I’m on my soapbox on Mother’s Day. Here’s a tip from my house to yours.
May 032014
Apr 182014
Mar 212014
Spring is in the air everywhere, not least at the Italian Trade Commission in New York City, the Italian government agency charged with promoting and educating about Italian products abroad. Always on the job, at a special reception this week for the newly appointed Commissioner and Executive Director, Pier Paolo Celeste, I turned up some discoveries, old and new. One, panettone gastronomico, or unsweetened panettone, a fairly recent phenomenon in Italy for making little bar sandwiches, and new to most Americans. It was carved up into a layered tower of delicious “tramezzini,” triangular sandwiches with various fillings of genuine Italian products. Francine Segan, a […more…]
Mar 192014
Did you know that today is St. Joseph’s Day, or la Festa di San Giuseppe, Fathers Day for the Italians? Because my paternal grandfather’s name was Giuseppe, Joseph, there was always a celebration with special foods, and a favorite pasta dish of their region, orecchiette with rapini (rapine in Italian). Just as Irish immigrants changed the recipe for their storied St. Patrick’s Day soda bread, so my grandparents, once in America, were forced to adapt the pasta dish using broccoli. Cime di rapa, or rapini (“broccoli rabe” as it has come to be known here) were not grown in the United States […more…]
Feb 272014
Here’s an announcement for my next class: Chef’s Kitchen: Cime di Rapa: One Ingredient, Infinite Recipes with Julia della Croce Friday, April 25, 2014 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM (Eastern Time) La Scuola Grande at Eataly 200 Fifth Avenue – New York, New York 10010 (212) 539-0204 ext.304 $110 Class Description Cime di rapa; broccoletti; rapini, rape, friarielli…here is a vegetable dear to the hearts of the southern and central Italians. Loved for its pungent and spicy character, its brilliant pairing with pork or lamb; its affinity for pasta, potatoes, polenta, and egg dishes; or solo, sauteed simply in garlic […more…]
Jan 232014
Spaghetti with tomato sauce are the dream of Italian cuisine, a magic mix of ingredients, wisdom and history that a very few other dishes in the world have. Unfortunately this dish is manipulated, tormented and crucified almost everywhere. –Rosario Scarpato, Honorary President Itchefs-GVCI Once every year, Rosario Scarpato, Neapolitan-born gastronome, writer, film maker/director, and commander-in-chief of ItChefs-GVCI (Virtual Organization of Italian Chefs) makes a global appeal for the preservation of authentic Italian food by live video conference from the amphitheater of the International Culinary Center (ICC) in New York City, reaching 2,000 Italian chefs in 70 countries. “People all over the world are cooking […more…]
May 032013
My formative years were spent not only cooking alongside my Italian mother and aunts, immersed in beautiful food, but also, studying art. I love design especially–interior, graphic and fashion design, architecture… all of it. And so I feel excited to be teaming up with celebrated designer, Christopher Peacock, to kick off this year’s Kips Bay Decorator Show House, a quintessentially New York spectacle. Every year, the most acclaimed interior designers transform a grand Manhattan home into an exhibition of state-of-the- art interiors for the show. The idea was hatched in 1973 when several dedicated advocates of the Kips Bay Boys […more…]
Feb 212013
Did you know that Italian home cooking is an endangered species? Want to know more? Listen to my new broadcast on Heritage National Radio! Click on logo < < < to launch audio. My newest book, an homage to an endangered species. Photo: Hirsheimer and Hamilton
Sep 282012
Visit Cookstr.com on October 2nd and try some of my featured recipes, like “Risotto with Red Radicchio of Verona” or “Roasted Clams with Bacon“ Buon appetito!
Feb 102012
Click on the image to link to that website, and Buon Appetito!