Rachael Ray

I decided to make a classic Sicilian dessert called the Cassata cake. It’s really like the filling of a cannoli stuffed in the middle of a sponge cake. My family has been making this cake for generations and it’s time I learn how to do it myself. Halfway through, I realized I made a major mistake. Let’s hope it comes out okay. Here’s what I did right and wrong: First, I printed out the Cassata Cake recipe from our website, sent to us by Joan Crosby. What I didn’t see when I read the recipe is that you are supposed to whip the heavy cream first before you add it to the filling you make. [...]...

One of my favorite tastes is roasted garlic. I love the way the whole house smells just when the garlic gets going in the oven, but this is so easy, you can do it on the grill if you are already out there grilling other things and you don’t want to heat up the house with the oven on. Roasted garlic is delicious served with some flatbread or crackers. Once roasted, the garlic becomes soft and spreadable, like butter. It also sweetens and becomes mild so you don’t have to worry about a bitter garlic taste or “agita”, aka Italian heartburn. You can also use roasted garlic as an ingredient in other things, as Rachael does with a few [...]...

Here is an email to me from my aunt, Rachel Cala: In Italy, food has always played a symbolic and important role in Easter Festivities. The egg is the Christian emblem of the Resurrection, and Sicilians love to make charming miniature pastry baskets, breads and “dolls” of homemade bread called Buba Cul’Uova. I can remember my own Sicilian grandmother, Rachela Sacco, my namesake, showing me at an early age, the intricacies of pulling, folding and placing an egg in a doll’s nest. My Mom had told me that old timers could not afford expensive chocolate and substituted these dolls for their children on Easter morning. We always looked forward to helping Grandma make them. Of course, we lived [...]...

Last weekend, we had some friends over for a post St Joseph’s Day and not quite Easter party. We knew we wouldn’t see these friends for the actual holidays, so we made a hybrid meal. The St Joseph’s Day tradition is a Sicilian one, really. It isn’t nearly as popular as it used to be but the idea is that Joseph was a generous, pious and poor man. To honor him, on March 19th, you are supposed to open your home to your friends, family and neighbors. Everyone is welcome to your table where people come together and try simple, meatless dishes. A very traditional meal for St Joseph’s Day might be Pasta Con Le Sarde [...]...

Caponata, or as my Sicilian family calls it, Capunatina, is a Southern Italian classic. Really it comes from Sicily and you can tell that this one has Arab roots. It’s easy to mess up Caponata so it’s important to take every ingredient seriously and take it slow. Here’s my recipe for this dish from heaven: Take one eggplant and cut it into cubes. Don’t peel it-the skin adds flavor. Put the cubes in a colander and salt it liberally. Toss the cubes and let sit in the sink for an hour so the bitterness drains from the eggplant. Meanwhile, cut up 4 stalks of celery, 1 onion, red or white, 1 cup black or green Sicilian [...]...

I decided to make Brasciole for our New Year’s Eve fancy dinner and I realized I had some leftover ham in the fridge from the day before.  I didn’t want to throw it out, but I had never used ham in brasciole.  So what do you think I did?  I called Ms Rachael Ray and asked her what she would do.  She suggested using it and said really any salty pork would work just fine.  So I pounded out the beef and filled it with chopped ham, breadcrumbs, grated Pecorino Romano, chopped onion, garlic and parsley and a little chopped hard boiled eggs.  Rolled it up and browned it in a pan. Now normally you would braise a brasciole in the [...]...

I was looking this morning at this pasta I brought home from Italy, made from farro. I found what sounds like a delicious recipe for this particular kind of pasta, or for a whole wheat pasta, from Pino Luongo and Mark Strausman’s book, Two Meatballs in the Italian Kitchen. A great book, by the way! Anyway, the sauce is simple-you just saute alot of garlic in EVOO, add some crushed or whole San Marzano tomatoes, and some red hot pepper flakes. It’s so simple but it goes so well with a hearty farro or whole wheat penne. What a delicious Sunday lunch we are to have today! Molto bene! Anyway, it got me thinking about [...]...

We visited this tiny, walled village this year and it proved to be one of my favorite places in Italy. Known for its handicrafts, such as the ironworks, the ceramics and the weavings, this place was full of hand made goods that carry a taste of the village and the people who made them. This was a very rustic place to visit, and one that I will return to again and again-but not in the winter as I hear it gets really cold since it is in the mountains! I thought you would enjoy some of my photos of the town called Bevagna-it stole my heart. a boy stands outside a bakery/pizzeria, although the pizza here is [...]...

As your amico italiano and a lover of Italian foods, I wanted to show you our handy dandy Italian cooking guide that we launched.  Take me to the guide. This little mini site has appetizers, pizzas, pastas, main courses and desserts all with Italian flavors and flair.  We thought you might like to find this all in one place so you could plan an Italian night with all the pieces.  First you must have an antipasto (appetizer).  Then you serve the pasta (primo) then the meat or fish course (secondo) and finally a dolci.  Have room for all that?  You will find a way when you see how delicious these dishes are.  With recipes from Rachael Ray, Mario Batali and others, [...]...