Erica De Mane

Greg’s long-lost pasta dish.

Recipe:

Penne with Broccoli, Shallots, and Emmenthaler

Dear Erica:

When I was in Italy I had a tremendous dish, a penne with broccoli sauce. The sauce had no cream, jus an intense broccoli flavor, a little olive oil, and, I assume, some butter. The trick is how to get the intense flavor in the sauce. Merely cooking broccoli in olive oil and butter doesn’t do it. I tried. Most likely some garlic was sautéed in the sauce, but it wasn’t the dominant flavor. I can put all these ingredients together, but something is always lacking.

Thank you.

Greg Sinicrope (more…)

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Liti’s missing recipe.

Recipe:

Cinnamon and Ricotta Ravioli with Basil

Dear Erica,

Since you’ve started your “Lost Recipes Found” feature, I can’t stop thinking about the cinnamon and ricotta ravioli Mom has told us about but never actually cooked for us, mainly because she doesn’t know how to make it. I thought this would be a good opportunity for you to figure out that recipe, and then we could have it for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I know you published a savory version of these ravioli in your last book, but since then Mom has been telling me about another version she thinks she remembers her grandmother making, a sweet ravioli, topped not with tomatoes but with butter, cinnamon, and sugar. She says she thinks she remembers it that way but can’t be sure. I don’t care if she remembers it or not. I want to taste it. Can you figure out a recipe for it? Please? (more…)

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Joseph’s mother’s lagane e ceci.

Recipe:

Lagane e ceci

Dear Erica,

I’m very happy to read about your new website feature, “Lost Recipes Found.” One recipe in particular, something my mother made often, I really, really miss. It’s a pasta with chickpeas in a white sauce of some sort, and no tomatoes. I’ve tried making it myself, but I can’t get it right. My sister can’t either. The pasta looked like fettuccine, only cut shorter. I can’t remember if my mother made the pasta fresh herself or not. There was parsley and hot pepper in the sauce, but other than that mainly chickpeas and I guess olive oil (I never paid much attention to her cooking; I was only interested in eating). I grew up in the Bronx. My mother’s family came from Salerno, near Naples. If you could help me recreate this pasta, I’d be really grateful. (more…)

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