Julia’s Sweet Potato Gnocchi Recipe Airs on NPR

 Posted by at 10:45 pm  4 Responses »
Feb 212014
 
Julia's Sweet Potato Gnocchi Recipe Airs on NPR

If you missed it, click on the logo below to hear my broadcast on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” The lead: For 27 years, Julia made her gnocchi with sweet potatoes, mixing an American staple into the classic recipe. “Here I was, one foot in the new world and one foot in Italy, where my family is from, and they seemed perfect for gnocchi. Why not?” And in all that time, her dumplings were sweet, served with a hazelnut butter sauce, and — most importantly — a lovely shade of orange. This is one way I serve them–American style–alongside roasted duck. […more…]

Julia on NPR Radio: “Found Recipe”–Sweet Potato Gnocchi to Brighten Your Winter

 Posted by at 4:11 pm  4 Responses »
Feb 192014
 
Julia on NPR Radio: "Found Recipe"--Sweet Potato Gnocchi to Brighten Your Winter

February, with its serial blizzards and record-shattering low temperatures has been a cruel month for New Yorkers. At the farmers market, such as it is, there are root vegetables galore, potatoes that have been in storage since fall, and not much else. In truth, it’s the best time for pillowy sweet potato gnocchi, which are best made when the tubers are not freshly harvested and brimming with moisture. My friend and neighbor, Joan Gussow, grows her own sweet potatoes and we made them together on a recent blustery day along with my two daughters in her light-filled kitchen on the […more…]

Italian Chefs Fight Forgery of Italian Food with Official Recipe for “Spaghetti al Pomodoro con Basilico”

 Posted by at 1:11 pm  13 Responses »
Jan 232014
 
Italian Chefs Fight Forgery of Italian Food with Official Recipe for "Spaghetti al Pomodoro con Basilico"

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…]

Julia’s Stories Make 2013 Zester Daily Top Picks, Site for the “Weird and Wonderful” in Food and Drink

 Posted by at 9:06 pm  5 Responses »
Jan 132014
 
Julia's Stories Make 2013 Zester Daily Top Picks, Site for the "Weird and Wonderful" in Food and Drink

Judging by the top picks of the savvy food crowd that reads Zester Daily, it looks like people just can’t get enough of Italian food. Good thing, because there are endless more tales to tell and dishes to make you smile, up my proverbial sleeve. Zester Daily is not any ordinary food publication, but a cooperative of experienced writers from around the world who bring you the fresh, the undiscovered, the “weird and the wonderful,” writes founder and editor, Corie Brown. Contributors don’t have to fit into any magazine template to sound and look like everyone else, or be muzzled […more…]

Sweet Potato Gnocchi: A New Dish for the New Year

 Posted by at 7:45 pm  2 Responses »
Dec 312013
 
Sweet Potato Gnocchi: A New Dish for the New Year

Nothing comforts more than these warm, plump nuggets of belly bliss when the frigid temperature sets in. It’s the season for tubers, and time for inventing new ways with the stalwart spuds.  Sweet potato gnocchi sparkle with color and brim with goodness, whether made with the traditional American orange-fleshed variety, or the exotic new Stokes purple that has turned up in some markets. For the details, see my latest article in Zester Daily. In the spirit of the season, I used both to accompany our holiday duck since orange is the ancient color of good fortune, while purple, symbol of peace and magic, has […more…]

Puritans and Pasta? A Fanciful Riff on the First Thanksgiving

 Posted by at 9:04 pm  1 Response »
Nov 252013
 
Puritans and Pasta? A Fanciful Riff on the First Thanksgiving

Who thinks Italians invented the first Thanksgiving dish? Calvin Trillin, that’s who. Read all about it in my latest article for Zester Daily, “How Pilgrims Almost Ruined Spaghetti alla Carbonara,” and while you’re there, find the original and genuine recipe for one of Italy’s most wildly popular (and simplest) pasta dishes of all, spaghetti alla carbonara. You can serve it as a first course – like the Romans do. Or if you aren’t a turkey fan, you can make it your Thanksgiving centerpiece. If not, make it any old time. Continue reading here…    

There’s Got to be a Morning After, or What to Do With the Turkey Carcass

 Posted by at 1:28 am  No Responses »
Nov 252013
 
There's Got to be a Morning After, or What to Do With the Turkey Carcass

With all the fuss about the Thanksgiving bird and all the sides, we too often neglect to talk about what to do with the turkey carcass. Personally, I look forward to it all year. Here’s why, as told to Molly O’Neill, who first published my recipe in her  Cook ‘ Scribble blog three years ago. It all started with my mother, who didn’t believe in passing lasagne or big bowls of macaroni and meatballs at the Thanksgiving table like many Italian-American families did when I was growing up in New York. She and my father were native Italians and she always […more…]

There is More Than One Way to Skin a Pumpkin

 Posted by at 10:20 pm  7 Responses »
Oct 272013
 
There is More Than One Way to Skin a Pumpkin

Around this time of year the food press sounds its perennial advice on pumpkin pie, but what is usually overlooked are the endless dishes, both sweet and savory, that you can make using edible pumpkins and squashes. Probably no one reveres the pumpkin as much as the Italians, and the Venetians in particular, the subject of my most recent article for Zester Daily, “Why Venice Adores its Pumpkins.” Read about the Venetians’ love affair with zucca, and find my heirloom recipe for savory pumpkin or winter squash stew with tomato, dry-cured olives, and garlic.  

Canal House Interprets Italian Cooking–With Deft

 Posted by at 12:50 am  2 Responses »
Oct 242013
 
Canal House Interprets Italian Cooking--With Deft

This is not the first time I’ve touted Canal House Cooking, but time and again, in the midst of our burgeoning American food revolution, the remarkable talent of the two women behind this homespun, deeply felt culinary venture, inspires. I first got to know Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton, the photographer-artist publishing team a few years back when they were photographing my book, Italian Home Cooking: 125 Recipes to Comfort Your Soul. While many gifted chefs are turning the American restaurant scene into a mecca that even the most discerning foreign traveler now marvels at, Christopher and Melissa have, instead, […more…]

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