Erica De Mane

The Chairman, possibly not on Election Day. I’ve always felt it best to vote on an empty stomach. It makes me feel feisty. But this year I fear the lines will be long, hours may pass, and my feistiness may turn to impatience and then rage. That’s not good. My solution will be the before-voting [...]

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The maid who became a saint in Pasolini’s Teorema. Tomorrow is All Saints’ Day, or Ognissanti, as it’s called in Italy. It honors all the holy departed (it first took off around the time the church came to have more saints than there were days in the year to assign to them). It’s an important [...]

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Recipes: Farfalle with Burst Tomatoes, Sweet Vermouth, Rosemary, and Goat Cheese Broiled Chicken Breast with Walnuts, Garlic, and Parsley, Served on Bibb Lettuce Can a boneless chicken breast be delicious? Boneless, skinless chicken breast has long been one of my most hated foods. It’s almost always dry, boring, stiff, and lifeless. I completely ignored it [...]

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Orange cauliflowers at the Union Square Greenmarket. Recipe: Orecchiette with Orange Cauliflower, Raisins, Pine Nuts, and Saffron I stand in my kitchen holding an orange cauliflower, and I think, this has to be one of the most beautiful vegetables I’ve seen in a long time. It looks like a cauliflower drenched in creamy cheddar cheese. [...]

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Recipe: Peperonata with Almonds, Thyme, and Pimentón, Served on Ricotta Bruschetta Peperonata, the roasted sweet pepper dish so popular throughout Southern Italy, is one of my favorite things to eat, and early fall is the best time to make it, when the sweet peppers are warm and ripe and piled high at the Greenmarket. So [...]

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. . . As you can see in this photograph. Recipe: Penne with Butternut Squash, Speck, and Leeks Every year around this time, when the New York weather changes seemingly overnight, my sister Liti starts to crave pasta with butternut squash or pumpkin, and I always oblige her by making it for her, doing a [...]

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Pink beets, roasted and peeled, smooth and shiny. Recipes: Roasted Beet Salad with Pistachios and Basil Vinaigrette Roasted Beets with Black Olives, Orange, and Anchovy Just about every recipe for beets I’ve run across in the last ten years has paired them with goat cheese. There’s nothing wrong with that—in fact it’s a fine combination—but [...]

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Sophia and the stuff she’s made of (although what is that lumpy mess hanging in the middle?). I had an extremely enlightening conversation with a friend  while we were preparing dinner together a few nights ago. The subject was pasta, and what he matter-of-factly said shocked me—me the pasta queen, who really thought I knew [...]

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The finished product and the raw ingredients. Recipe: Tomato Tart with Pecorino and Rosemary My friend Barbara, of Patron Saints and Holy Cards fame, has a house with a vegetable garden in Delaware County, New York. She grows gigantic, lumpy deep red tomatoes, and also really delicious grape and cherry tomatoes, all from Italian seeds [...]

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Recipe: Fig and Celery Salad with Walnut Pesto Crostini Walnut pesto is a lovely thing, but it’s quite a load in the calorie department when used for its intended purpose, being tossed with pasta. I’ve found a new way to enjoy the rich paste in small doses where it can still make a big impact: [...]

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