Pasta & Rice
Pasta recipes
Polenta
I learned about polenta when I married Ditalini. It was what you ate when you were poor, or when you were tired of pasta and wanted something different. Sometime during the 1980s polenta became trendy and today you can find…
Ditalini’s Pasta alla Carbonara
We love pasta carbonara, but it’s so rich we have it only once or twice a year. Ditalini bases her recipe on one from Mario Batali. Notes: Pancetta gives the dish a crispier, saltier flavor. Bacon gives it a smoky, less…
What’s Cookin’?
Pasta alla Putanesca, that’s-a what!
Crouton’s Quick Fettuccini Alfredo w/Shrimp
Crouton’s Fettuccini Alfredo
This is a great side dish for richly-flavored meat dishes, like scallopini al limone, veal marsala, or grilled Italian sausage. Notes You can use half-and-half if you prefer, but plain milk is IMHO too thin. It’s easier to use dried…
Ditalini’s Linguini w/White Clam Sauce
Ditalini made her version of linguini with white clam sauce tonight, based on a Food Channel recipe that has long been one of our favorites.
Italian Family Barbecue Revisited
Here’s the original recipe, if you want the details. A few variations this time around. We recently bought a new gas grill, and in my zeal to protect it and make it last forever, I’m using grilling pans and sheets. …
Back in the Saddle
Home from vacation and restaurant meals, back in the kitchen and hard at work. Tonight’s dinner? Crouton’s Chicken & Shrimp Fettucini Alfredo. Fast, easy, and satisfying. It’s good to be home.
Apparently, Whoring Runs in the Family
Twenty years or more ago I started making a simple pasta dish for those nights we wanted something light and basically meatless: I’d fry some garlic and anchovies in olive oil, then mix it with spaghetti. At some point I…
Grilled Polenta, Italian Sausage, & Peppers
Yeah, I know, I’ve posted about these things before, here and here. But I felt like photoblogging last night’s dinner and, this time around, presenting it in recipe format. My method is to put the peppers on the grill first,…