November is the month for the squash appassionati (and I’m one). Our favorite fruit and vegetable stand near Assisi – that of Roberto Migliosi and family – tempts with a variety of…
“Ho trovato funghi ieri. Venite a mangiarli!” (“I found mushrooms yesterday. Come eat them!”) Peppa chortled over the phone. How to refuse? As I savored those mushrooms, what memories of my own…
We often eat at Peppa’s. Every meal is always an Umbrian rural feast, and although she’ll invite us over for “solo per un primo,” it’s never “just a first course.” Lunch…
The last eggplants, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes are in the vegetable gardens of Umbria now. When a mother-lode gift of these vegetables from our friends Mary and Renato arrived, how not to…
A delectable new cheese now tempts at our favorite local caseificio (literally, “cheeese-maker” or a place where cheeses are made and sold) : ‘blue di pecorino,” i.e.,their own sheep’s milk Roquefort: Pino…
Ripe figs dangle now off our fig tree. Many of those we’ve picked are headed for jam and a fig sauce for ricotta: Today, a few figs joined yellow bell peppers in a…
The fruits at Roberto and Emanuela’s fruit stand enticed as much as the vegetables we were there to buy yesterday: Those fruits inspired: macedonia would be our evening dessert – and Emanuela…
Late springtime is wild asparagus season and lucky for us, Peppa found such an abudance this spring that we have a few bunches in our freezer. While making a willd asparagus frittata today, thoughts wandered back to Eggi’s celebration of…
Years ago, Salvatore, dear friend from Naples, cooked me this pasta dish and it was always a hit in my U.S. cooking classes. Salvatore made his salsa with the famous walnuts of Sorrento (said…
Originating in Asia since pre-history, the eggplant arrived in the Mediterranean area with the Arabs in the Middle Ages. In thirteenth-century Italian folklore, Ia melanzana was said to be a cause of insanity.…