Dinner in Venice
- Carrot Cream Soup – cream-less and dairy-free November 15, 2012In Italy, creamy soups - or “vellutate” - are not usually made with cream (an ingredient that we like to leave to the French): the texture is given by the addition of a simple potato or a handful of rice. The starches in the rice are slowly released during the cooking, and act as a thickener [...]DinnerInVenice
- Baccalà Mantecato – Salt Cod Mousse November 5, 2012This article and recipe appeared in The Jewish Daily Forward - to read them, click hereDinnerInVenice
- Baked Pears with Sorbet and Berries November 2, 2012My grandmother used to serve a lot of simple, not-too-sweet fruit desserts such as baked fruit and compotes. After the spread of commercial bakery products, many of us have forgotten about this option: it always seems easier to buy a box of cupcakes… however, when you start feeling like you’ve had way too much sugar, [...]DinnerInVenice
- The Spiders October 31, 2012I grew up in Italy being told not to take candy from strangers, and still find it a bit shocking when strange kids knock at my door on Halloween night! While the more religiously conservative are offended by Halloween’s pagan roots, the holiday seems to have become completely secularized and to focus on pumpkins, spooky [...]DinnerInVenice
- Puff Strudel with Chocolate, Hazelnuts and Pears (Sfogliata al Gianduja e Pere) October 29, 2012The combination of hazelnuts and chocolate is wildly popular in Italy – I’m sure you have heard of Nutella! The original version is Gianduja - a concoction made of chocolate and hazelnuts invented in Turin during the Napoleonic blockade, when the precious cocoa beans had become scarce and the famous Piedmontese chocolatiers had to find [...]DinnerInVenice
- Savory Beet Pie October 23, 2012Beets are native to the Mediterranean, but for a very long time people ate only their leaves, while the root was used in medicine to treat a variety of ailments. It was only in 19th century France that the beet’s culinary potential was discovered, while at the same time the Germans proved that it could [...]DinnerInVenice
- Chestnut and Apple Cake – GF October 19, 2012The chestnut tree can live for up to 500 years, and its fruit has been a staple in the Italian diet since ancient times. In some Northern and central regions, people ate mostly chestnuts until well into the twentieth century! While this is no longer the case, towards the end of October stands pop up [...]DinnerInVenice
- Orzotto: Barley “Risotto” October 12, 2012Last fall I gave a demo on healthful and elegant Italian cuisine at the JCC Manhattan during their Fitness for Everybody Fair. One of the ingredients I presented was barley, a grain with many beneficial properties. Unlike wheat, it contains a high amount of soluble fibers (betaglucans), which have a positive effect on cholesterol and provide an [...]DinnerInVenice
- Stuffed Cabbage, Italian-Style October 10, 2012The long marathon of Jewish Holiday ends each Fall with Simchat Torah: on this day, all the Torah scrolls are removed from the ark and paraded around the synagogue while people dance and sing around them. Every Shabbat a different portion of the Torah is chanted in synagogue, and it takes a year to complete the cycle: [...]DinnerInVenice
- Italian Hot Chocolate (Cioccolata Calda) October 4, 2012Most of us know that the Mayas and their ancestors were already gobbling unsweetened hot cocoa 2000 years ago. Some historians believe that we also have to thank the Jews - for introducing sweet, hot chocolate drinks to Europe. In fact, many Conversos fleeing the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition ended up in South America in [...]DinnerInVenice
