Erica De Mane

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire in Italia. Recipe: Roasted Chestnuts The smells of Manhattan, some good, some disgusting, seem never to leave my head. No matter from how long ago, I don’t forget them. I miss the early morning blood stench of the meatpacking area when I walked to my job at Restaurant Florent. [...]

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Recipe: Pears Poached in Marsala with Cinnamon and Pistachios I don’t really like mushy foods, things like mashed potatoes, mashed yams, smooth purées mixed with butter, or even things like turnips that can be prepared partly lumpy, partly smooth (smashed, as Rachael Ray would call it). That is the main reason I don’t like Thanksgiving [...]

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Miss Magnani, my muse, with a lovely goat friend. Recipe: Frisée Salad with Pomegranate Seeds, Pine Nuts, Sautéed Shallots, and Goat Cheese I had a dream last night where my front teeth were falling out. That’s a classic, isn’t it? But before they actually fell out they shrank and darkened. In fact, they turned into [...]

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Anna Magnani, my  brooding muse. Recipe: Penne with Brussels Sprouts, Pancetta, and Lemon Anna Magnani is speaking to me again. She wasn’t for a while, and boy did that make me anxious. I think she was jealous of my relationship with La Saraghina. But things seem to have settled, and she’s again giving out much [...]

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I’d sure love to have one of these nice red mortadella trucks. Italians do understand high style. Recipe: Neapolitan Potato Gattò If you’re looking for something really rich, really Neapolitan-tasting, and really calorie-packed, this gattò is it. It’s like a pizza rustica, but made with mashed potatoes instead of ricotta, and much, much easier, since [...]

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A porchetta sandwich truck in the Abruzzi, just opening for business. From time to time I stop into Porchetta, a little caffè in the East Village, especially in cooler weather, for their (what else?) porchetta. In my opinion porchetta is the best Italian street food there is, not counting the spleen and ricotta sandwiches from [...]

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How can I be an old Italian hag, when I still look like this? Recipe: Broccoli Rabe, Anchovy, and Ricotta Bruschetta I’ve been eating so much broccoli rabe lately, I fear I may turn into a bitter old Italian hag. But I’m probably one already, so I might as well just continue to stuff myself. [...]

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Recipe: Sautéed Apples with Grappa, Raisins, and Pine Nuts, Served with Sweet Ricotta Apples are one of the foods we New Yorkers can truly claim as a local specialty. Right now at my Greenmarket I can find about 20 varieties of fragrant area-grown apples, some cherry red, some blackish red, some striped with cordovan, some [...]

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The Wine Harvest, by Francisco Goya. Recipe: Tuscan Grape Harvest Focaccia Every year  around this time I make a version of the classic Tuscan grape focaccia called schiacciata coll’uva to celebrate the Italian wine harvest, even though I think it’s a little bogus to celebrate such a faraway event  in New York. I should probably [...]

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