06:27:00.002-04:00

We recently found fennel in our Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA ½ vegetable share. Fennel is a bulb that tastes like licorice and is quite popular in Italy. Admittedly, I'd never bought it before, although I ate it regularly in Florence, Italy.

This fennel was light and even a little spicy. It added a summery crunch to our white bean salad. To make your own, mix together cannellini beans, sliced fennel, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. I imagine that freshly seared tuna would turn this appetizer into an entrée.

Language Bookstore: Tempo Book Distributors in Washington, D.C.

2011-07-05T08:02:00.000-04:00

Tempo Book Distributors in Washington, D.C., has a wide collection of books to help you to learn a second language. If you are looking to support an independent bookstore, buy your dictionaries, workbooks, travel books and more in their store or online. When I recently visited their store, they had a strong collection of Italian language books.

What have you purchased at Tempo Book Distributors?