Last weekend we had a post Thanksgiving dinner party.  Since everyone was pretty well stuffed with Turkey, we wanted something completely different — a crowd-pleaser on a cold night.  So we went for a dinner that’s ‘tutto italiano’ from main course to desert.  Now baked pasta…

        Ten years ago, I got a call from a friend named Ethel, who, at the last minute, couldn’t use her tickets to a big bash given by The Film Society of Lincoln Center.  My work partner, Cathy, and I promptly called our respective spouses…

It’s Thanksgiving and if ever there was a time to cook, this is it.  I love this holiday. Like many people who weren’t born in this country, I see this day as a true celebration of America.  And in its inclusion of everyone– regardless of…

        Andrew Carmellini is a New York chef whom we’ve followed from one restaurant success to another.  First, we encountered Andrew’s take on contemporary Italian cooking at the original A Voce right off Madison Square Park at 41 Madison Avenue at 26th Street.    How well…

   Let’s be honest:  Balsamic Vinegar has taken the place of red sauce Italian in terms of being found almost too often.   It’s unfortunate too that America’s love affair with this ingredient is so completely antithetical to the way it’s used in Italy.  There, it…

        “The Joy of Cooking” was one of the first cookbooks I was ever aware of.  It, along with Boston Cooking School Cookbook (aka Fanny Farmer), the enormous Gourmet Cookbooks Volumes 1 and 2, and something called “The Encyclopedia of Canadian Cooking” (yes, Encyclopedia) formed…

        Eataly, in case you haven’t heard, is a 42,000 square foot grocery emporium that’s just opened at 200 Fifth Avenue.  And everything in it hails from or owes its existence to Italy from the on-premises cooking school to the rooftop beer garden.   The original…

All these beautiful vegetables go into this delicious Curry        I don’t know what verb I’d use to describe my reaction to the latest statistics showing that Americans just don’t eat their vegetables….Appalled? Shocked? Disturbed?  I’d have to say none of the above. …

        Who doesn’t need a weeknight supper they can get on the table in under 30 minutes?  This dish from Fine Cooking is a keeper.  It really was on the table in no time.  It’s got a lot of flavor and crunch.  It gives you…

        The boys at Baked, Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, were inspired to create this dessert by the King himself.   Elvis’s obsession with Peanut Butter is well known.  I first read about it when my friend Yvonne gave me “Are You Hungry Tonight?” by the…

        I’ve waited all summer for the first cool day to arrive.  Not that I don’t love every minute of summer, it’s just that I have been dying to try this gorgeous dish ever since I saw it in House Beautiful. With yet another dire…

David Falkowski’s  Oyster Mushrooms are beyond compare Leeks from the Foster Family Farm         One of the joys of being part of the Farmer’s Markets this fall has been getting first dibs on some incredible produce.  The market opens at 9 but everyone is generally…

Carrot Orzo–what a discovery!         This is one of those times when the photograph of the dish simply doesn’t do justice to the incredible taste of this easy-to-prepare meal.  But here it’s not just the presence of the prosciutto that packs the wallop, or the…

            In my family, the only person who could express any food dislikes was my Father.  He had a couple of them.  But as children, any misgivings we had about what to eat were not paid any attention to. You…