I’m totally obsessed with bruschetta these days. Specifically asparagus and avocado bruschetta. I think it has a lot to do with a fantastic new bakery opening in my neighborhood. I’ve never been a huge fan of bread in Rome. I know everyone loves the bread from Roscioli, which is basically pane di lariano. And I can appreciate that it is good, but big huge loaves, with rock hard crust and huge airy bubbles inside a slightly chewy crumb just doesn’t do it for me personally. Instead Forno da Milvio is making bread that is denser, slighty sour doughy and with crust that is not so agressive it’s ..read more

I seriously didn’t think there was an artichoke recipe in Italy that I didn’t know. But last week, while Sophie and I were in Lecce with our group, we participated in a cooking lesson where we learned this amazing recipe which was totally new to us. The name of the recipe is ‘Carciofi pari’ or ‘Carciofi tutti pari’ which roughly translates as ‘Artichokes all the same.’ We learned that this is a method of cooking almost any mixture of vegetables where everything gets cooked in one pot at the same time. You just layer it all in and cover to cook. No sauteing of onions first. And no stirring. A ..read more

My friend Annie recently wrote about the health benefits of eating certain types of canned fish. If your idea of canned fish is limited to water packed tuna, then you’re in for a delicious surprise. High quality, oil packed sardines, anchovies, clams and more are a incredibly scrumptious – and convenient and healthy – thing to keep in your pantry. I am a huge fan of sardines and often add them to pasta or make salads.  But I  usually just eat them as is, on a plate with a side of leftover vegetables and some bread for lunch. But this past weekend I turned things up a notch, and made ..read more

Today’s post , a recipe for Glazed Citrus, Almond and Olive Oil Cake, is from my friend Dr. Annie Fenn and is an excerpt from her new book The Brain Health Kitchen. Annie has made a career out of the fascinating intersection of food and health, and naturally derives inspiration from many of the ingredients we love and that are part of the Mediterranean Diet. Case in point: this delicious cake recipe features citrus, almonds and olive oil. If you’d like to dive deeper into the brain healthy benefits of recipes like this, we’ve partnered with Annie for a tour to Sicily this fall. Send us an em ..read more

This post is from Sophie: Sunday in Rome is one of my favorite days of the week. People really take it slow, and enjoy time with family and friends. There are a few ways I like to spend my Sundays in Rome, but my absolute favorite is a visit to the weekly  Porta Portese flea market. However, it can be overwhelming (it’s huge!) so here are a few tips and tricks to make the most of your morning at Porta Portese:   Timing The market is only open on Sundays, and only in the morning. It tends to get very crowded as the day goes on, so make sure to get there early in order to not be stan ..read more

We are up in Umbria this week which almost never happens. In January, after the holidays, we are usually in Rome since it’s a great time of year to be there. Few tourists, sunny skies and crisp clear days. Instead, January in Umbria is for the most part damp, foggy and cold. But somehow we were both craving a nice cozy week and here we are. And I’m so glad to be here. Yes, it’s been foggy, but the weather clears enough for me to get my daily walk in. Yes, it’s cold, but that’s just one more reason to keep the fire going all day long. Between the cold weather and the past two months of eating ..read more

Roasting a whole fish is something I’ve been doing for most of my life. I take it so for granted that I am always shocked when people ask for a recipe. The recipe is basically: Buy a fish and stick it in the oven. Really. It’s that simple. But I realize that many people have never bought/cooked a whole fish. They are more used to following recipes that call for fillets, and so when faced with a fish with a face, are a bit put off. You shouldn’t be. Fish cooked with the bones in, like any meat, is always going to be more flavorful. We are very lucky to have a great fish store right across the ..read more

Although it seems like I was born with a martini in my hand, it wasn’t always so. Domenico and I used to have a glass of wine before dinner, and maybe another with dinner. But over the last 12 years or so we’ve shifted over to cocktails. I tried to track down the exact moment when the shift occurred, but could only find this old post on the basic Italian cocktails from 2010. While I looked through all of my past cocktail posts (and there are many!) I am kind of nostalgic for the days when I would whip up a different cocktail each evening. These days though, we are mostly about martinis. Yet ..read more

We all know and love eggplant parmigiana. And I’ve also delved into other parmigianesque treatments of vegetables like zucchini and fennel. But somehow I’ve failed to share my favorite parmigiana of them all: Onion Parmigiana. I first had this about 6 years ago at Il Cerreto , a small restaurant run by a family that also has a farm and agriturismo. Almost all of the products in the kitchen come from the farm, including the justifiably well known cipolla di cannara – a local variety of super sweet onion. As far as I can tell it was Doriana, the mother in the family and also the head chef, who ..read more

Marocchino in Rome Have you ever heard of an espressino? I bet you haven’t. You’d think that there would be nothing new left for me to write about drinking and ordering coffee in Italy. But during the last few weeks, while I was leading our guests around Italy, I realized that there is one way of ordering coffee that needs just a little more explanation so I’m here to give some much needed coffee advice. I keep seeing our guests order not just a caffe doppio (double shot of espresso) but even a triple shot which barely even translates into Italian. I mean no Italian would EVER order a caffe ..read more