Recipe Collections

Fettuccine with Zucchini in a Saffron Cream Sauce and our new Ipad App

May 14, 2012
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The secret of Fettuccine with Zucchini and Saffron is to cut the zucchini into sticks thin enough and cook them long enough to release their rich sweet flavor. In the app, Giuliano shows in his video how and why this works so well.

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Marcella Hazan’s Halibut Recipe

May 10, 2012

It’s already good, just be careful not overcook it.

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Italian Ricotta Cheesecake for Mother’s Day

May 7, 2012
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This ricotta cheesecake is airy and smooth and doesn’t make one feel heavy. At the party, it was the first dessert to go –next time I’ll have to make more.

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Grilled Marinated Chicken Breast and The Today Show

April 30, 2012
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(Grilled and Marinated Chicken) is a casual dish that solves the problem of dried out chicken. Marinating it with lemon starts the cooking process and actually reduces the time on the grill. The breasts come out succulent and flavorful, wonderful for all of us in the rest of the family who enjoy chicken.

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Artichoke Risotto: Risotto ai Carciofi

April 24, 2012
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Creating artichoke risotto can be a bit intimidating. The artichokes need to be trimmed properly and at first the technique can be a bit daunting. No worries, just a bit of practice is needed. We like to use the small artichokes that in our stores come in packets. They are more tender than the big globe artichokes and are easier to trim.

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Chocolate Custard with an Italian Twist of Amaretti Cookies

April 17, 2012
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The only hard part in this recipe is waiting for it to cool. If we aren’t careful, we often will see smudge marks on the top where our youngest daughter has “checked” to see if it was ready yet. However, this is not just a children’s dessert, it is an elegant ending to an adult meal.

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Beef Tenderloin on a Salt Block

March 14, 2012
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After only a few minutes we had the most delectable, mouth watering, perfectly seasoned meat.

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Easy Truffle Cheese Scrambled Eggs

February 27, 2012
Easy Scrambled Eggs with Truffle Cheese

We woke up late on a Sunday morning and didn’t have to rush anywhere. We were able to enjoy each other’s company like the old, still in love, married couple that we are. I made these Easy sottocenre eggs for Giuliano and he pronounced them delicious.

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Tiramisu: The perfect pick me up dessert

October 3, 2011
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Tiramisù literally means “pick me up” so it’s important to use richly flavored Italian coffee, which is easily made in a stovetop Moka. One of the key ingredients in Tiramisù is mascarpone, and we add it, one third at a time, incorporating it into the mixture taking care not to over-whip it. Finally, whip the cream until it is firm and carefully fold it in.

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Fresh Isn’t Always Necessarily Better: Canned Tuna vs. Fresh

September 29, 2011
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Fresh tuna, a bland, almost neutral-tasting meat can’t compare with the irresistible flavor of good Mediterranean tuna packed in olive oil.

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Spaghetti with Melon: A Luscious Summer Pasta

June 29, 2011

My mother-in-law, Marcella Hazan, started making this cantaloupe pasta dish at home and now Giuliano often makes it when we have friends over. Once it is cooked, the melon is mostly unrecognizable and it’s great fun seeing if people can guess what the sauce’s “secret” ingredient is. The freshness of the dish is soothing on a hot evening and takes full advantage of the bounty of summer.

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Spaghetti alla Norma Recipe

May 13, 2011
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This is a recipe we have taught in our home cooking class and is delicious. This dish was named after Vincenzo Bellini’s opera, Norma. It is a typical Sicilian pasta recipe, flavorful, fresh, and even vegetarian. It is exceptional with fresh farmer’s market produce.

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A Sexy Side Dish: Potatoes with Truffle Salt Recipe

April 21, 2011
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We prepared them simply, boiled with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil and a dash of truffle salt. They were delicious and tender, I looked at Giuliano and said,“ It’s a pity that potatoes don’t get more respect”. I know I will never take a potato for granted again.

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Pesto: The Taste Of Spring

April 13, 2011
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The beauty of pesto is that it is easily freezable which makes it available at anytime. But to me, it is the quintessential spring dish. We tend to eat it in the traditional manner, just the pasta with a few boiled green beans and sliced potatoes; however, it is great as a primo, first dish, during an Easter Feast.

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Chocolate Cookies and a Thank You to Fire Fighters

April 4, 2011
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These are fun and easy cookies to make. Even the smallest child can assist. The greatest challenge is to get them to actually make the cookies rather than just eating the yummy dough.

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Barley and Tomato Salad Recipe for a Potluck

March 29, 2011

Cooking barley is just like rice, yet the grain has a nutty flavor that gives depth to the dish. Add the tomato, parsley and onion to the dish and you are set with an easily transportable dish that all will enjoy.

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Carrot Almond Cake Recipe

March 22, 2011
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here are equal amounts carrots and almonds in this cake recipe, and both flavors are present and not covered up. It doesn’t have that heavy, oily, overly sweet flavor that is sometimes present in store bought carrot cakes. We’ve found that it doesn’t need to have a cream cheese toping; instead we serve each with a dollop of simple homemade whipped cream

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Italian Custard Pie Recipe: Torta Della Nonna and a review of two new google rich snippets recipe plugins

March 16, 2011
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After all the discussion of the new google mandates and just trying to figure out what a rich snippet is and figure out which google recipe plugins we should use, we will all need something sweet to pick us up. Since our girls are very much into baking, I thought it would be good for them to make one of the Sorelle Simili, the Simili sisters, fabulous treats, their Torta Della Nonna, or Grandmother’s cake. Long ago the sister’s had given their recipe of this homey and comforting pie to Giuliano. I thought it was a perfect chance for the girls to learn how to make custard and to roll out pie dough.

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Short Ribs Braised with Tomatoes and Potatoes Recipe

March 8, 2011
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These fork-tender, succulent short ribs are the perfect antidote to a cold winter’s day. By the end the potatoes become partly mashed, and together with the tomatoes form a wonderful thick sauce.

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Marcella Answers a Question about Risotto

March 4, 2011
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A recent letter to Marcella and her answer: Here is the recipe for squash risotto. Dear Marcella I thought of you watching Top Chef these last couple of weeks. One chef used cream in his risotto, to make it creamy, and clearly that would make any student of yours upset. Then Tom Colicchio said that [...]

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Grilled Endive Recipe

March 1, 2011
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A wonderful way of preparing endive is to grill it, which gives it a deep, nutty flavor and sweetens it. Last week Giuliano grilled some and the children liked it so much it was gone in an instant.

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In Praise of Tenderness

February 24, 2011
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Why are we bringing home rock-hard fruit, stuffing it sometimes in a brown bag where we are told it will ripen? It’s the sun not a paper bag that ripens fruit, that makes it produce succulent, sugary flesh. Have we all forgotten the difference?

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Bolognese Lasagne

February 21, 2011
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Lasagne makers are often judged on how many layers than can create. Five or six layers are considered the minimum for acceptability. Ooh’s and ahh’s occur the higher they go. For my birthday celebration, Giuliano created a spectacular 9-layer lasagne!

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Valentine’s Day Strawberry Gelato Recipe

February 13, 2011
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In Italy, il giorno della festa degli innamorati or Valentine’s day is considered to be an imported American holiday. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t celebrated, particularly with chocolates, roses, or in this case, Strawberry Gelato!

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Classic Bolognese Meat Sauce

February 7, 2011
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In classic Bolognese, the sauce and the pasta are in symbiosis and enhance each other. This is one of those sauces that is best with homemade egg pasta, and is a delicacy that, in my family, we could eat weekly.

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Nutella Semifreddo in honor of World Nutella Day

February 5, 2011
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This is a sweet and creamy dessert that the kids love, yet is sophisticated enough for adults too. Lorella made it as a semifreddo in a glass for the adults, she then surrounded it with chocolate and created popsicles for the kids. Semifreddo in Italian means half frozen, and this recipe had the airy chewiness of meringue mixed with the sweet flavor of Nutella. A fun dessert for the entire family.

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Salmon in a Pouch Recipe and a hands on Cooking Class

January 25, 2011
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Although salmon is not a native Italian fish, and is rarely seen on restaurant menus in Italy, it lends itself well to Italian preparations. In this recipe, it is baked in a pouch, which is an easy and forgiving way to cook fish, ensuring it will turn out moist and flavorful. The presentation is impressive and your guests will ooh and ahh both when the y see it as well as when they taste it.

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Classic Tuscan Ribollita Soup

January 17, 2011
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Now when your local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm delivers a mountain of kale, you’ll know what to do with it. Both of our girls enjoyed this soup. In fact, our oldest, 11 year old Gabriella, brought it to school in her thermos for lunch and said that all of her friends were jealous. It is very easy to make and freezes well if you’ve made more than you need.

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Rosemary and Garlic Roasted Potatoes

January 10, 2011
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Roasted potatoes are perhaps the ultimate comfort cold weather food.. What makes this dish Italian are the seasonings. The combination of garlic and rosemary is the distinctive aroma of Italian roasts. Breathing it is as one enters the house makes one’s mouth water in anticipation. For me, it is the smell of tranquility.

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Italian New Year’s Tortellini Recipe

January 3, 2011
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In the Italian region where our family is from, Emilia Romagnia, a traditional New Year’s dish is Tortellini or Cappelletti: small filled pasta that is shaped, according to some, like a Bishops hat. Cappelletti means little hats, and New Year’s, Capo di Anno, is the hat or head of the year so it is an obvious pairing. They are at their best in a homemade meat broth but they are also delicious served with a cream sauce. However you choose to enjoy them, they are a delicacy to look forward to all year long.

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