Stroll through the stalls of one of the food markets that, every Sunday morning, you can find in my neighborhood. I am one among many, the still floppy cotton shopper slung over my shoulder lazily waiting to be filled. I glance at the food the stalls offer, looking more carefully at my favorites. I take…
If a book about grandmothers served the purpose of not missing mine, I would look for it. I'm usually able to manage memories, but some days, it is hard to manage their B-sides. Yes, memories have two sides, like coins and old vinyl records.
Side A makes memories a soft dough that will rise in the oven; it…
In this gastronomic journey along the Via Emilia in search and rediscovery of familiar memories and flavors, sometimes it happens that I discover little culinary surprises. Recipes I have never heard of, such as the 5 minutes cake or, in Italian, torta dei cinque minuti. Honestly, I was surprised to discover that The Slow Food Dictionary…
That is the Bolognese recipe for non-Bolognese chifel.
It sounds bizarre, I know. Now I'll tell you the story. The recipe for chifel (or chiffel or kipfel) demonstrates how recipes are travelers with great adaptability. From Austria, Kipfel means half-moon in German. And it is the shape created by Viennese baker Peter Vendier to celebrate the defeat of…
The bustrengo cake is a pantry staple recipe from the peasant tradition of Romagna. But it is widespread beyond also. It is an ancient recipe that the gastronome Graziano Pozzetto, an expert on the cuisine of Romagna, defines as the cake of the peasant family because prepared with the ingredients usually available in the pantry. A pantry…
This traditional ciambella of Imola is a recipe from San Domenico, a starred restaurant in the small Romagna town where I was born and raised. I could say it is a starred ciambella. A few years ago, I wrote a cookbook with a journalist friend.
The book Presto ch'è pronto, written by a journalist friend and me…
I love baking pane. Maybe because I love its taste and I have always eaten it with gusto.
There was the buttered slices of white bread that I ate without jam.
The common bread (pane comune) on the table at lunchtime and again for dinner.
There were the baskets of different breads and breadsticks for Sunday lunch or if…
Have you ever visited Bologna?
Do you know or have you ever tasted the local focaccia called crescente?
From Pellegrino Artusi (Recipe No. 194) to the Simili sisters, legendary Bolognese cooking teachers, no cookbook does not mention this focaccia. I leave it to the Italian gastronome to introduce it in his own words:
When I first heard…
The apple cake is one of the most popular homemade desserts in Italy.
Likewise appreciated are tarts and ciambelle.
At my home, ciambella was also very popular. When I was a child, Grandma baked almost every day something I ate for breakfast and merenda. What I'm going to share is the recipe for a…
End of August.
The end of summer is behind the corner. And before the season ends, I share a recipe for a "good by chance" peach and macaroon cake. Now I'm telling you the genesis of this cake. Happy times to remember.
Of the summer of the year that I will not -no one of us- forget, I…