Posts under ‘Flavors’

Just about every town in Italy has it’s special dish. Most of the time it’s shared with other towns in the area, but often each town has its own version of the same dish. That can make things interesting when it comes to trying to figure out a recipe for something you’ve tasted.
Yes, you can [...]

Luigi, like most toddlers, likes to snack throughout the day. He eats only a little at a time, but he eats often, which is actually quite challenging since I want him to eat healthy things. Most snack-type foods don’t even qualify remotely as “healthy”, so what’s a mom to do?
Luigi’s favorite all-time food is cheese, [...]

It is a chicken dish and it’s named after a king, but that’s about all it has in common with the chicken a la king that we’re used to seeing.
I found this recipe in a book called “I sapori di Abruzzo e Molise” (the flavors of Abruzzo and Molise) that I picked up [...]

Usually when I make pasta it’s fairly light, with vegetables or tomato sauce and without meat. But, every once in a while a good stick-to-your-ribs meaty sauce (ragù) like this one hits the spot. Of course, these kinds of sauces also take more time to make since the longer the cook the better they taste.
You [...]

I have this amazing sage plant growing on my balcony. It’s not your typical sage with the pointy leaf, but the flavor is the same and it’s growing like mad.

While I’ve always loved the taste of sage, this plant is spurring me to try more and more things made with sage. Beer battered sage [...]

I’ve found that cooking chicken can be challenging here in Italy. The Italians don’t have the same fondness for chicken breast that Americans seem to have. At least O doesn’t. He’d rather have the legs or thighs.
I have to admit, if not cooked well, chicken breasts can be dry and tasteless, but despite the fact [...]

Macedonia was an ancient Greek kingdom. Today’s Republic of Macedonia was once part of Yugoslavia. But, what in the world does that have to do with fruit?
I have no idea why, but Macedonia here in Italy is a type of fruit salad. And no, it’s nothing like the canned fruit cocktail with the mushy [...]

Even though I’ve been here for over 3 years now, I still make mistakes when I’m speaking Italian. The most common one I make is mixing up feminine and masculine nouns. Something that can really get you in big trouble – take my word for it.
Another mistake I make, though less frequently,  is putting the [...]

I love going to the green grocer these days. There are so many fresh vegetables to choose from.
No, I’m not a vegetarian, but I’ll pass on the meat and go for the vegetables any day. Especially if they’re nice and fresh.
So, when I went the other day and saw the eggplant, I had to get [...]

Otherwise known as steak in the style of the pizza-man.  I’m assuming it gets it’s name because the sauce, which is made with oregano, tastes like pizza sauce.

But, don’t get hung up on the word steak, which makes me start thinking about filet mignon or porterhouse. It’s actually made with what are called fettine in [...]