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Polenta: The Day After

If you are like me, you always make far too much polenta.  The bag of polenta meal seems so small, and it can’t possibly be enough to feed everyone, right? Ok, I’ll add just a little bit more. Wrong. That little bag of polenta can feed 10 people.  Which means I still have enough polenta […]

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Polenta Ostenga con Gamberetti… Italian Shrimp & Grits!

I wrote my last post, declaring my love affair with spring, a mite too soon.  Yesterday I woke up to a snow storm.  Needless to say, it made me quite disgruntled. In need of something to warm ourselves up from the unexpected winter blast, we held an impromptu polenta party last night.   There is nothing […]

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A Polenta Gathering

Polenta, I love you. Yes, I know that I declare my undying love for every food I write about.  It is because there is so  much great food in the world. But polenta holds a special place in my heart (and stomach). Before I moved here, I thought polenta was the stuff that came in […]

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The many faces of radicchio (and oven roasted treviso radicchio)

I love radicchio…..I don’t know why, but I’m  simply enamored with bitter vegetables this winter.  I never really noticed radicchio when I lived in the US, but in Italy, I simply can’t escape it.  I walk into the vegetable market and I am literally faced with a wall of more types of radicchio than I […]

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An Ode to Agretti

Agretti, Agretti, how do I love thee! I’m sure the neighbors think I’m crazy.  I’ve been waltzing around the house proclaiming my love to this deletable vegetable in song.  But if ever a vegetable deserved to be serenaded, it is agretti. I stopped by our village vegetable market on  my way to picking up some […]

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Roasted Brussels Sprouts…I love you!

I think I have a Brussels sprouts problem. I used to hate them.  Passionately.  I remember being dared to smell one as a child, and it scarred me for life.  However, I recently started craving them out of the blue (it freaked me out, to be honest.  Who craves Brussels sprouts?), and I’ve been roasting- […]

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figs with bleu d'aosta and caramelized onions

Fresh Figs Topped with Bleu d’Aoste, Balsamic & Caramelized Onions

I really need to stop making posts about using seasonal foods right when they are going out of season.  But this is too good to not share!  My excuse is that I was busy eating and creating recipes like the one below, and not writing. Earlier this summer, I had what felt like a stroke […]

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Cornmeal Crusted Zucchini and Tomato Tower

Soon after planting my garden this year, I realized I made a mistake.  Four zucchini plants are far too many for a household of two!  We soon became very sick of zucchini.   That is, until a couple of weeks ago when I came up with a spectacular use of the veggie, inspired by a […]

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Jam Making for Jamaphobes

It’s jam season! Yum! Plum & star anise jam on top of local goat toma and organic walnut sourdough bread baked in a wood fired oven Actually, it’s been jam-making season for quite some time, but I’ve been too busy canning to write about it.  Even as I’m writing, I hear the plums insisting that […]

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Black Bread Adventure and Zuppa Valpellinese

A few days ago I took my mom and her friend Randy up to the village of Ozein.  It’s a paradise…there is no other word for it!  Well, a paradise for people who love ancient picturesque villages immersed in a sea of wildflowers, with breathtaking views of the tallest mountains of Europe.  It’s pretty spectacular.  […]

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