Cassata Gelato is a frozen dessert made with frozen custard (gelato ice cream) and whipped cream.  Real Cassata Gelato is a rare treat.  It requires making two to three different flavors of ice cream and is really labor intensive, unless you have a decent electric ice cream maker.  This simple version is made using store-bought […]

My grandmother Vincenza would make this delicious baked ziti dish for special family occasions.  The ziti is combined with a tomato sauce ragú made with pork, currants, and pine nuts and then layered with slices of fried eggplant.  It’s a great dish you can make ahead of time and heat before serving.  I’m planning a […]

Mafalda is a durum wheat based bread.  The name also refers to its classic serpentine shape.  This rustic sesame seed encrusted bread can be formed into other shapes as well, such as baguettes (bastone) or the popular scrolled eyes of Saint Lucy (occhi di Santa Lucia).  You can make the dough into larger loaves or […]

There was some outstanding tuna at the market this week so I decided to make Tuna alla Ghiotta.  Making this dish brought back memories of living in Sicily.  I remember the local fishmonger would have a huge fresh-caught swordfish or tuna sitting on a butcher block from which he would hack off a piece of […]