Erica De Mane

Recipe: Parisian Tagliatelle with Girolles, Leeks, and Butter Broth I just got back from a vacation in Paris with my husband and his pushing-90 parents. Now, you might say this wouldn’t  be your idea of a vacation, and it could possibly even be considered a bit masochistic. In theory I suppose it’s true that shuffling [...]

Read Full Post »

Recipe: Orecchiette with Cherry Tomatoes, Feta, and Marjoram When I see a mini bowl of ditali with ceci beans going for $26 at a star chef’s restaurant here in ruthless old Manhattan, it makes my Puglian-Sicilian blood boil. One relatively new establishment, a one-stop pizzeria, caffè, wine bar, raw bar, ristorante, trattoria, food shop, wine [...]

Read Full Post »

From left, my uncle, Jack, my grandfather, Nick, and Dick, my dad, around 1936 or so. Here’s another excerpt from The Making of an Italian Cook, an essay book I’m working on. Am I Italian? I always sensed something off about my family. Almost all the Italian-Americans I knew had a pride of heritage. We [...]

Read Full Post »

Still life with plums, 1935, by Georges Braque (I love this painting). Recipe: Italian Plum Tart with Rosemary and Fennel My attitude about my blog changes when I’m working on a book. Since a blog is basically a donation, when I’m collecting recipes for a book, in this case a food memoir, giving them away [...]

Read Full Post »

Cauliflower lady with a basket hat. Recipe: Cauliflower and Fennel Soup with Chervil and Thyme Lately I’ve been making a lot of puréed soups, mainly for my mother, whose age and aging temperament they sooth. I don’t generally have a plan. That is, I don’t have much in mind when I wander over to the [...]

Read Full Post »

Still Life with Squid, a fresco from Pompeii (it actually looks more like a cuttlefish to me). Recipe: Grilled Calamari with Barley and Warm Rosemary Vinaigrette Oh, boy, summer and grilled calamari. My Nassau County childhood. Nothing better. I love the way the tentacles curl up when they hit the grill and become alive. Really [...]

Read Full Post »

A still life with peaches, found at Herculaneum. Recipe: Peach Bruschetta with Red Onion, Ricotta, and Basil The peaches are great this year, so sweet that my mind is trying to turn them savory. I’ve been adding them to salads, arranging them with prosciutto in place of cantaloupe, making peach soup with hot chilies. A [...]

Read Full Post »

Recipe: Braised Zucchini with Fennel, Black Olives, and Bay Leaves Rumor has it Sicilians have devised 300 ways to prepare eggplant. That may be. Not so zucchini. Where is all that Sicilian creativity when we really need it? I was rummaging through my old half Sicilian head and also consulting my vast collection of Southern [...]

Read Full Post »

  The Wonder of Gluttony   Here’s another excerpt from my book in progress The Making of an Italian Cook.   Several years of disco dancing beat the cooking bug right out of me. I moved to the city, enrolled at N.Y.U., ostensibly to study journalism, thinking it would be useful to write about cheap [...]

Read Full Post »

Recipe: Zucchini Soup with Mint and Ricotta Cream Okay, so zucchini is now here, and it’s just the beginning of a long season with this potentially boring vegetable. But get it now while it’s young and sleek and truly delicious, for soon it’ll be big and starchy and not much good for anything except stuffing [...]

Read Full Post »