pasta

Master Pasta Class in Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Kitchen!

August 17, 2012

How would you like to roll up your sleeves and make some magic with flour and eggs? On Sunday, September 9, I’ll be teaching a Master Pasta Class at the D.C. home of my friend Cathy Barrow (a.k.a. Mrs Wheelbarrow). This is a special 4-hour class in which we will be making three fresh pasta [...]

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Cavolo Verza {Savoy Cabbage}

November 28, 2011

That beautiful specimen you see in the photo is a head of Savoy cabbage. Italian cooks do wonderful things with this cabbage, which they refer to as cavolo verza. (The name Savoy refers to the historical region in northern Italy in which the cabbage thrives, and also to the House of Savoy, which ruled newly unified [...]

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A Trip to Hawaii and A “Re-Entry” Family Dish

August 15, 2011

Coming back from vacation is tough. No matter how good it feels to be home, it also feels kind of bad. One day you’re lolling on the beach, or body surfing off the coast of Oahu, or enjoying a coconut cocktail at the famously pink Royal Hawaiian Hotel. The next day you’re wading not through [...]

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The Family Dish: Ziti with Sausage, Spinach, and Cream

June 29, 2011

I suppose my daughter, Adriana, should be writing this post, but it’s summer and she is off with her BFF on a bike ride, so the text falls to me. The recipe is all hers. It’s an incredibly simple, flavor-packed pasta dish that she dreamed up a few weeks ago while we were in the [...]

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Spaghetti al Farouk: Abruzzo circa 1975

June 17, 2011

I’m pretty sure it was my dad who ordered the Spaghetti al Farouk at that restaurant on the beach. It was like nothing we’d ever had before—silky noodles tossed with fresh Adriatic seafood and cloaked in a creamy, golden saffron- and curry-laced sauce that was spiked with ginger. This was a long time ago, more [...]

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A Glorious Pasta Party!

June 1, 2011

There is, as far as I’m concerned, only one way to celebrate a new book about pasta, and that is to throw an outrageously delicious, no-holds-barred Glorious Pasta Party! As some of you already know, today is the official publication date for my latest cookbook, The Glorious Pasta of Italy. To help give my baby [...]

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Peas…with a little news tossed in

May 20, 2011

When my kids were little, I used to make them shell the peas I brought home from the farmers’ market. This accomplished several things: It kept their little hands busy, and it freed mine for other tasks. Also, it made them participants in the preparation of dinner, which I liked. My son, the oldest, used [...]

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Looking for Inspiration? Open Your Eyes…and Get to Work

February 21, 2011

Why on earth did I decide to write a book about pasta? Why pick such a well-trodden subject? Or, to put the question in more general terms, how do you take a subject that has been written about–a lot–and make it new? I considered this question recently in an essay I wrote for WORDS, the [...]

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A New Year, A New Cookbook!

January 4, 2011

Buon Anno! Happy New Year, everyone! I thought it would be fun, and fitting, to begin 2011 with this sneak peek at the cover of my forthcoming cookbook, The Glorious Pasta of Italy, which is scheduled for release in June. [Update: Now available on Amazon] This is my third cookbook, and my third collaboration with [...]

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