1940s Wacky Chocolate Cake

This cake carries beautifully into this century, deeply chocolate-y but also unexpectedly light for a chocolate cake, the perfect foil for the rich buttery careful-or-you-might-eat-the-whole-batch caramel icing poured over the top, sprinkled with a handful of crunchy pecans, while we're at it. Bonus: if you leave out the frosting, this cake is also vegan -- no butter, no eggs.

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Polpette di melanzane

Pure aperitivo fare, bite-sized and appetizer-like, packed with sharp salty Pecorino, mellow eggplant, and lots of fresh bright parsley, then fried until crisp and deep gold on the outside and cloud-like and pillow-y on the inside. A few of these plus a glass of wine (or, in my case, Prosecco) will get your appetite going guaranteed.

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Late Summer Fig Salad

This is one of those salads that defies the boring-pile-of-lettuce-stereotype, a salad that I do (and you could) eat happily. We've got salty rich prosciutto, peppery arugula, summer-y basil, smoky crunchy hazelnuts, heavenly mozzarella di bufala, and glorious, radiant figs, the star of the show, all tied together with a a sharp-sweet mix of honey, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil.

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Pollo ai peperoni

A classic Roman dish with chicken and bell peppers as the stars, and tomatoes, white wine, and fresh herbs as the supporting actors. It makes the best of bell peppers -- late Summer is the start of their season -- and is packed with flavor, the sweetness of the tomatoes and peppers intensified with all the slow cooking, the chicken perfectly cooked and superbly juicy, the herbs waking the whole thing up and adding a little freshness.

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Pasta con pesce spada e melanzane

Pasta with lots of juicy summer tomatoes, creamy mild eggplant, and substantial, steak-like swordfish, all tied together with a sprinkling of bright fresh parsley. This dish is extremely easy to throw together, and a nice change of pace from the usual spaghetti alle vongole that is so popular here in Italy June-August.

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Rice-Stuffed Tomatoes with Potatoes

This dish is simple and straight-forward, no nonsense -- the rice is intensely tomato-y, allowing the Summer tomato to show off a little, the basil is bright and flowery, and the potatoes are seasoned with nothing more than a little olive oil and salt, which is all they ever really need.

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