You read it right, Char Siu Pork. It’s a Chinese barbeque pork recipe. Now before I hear from someone that this is not Italian comfort food, I beg to differ. Hear me out. What Italian American growing up in the New York area in the 50’s and 60’s did not go out to eat Chinese food? What I mean is, when we went out to eat it was ONLY for Chinese food. I’m sure I was not the only family that did that. We never went to an Italian restaurant. Why would we? We had the best Italian food at home. Going out for Pizza was not considered going to an Italian Restaurant. It was going out for Pizza. The on ..read more

My grandparents used to have macaroni with ricotta quite often. It’s a simple yet tasty way of dressing your pasta. Aside from adding some black pepper, the dish only included those two ingredients. I’m a big fan of ricotta. It’s the freshest cheese I know of. I like using a dollop or two of ricotta next to my macaroni and Sunday sauce. Ricotta and pastina was always a favorite as a child, and even as an adult for some comfort food. And a special mention of ricotta filled ravioli and manicotti. I love ricotta cheesecake, cannoli, and all the other sweet Italian treats made with ricotta. It’s a ..read more

A crostata is an Italian baked pie or tart. Recipes go back to the 1400’s. It’s a rustic pie that has many variations. Usually it’s filled with some type of fruit. And fall in the northeast means it’s apple season. So what better way to use the huge varieties of apples we have this time of year. I’m a firm believer of using fruits that are in season. Sure apples are available all year long, but non have the freshness and quality that you get in the fall. It’s not fall unless my house smells of cinnamon and apples. And usually when I visit the local farms I go to the cider mills because nothin ..read more

Prosciutto Bread/Lard Bread  If you’re ever in the vicinity of North East Pennsylvania, more specifically Lords Valley, on Route 739 you will run across Fretta and Miletti Pizza And Sausage Company Limited. For all my transplanted Brooklynites you should remember Fretta’s Pork Store from 86th Street under the El. And more recently, Fretta’s Pork Store in Milford, PA. The Milford location closed a number of years ago as Joe Fretta was looking forward to retirement. But alas, you can’t keep a good man down. Recently Joe and his older son Joe Jr., partnered with Paul Miletti. Two legends and ..read more

This is not the classic pesto recipe with adding sun-dried tomatoes. There are no nut meats here or grated Pecorino Romano cheese. This is an uncooked pasta dressing that comes from Sicilian peasantry. The addition of toasted breadcrumbs is the alternative to grated cheese when cheese was not readily available. Of course like all peasant cooking, the ingredients became a staple for certain dishes even when the more expensive ones were available. I use an organic sundried tomato without the sulphur dioxide. These are preserved by sea salt. Also, these tomatoes are actually dried in the sun and ..read more

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This is a very satisfying meal. I’ve seen it made many ways. Some add tomato sauce, some prepare it like a soup. I love the combination of smokey American bacon and peas, if you use pancetta it changes the whole flavor profile. I also like a creamy consistency which is obtained by cooking the macaroni in the water you serve it with. Adding the grated cheese also adds to the creaminess. Strike the balance by only adding more water if you need to. Another technique I use is when I cook the peas, before adding the water and macaroni, I mash the peas up a bit with the back of my spoon. This also a ..read more

There are a lot of things in this world that can harm us. Unfortunately, one of those things is our food industry. I’m not going to lecture anyone on what you should eat or not. We all have freedom to choose our own lifestyles. But we should be all aware of the obesity problem we have in our society and the increase of diabetes and chronic diseases. I made a choice a while ago to avoid at all cost consuming refined sugar, simple carbohydrates in our bread and cereals, highly processed seed and vegetable oils, all soda and sports drinks and fruit juices, just to name a few. I stick to foods wit ..read more

Enemies At The Gate Ever had a childhood memory that became an Urban Legend? Well, this is one of them. This story has been told more times at family gatherings then the time my cousin stole and hid my grandfather’s night cap and got barred from the house for months. This story does include my two cousins and my brother. Yes the same cousin that hid my grandfather’s sleeping cap. This is the old house today. The new owners installed a metal fence. We lived on 77 Street in Brooklyn where the row houses were semi-attached. We shared a driveway with our neighbors the Volaro’s. At the back of the ..read more

Here is a real simple yet hardy soup my grandmother and mom used to make. This is a great meal that takes no time to prepare, and with a loaf of crispy Italian or sourdough bread to dunk into the soup, can be your entire meal. Did I say it was healthy? We ate it anyway because we loved it and it tasted so good. You can feed a family of 6 for pennies with this soup. That’s why when you are brought up with parents that went through the depression this meal becomes a staple. Chances are if you grew up in an Italian family you have had this soup before. This is our version. Hope you enjoy it! Esca ..read more