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Fregola Sarda

Posted July 6, 2012 By Adri

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Fregola sarda (fregola or fregula) is a signature pasta of Sardegna. It is believed to be yet another example of the Moorish influence on Italian cuisine, having come from North Africa. Durum wheat is rolled into tiny balls and toasted, giving the pasta its trademark varicolored golden tint.

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With its nutty taste and pleasing bite fregola is added to soups like Sardegna’s famous Sa fregula con vongole – a clam soup with a saffron broth. Boiled in water, chicken or vegetable stock, it cooks up in about 10 to 12 minutes for a quick side dish, dressed simply with olive oil and Parmigiano or Pecorino sardo. I love to use it in salads. Think of any couscous or bulgur salad you make, and fregola will work beautifully. Read more… »

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Philip Mazzei and the Declaration of Independence

Posted July 3, 2012 By Adri

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Philip Mazzei
b. December 25, 1730 – d. March 19, 1816

 

Tutti gli uomini sono per natura egualmente liberi e indipendenti. Quest’eguaglianza e necessaria per costituire un governo libero. Bisogna che ognuno sia uguale all’altro nel diritto naturale.
-Philip Mazzei – Virginia Gazette, 1774

 

All men are by nature equally free and independent. Such equality is necessary in order to create a free government. All men must be equal to each other in natural law.
-translation by Thomas Jefferson

 

These are the words of Philip (Filipo) Mazzei, Italian emigre, surgeon, businessman, friend and neighbor of Thomas Jefferson. It is so easy for us to think that everyone who lived in the United States prior to the Revolutionary War hailed from England. That is, however not the case. Read more… »

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Mirtilli Mandorla Pops

Posted June 30, 2012 By Adri

Blueberry Grappa Pops

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I was inspired to make these pops as I looked through my copy of People’s Pops by Nathalie Jordi, David Carrell and Joel Horowitz. The authors are the owners of New York City’s People’s Pops. They manufacture thousands of Pops per week, but it was not always that way.

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Like so many artisanal producers, they started out small using the very same home pop maker I do. Although their equipment has been upgraded, their Pops are the same. They are still made from best quality fresh fruit, vegetables and liquor and sweetened with simple syrup just as they were on Day One. Read more… »

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Crostata di albicocche e amaretti

Posted June 23, 2012 By Adri

Apricot and Amaretti Tart

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Summer stone fruit is coming in, and if you want to dress it up, try this crostata. It’s apricot season now, but if you miss the window, fear not. This crostata will work beautifully all through summer – plums, peaches and nectarines are great here. And once fall and winter bring a chill to the air, try apples and pears. This is the original all weather dessert. Read more… »

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Punch Abruzzo Float for Father’s Day

Posted June 16, 2012 By Adri

William Crocetti

Well, Father’s Day is here, and I hope you all spend a wonderful day with your dads. My dad, William Crocetti, passed away many years ago, but I think of him often. That’s him in the photo. He enjoyed fountain specialties, so I thought I’d create something special in his honor. Of course, I looked first to Punch Abruzzo, the wonderful liquore from Italy. It is great over ice cream, and with its rum and coffee notes, spice and orange, is perfect in a float.

Here’s to you Dad. You would have loved this! Read more… »

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Liberation of Rome – June 4, 1944

Posted June 3, 2012 By Adri

Spaghetti Carbonara

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Citizens of Rome, this is not the time for demonstrations. Obey these directions and go on with your regular work. Rome is yours! Your job is to save the city, ours is to destroy the enemy.


So read the Allied leaflets that fell from the sky early on the morning of June 4, 1944. D-Day was just hours away. Italy and much of Europe lay in ruins, her great capitals and cities reduced to rubble. Monuments and buildings that still stood were pockmarked by bullets, testament to a continent ravaged by war. In less than a year the Third Reich would fall, consigned forever to history’s dung heap.

The Allied communique sent later in the day to Washington and London was considerably shorter – The Allies are in Rome. The Italian campaign had begun ten months earlier with the landing at Salerno. After brutal fighting, the American Fifth Army under General Mark Clark advanced to Rome, and entered unopposed. Read more… »

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