A Classic Christmas Dessert Recipe from Sicily

Updated 2018. When writing my guest article on Italian Christmas desserts, I asked my friend Maria Louisa Manca, who is a very good cook from Catania (a beautiful city situated on the slope of Mount Etna) to share a favorite dessert from her native Sicily. Here is Maria Louisa’s classic recipe for Croccante alle Mandorle Siciliano: Ingredients: (for 7-8 servings) 500 grams almonds, …

Christmas in Puglia: Around the Table

Our friend Ylenia Sambati shares this special guest post on Christmas in the region of Puglia: It’s written Puglia but you read it as baroque, miles of uncontaminated beaches and olive groves, traditions, spectacular farmhouses (masserie) and a bespoke culinary culture that makes the area becoming one of the best enogastronomic destinations in italy. Great food and wine is year round to …

A Fall Polenta Recipe from Piedmont Italy

Frequent Dream of Italy contributor Toni Lydecker is out with a new cookbook, Piatto Unico: When One Course Makes a Real Italian Meal. “As you have no doubt heard and observed, a real Italian meal consists of several courses. Except when it doesn’t,” Toni says. Based on this idea, Toni’s cookbook celebrates the one-course Italian meal. She share’s a terrific …

What to Eat for An Italian Christmas Eve Dinner

Hard to believe Christmas Eve is just around the corner. Thinking about celebrating it in Italian style? Then get ready to visit your favorite fishmonger, you will be making at least seven seafood courses! That’s because Italians celebrate the Feast of Seven Fishes on la vigilia di Natale (Christmas Eve). As Toni Lydecker writes, “The idea of serving seven fish …

Win a Copy of Seafood alla Siciliana

WINNERS: Toni Lydecker has chosen mcjip@roadrunner.com, Tony and NewYorkPR to receive copies of her book. Contact us with your snail mail address!! Toni Lydecker, a frequent contributer to Dream of Italy, wrote about Sicilian cooking schools for the newsletter while she was in the process of researching her new book, Seafood alla Siciliana: Recipes and Stories from a Living Tradition. …