Recipe for Moroccan Harira (Chickpea and Lentil Soup)
Filed Under Food History, Kitchen Tips, Recipes Morocco
Harira is one of my favorite Moroccan dishes. There are many variations but they all include legumes (usually lentils and chickpeas), tomato, onion, turmeric, and herbs. It is sometimes thickened with egg or a slurry (a mixture of flour and water, called a tedouira in Moroccan cuisine), although it will thicken on its own if left overnight. Harira is a dish traditionally served during Ramadan, but can be enjoyed throughout… Read
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Five Things You Didn't Know about Champagne
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History, Wines & Spirits France
Everyone loves champagne. This exquisite sparkling wine is known the world over as the wine par excellence for celebrating. But it's much more than that! Check below for 5 things you might not have realized about this famous bubbly. But before getting to those, let's recap what makes champagne champagne, and not just another sparkling wine. What Makes Champagne Champagne A sparkling wine has 3 basic rules it needs to… Read
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The Foods of Molise: What to Eat and Drink in Molise
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History, Travel Tips Italy
When clients ask us where to go for an ultra-authentic cooking vacation in Italy, some place off the beaten path where they can experience authentic Italian life and flavors, one of our first answers is Molise! Molise, as we have noted elsewhere, is so little-traveled by tourist, and so unknown even by Italians from other reasons, that it is jokingly said "not to exist." But it does exist, and it… Read
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Recipe for Casunziei: Beet-Filled Ravioli from the Dolomites
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History, Recipes Italy
One of the more unique recipes for ravioli that you will find are Casunziei ampezzani, named for the town of Cortina d'Ampezzo in Dolomites of the Veneto region. This half-moon pasta can be filled with a variety of seasonal produce, but is most often filled with a mix of beetroot and potato, making it very colorful. It is served dressed with a butter and poppy seeds, giving it a very… Read
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Types of Pizza in Italy and the US
Filed Under Food History Italy, USA
Happy National Pizza Day! Is pizza the most popular food on the planet? I haven't done any research on the subject, but I'm sure it has to be. You can find it pretty much anywhere, and it is always recognizable as pizza, no matter how varied it may seem from place to place. Some people are pizza purists, and they tend to like the pizza they grew up with. I'm… Read
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Recipe for Roman Carbonara
Filed Under Food History, Kitchen Tips, Recipes Italy
Carbonara is one of the most famous of Roman pasta dishes, but also one of the most argued about. Even in Italy, there are passionate disagreements about the "true" recipe for carbonara. Should you use guanciale or pancetta? Should you use parmigiano or pecorino? Does it have onion? Whole egg or only the yolks? If you head out of Rome and the Lazio region, you'll find even more variety in… Read
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