I first spied this lasagne in La Cucina Italiana magazine, and from that point on I couldn’t get it out of my head. Filled with spring vegetables, topped with hard boiled eggs, it looked beautiful. I wasn’t sure about the hard boiled eggs, and even though this is good without them, I wouldn’t think of leaving them off. The contrast of the green vegetables and the yellow yolk just make you think, “spring!”, but the flavors also work really well together.

The one thing I would change (and have changed) about this recipe? (more…)

Filed under:
Dinner, Gourmet, Italian, Vegetarian by Courtney

Bolognese sauce is one of those foods that is always very similar from recipe to recipe, but with slight differences that seem starkly different. A while back I posted my recipe for Lasagne Verdi alla Bolognese, whose recipe was meat heavy and included a bit of prosciutto in addition to the beef, pork and pancetta. It was made with red wine and tomato paste for a rich flavor.

This recipe goes a bit toward the lighter route. White wine, tinned tomatoes, and a bit lighter on the meat portions. Lighter doesn’t mean less flavor, though. It leans on the richness of chicken livers and milk to bring this pasta dish to life. The result is a nuanced sauce that allows the tagliatelle to shine through.
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Filed under:
Comfort food, Dinner, Italian by Courtney

Continuing to build on the list of cool weather foods I intended to make this winter, I finally decided to tackle lasagne verdi, made with fresh spinach pasta and Bolognese and bechamel sauces. For many years I’ve drooled over the recipe in my Food of Italy cookbook, but it was an article in an issue of La Cucina Italiana magazine that propelled me to figure out the perfect recipe for this dish.

If I had a recipe, why the quest, you ask? Well, funny thing about the recipe in the Food of cookbook. While you could obviously see that the pasta was a spinach pasta, there was no recipe for spinach pasta in the book! A slight oversight. (more…)

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Comfort food, Dinner, Gourmet, Italian, Sunday Suppers, Wine pairings by Courtney

For the next few months, my husband and I are lucky enough to have the chance to live in London. While there’s a great many restaurants and pubs to eat at, coming off of a 3 week vacation has me hankering for a bit of my own cooking. So one of the first nights here, I decided to whip up a simple pasta meal. Simple, because the place we are staying in had tea, sugar, and a bit of iodized salt, and I needn’t go broke procuring the staples I would need to make a meal. No longer did I have my 80+ spices at hand or condiments galore.

On my first pass through the grocery stores, I had noticed the brussels sprouts looked amazingly good, so I decided to make a simple saute of those with some pancetta and toss it with pasta. I was really craving a homemade pasta, and since the store didn’t have any, I decided just to pick up the flour and eggs and make it myself (plus, bonus, I could have scrambled eggs for breakfast).

All was well until I arrived back at our apartment and discovered there were absolutely no measuring utensils whatsoever. (more…)

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Dinner, Italian, Wine pairings by Courtney

Back when the weather started to turn cool, I made a list of the various cool-weather foods I couldn’t wait to make, my comfort foods for winter 2012-2013. I promised to post a few new recipes this season, and finally, I’ve gotten around to making a few of my favorites and documenting them. The first is this terribly simple chicken cacciatore served over a creamy, parmesan-cheese-laced polenta that screams comfort food.

Cacciatore is Italian for hunter, thus this is the hunter’s chicken. The preparation is simple, with just a few items that need chopping and sauteing before you let the chicken braise in a tomato-wine sauce. (more…)

Filed under:
Comfort food, Dinner, Gluten free, Italian by Courtney