Homemade Tortellini
on Nov 10, 2009 in Pasta Last week I posted a recipe for Tortellini Pasticcio. What I did not mention in that post is that the tortellini I used were homemade.  I had still been tweaking the recipe for the filling and wanted to wait until I settled on a final combination of...

Tortellini Pasticcio
on Oct 30, 2009 in Pasta Tortellini alla Panna is a classic Northern Italian preparation of meat filled Tortellini tossed in a cream sauce. My father used to serve a Tortellini Pasticcio that consisted of Tortellini alla Panna layered with Bolognese Sauce and then baked in t...

Springpad - Save Your Recipes
on Oct 5, 2009A few months ago I was invited to join a new website called Springpad. Springpad is a free online personal organizer that helps people get things done. From food and entertainment to parenting and managing the day-to-day, Springpad makes it easy for...

Cookbook Recipe: Urban Italian
on Sep 7, 2009 in Cookbooks In addition to our own original recipes, we like to feature recipes from some of our favorite cookbooks on The Italian Chef from time to time. Urban Italian: Simple Recipes and True Stories from a Life in Food by Andrew Carmellini and Gwen Hyman had...

Lasagna Bolognese
on Sep 1, 2009 in Pasta Lasagna   There are several things that differentiate Lasagna Bolognese from the Sothern Italian style Lasagna that is more familiar to Americans. The most noticeable differences are the use of Béchamel Sauce instead of ricotta cheese, and the absence of...

Pasta with Sausage and Tomatoes
on Aug 24, 2009 in Pasta Sausage I wanted to make a pasta dish Sunday for dinner and since I had just recently made and frozen a large batch of Italian sausage, Sandy suggested I defrost a few and make pasta with sausage. Great idea! I used sweet sausage for this but if you want to...

Fresh Italian Sausage
on Aug 13, 2009 in Charcuterie Sausage I have been making my own sausage for a few years now, ever since I picked up the book Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn.  Charcuterie is probably my favorite cookbook, even though the only re...

Puglia: A Culinary Memoir
on Aug 11, 2009 in Cookbooks The first book in the new Italy's Food Culture series of cookbooks, translated from the original Italian, by Oronzo Editions, Puglia: A Culinary Memoir, covers a regional cuisine that I would venture is not familiar to many Americans.  Personally,...

Hand-Rolled Lasagna
on Jul 27, 2009 in Pasta Lasagna About a year or so after my father sold his restaurant and retired, I decided to get back in the restaurant business part-time, mostly to earn some extra money. I got a job waiting tables at a restaurant called Biscotti in Ridgefield, CT where the ch...

Grilled Pizza Puttanesca
on Jul 20, 2009 in Italian Grill Pizza I was going to include this pizza in the same post as the Grilled Pizza with Cherry Tomatoes I featured recently. At the time I was just topping it with chopped olives and capers and it was very good that way, but I still felt something was lacking.