Painter, architect and art historian, Giorgio Vasari was born in Arezzo in the early 16th-century. His name lives on – and nowadays, in good eating, too, at Ristorante Logge Vasari. Tucked under…
In early December, Pino and I headed off to a favorite “week-end-away” spot, Casa Volpe in Arezzo. [lcaption]Casa Volpe, Arezzo[/lcaption] A surprise on arrival: smiling, welcoming Signora Alessia was not at the…
Pinenuts and currants star often in Sicilian cuisine, so richly influenced by Middle Eastern culinary heritage. They enhance la pasta al cavolfiore (“pasta with cauliflower), a filling, tasty Sicilian winter dish Pino’s…
That rich coral-orange winter squash appeals to the eye as well as to the palate. I’m cooking with it frequently now in November, making soups, pasta dishes and antipasti. Here’s today’s pasta…
That rich orange winter squash has enhanced many a soup and pasta dish for us this November. Today, polpette di zucca are browning in the oven of our wood stove. You’d literally…
Thanksgiving is around the corner and winter squash will enhance many a “Turkey Day” feast. Here in Umbria, too, winter squash stars in many a dish from antipasti to gnocchi to soups…
On a chilly November day, we headed to Sugano near Orvieto where Pino is working on restoration of the farmhouse of our son Keegan and his wife, Francesca. The winding road took…
It’s always a joy to cook up Umbria with guests and delighted, Heidi, that you and your family and friends, cooked with me in our farmhouse kitchen. It made me smile to…
Cultivated at nearly 1500 m on the vast Piano Grande (“Great Plain”), the famous tiny lenticchie di Castelluccio (Castelluccio lentils) cook quickly due to their thin, tender hull. [lcaption]Lentils in flower on…
On an August day, exploring the Valnerina area, we stopped outside the medieval hilltown of tiny Preci for lunch, a bit mystified by the ristorante name, “Ristorante Il Castoro.” The “beaver”? No…