Muesli is a nutritious breakfast dish composed of rolled oats, fresh and dried fruits, seeds, and nuts which are mixed with fruit juices and dairy products such as milk, cream, or yogurt. The recipe for muesli was developed around 1900 by the Swiss physician and nutrition guru, Maximillian Bircher-Benner. Dr. Bircher-Benner was ahead of his [...]
Those of you who have been following my columns these past 6 years, may have noticed by the disproportionate number of dessert articles in the magazine, that I have an insatiable sweet tooth. It should come as no surprise then that I’ll be capping off My Year Of Italy with—well—something sweet. Sfinge, also known as [...]
This 5-star recipe for Potato Gnocchi with Sausage Ragu is from Davide Odore, Master Chef at the Castello di Guarene, a magnificent restored 18th century palazzo/hotel overlooking the Langhe hills in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Potato gnocchi are tiny potato dumplings. They are light, pillowy and delicate in flavor—a perfect base for Chef [...]
My recipe for lasagna is vegetarian. I use spinach and mushrooms and part skim ricotta and mozzarella to make a lighter, healthier dish. With a rather lengthy list of ingredients and several components to the instructions, this is not a quick and easy recipe. Yet, no intricate techniques are required, and there is nothing inherently [...]
Since 2016 is My Year of Italy, and September is back to school month, and kids LOVE pizza, we’re going to have some fun with pizza--rolling, spreading, sprinkling, decorating and getting some veggies into the mix. I’ve provided a kid-friendly basic pizza recipe with a tomato sauce that has some chopped carrots and celery in [...]
Cannoli are Italian pastries originating from the island of Sicily. A staple of Sicilian cuisine, they are also popular in Italian-American cuisine. Cannoli get their name from the Italian word “cannolo” which means “little tube”. They consist of tube shaped shells of pastry dough which are fried in oil and then piped with a velvety [...]
Biancomangiare is a traditional Sicilian white pudding. Dating back to the Middle Ages, biancomangiare, literally means “white food” or “white dish”, and derives its name from the white color of its main ingredients: almond milk, sugar and cornstarch. I learned how to make this delicious and creamy Sicilian dessert during my travels in Palermo, Sicily [...]
Cantucci are Tuscan dipping cookies. They’re also known as biscotti in other regions of Italy as well as here in the U.S. I learned how to make these almond studded beauties from Chef Claudio Piantini last October during our travels in Tuscany, when my husband and I took a private cooking class with the Chef [...]
True story: I learned how to make this scrumptious pasta dish from a Duchess! Early one morning, last October, a group of about ten of us met Duchess Nicoletta Polo Lanzo Tomasi at the Vucciria Market in Palermo, Sicily to begin a day of shopping, cooking, dining and touring a 17th century palazzo. This extraordinary [...]
Last October, during our travels in Tuscany, Italy, my husband and I boarded a train in Florence and headed 29 miles southeast to the charming medieval town, Figline Valdarno, to take a private cooking class with one of the great chefs of Tuscany--Claudio Piantini. It was just the two of us with Chef Claudio in [...]