Today’s dish, a creation of Naples, Italy, is a great example of Southern Italian flavors and ingredients. Baccalà, or salted codfish, is pan-fried in olive oil, and served in a peppery-sweet tomato sauce with roasted bell peppers and chile pepper, pine nuts, and golden raisins. This sauce is my favorite part of the dish – [...]

For some reason I was in the mood for pickles recently. So, I bought a few extra vegetables while ingredient shopping for a few recipes, and made a little medley of pickled vegetables. These types of pickles are a great antipasto, and can also be used in a salad or to garnish an entrée. One [...]

Peperonata is one of the classic Italian pasta sauces, with many different variations. This ziti dish adds an interesting combination, green olives and toasted almonds, to the basic peperonata recipe. The result is a sweet, zesty sauce with a wonderful crunch that is not usually expected in a pasta sauce. Other than its use as [...]

Here is a lovely pasta dish, as colorful as it is delicious. The sauce is a blend of two strong, deep flavors – sweet roasted peppers and earthy roasted garlic. The bright red sauce contrasts brilliantly with the bright green tagliatelle – made with pureed spinach and watercress mixed into the eggs. Although there are [...]

Here is a simple stir-fried beef dish with colorful strips of red and green peppers, a quick marinade, and a tasty sauce of Sichuanese sweet bean paste and soy sauce. Authentic Chinese cooking does not get much easier than this. There’s a little prep work involved – cutting the beef into thin strips that will [...]

Caponata is a Sicilian sweet and sour dish made with eggplant, olives, capers, and somtimes anchovies. Red wine vinegar and sugar are added at the end to balance out the flavors. The dish can be served either hot or cold, as an appetizer, a topping for crostini, or an accompaniment to meat. I made my [...]