Last Sunday night we hosted our first ever dinner at the farm. It was a great success, and as we bask in the glow of this experience, we have to ask ourselves, “What took us so long?” C ...

We are collaborating on this special event with our friends Neftali Duran of El Jardin Bakery in Deerfield and Rose Weiss, who trained at Chez Albert in Amherst and the French ...

Why is it that the moment for canning and preserving always falls on really really hot days? Everyone with childhood memories of canning remembers two things: the smell and the heat. For many, sadly ...

Last week the New York Times printed a recipe in their food section for a spring vegetable-inspired version of puttanesca. While the recipe sounded pretty good to me, the fresh, seasonal ingredients s ...

La pasta fatta in casa. Mmmm.... Fresh, homemade pasta. I couldn't think of a better way to use the hearty whole grains from our local-grain share than by making pasta. And with a little preparation a ...

Savoy cabbage is the best type for cooking. It is very tender due to its tightly packed thin leaves. When cooked until melting, it is divine. Across northern Italy, it is a winter staple. Le verze,  ...

1 lb penne pasta 5-6 brightly colored sweet peppers Olive oil 2 cloves garlic 8 oz sweet Italian sausage meat 1 pint tomato puree Salt & pepper ½ cup heavy cream Freshly torn basil leaves  ...

“Toasting” the ingredients either on a grill, hot dry skillet (comal) or under the broiler until the skin chars gives this salsa its special character. Raw, it’s great for dipping t ...

Red or white?  This is our version, a nice compromise. 1 lb. spaghetti, linguine, or cappellini 2 lbs. steamer clams, or 24 littlenecks 1-2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved 1 head garlic  ...

This recipe has been a favorite of ours for years, adapted from Jack Bishop's The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook. For the Basil-Garlic Crust 1/3 cup fresh basil leaves 1 medium garlic cl ...

1 pound zucchini or other summer squash vegetable oil to come ½ inch up the side of a skillet 1 pound fusilli (or any short, stubby pasta) 3 Tbsp butter 3 Tbsp olive oil 1 tsp flour, dissolved ...

1 pound dry white cannellini or lima beans, or 2 cups fresh shelled barlotti beans 1 large yellow onion or 1 bunch leeks 1 head garlic 4 Tbsp good quality olive oil 2-4 bunches of black Tuscan kale o ...

Fresh egg pasta: 3 cups all purpose flour 5 eggs Pour out the flour directly on your countertop or a very large pastry board, making a well in the center like a volcano.  Crack the eggs into the ...

With the air inside the house so dry this time of year, fresh bread has a life of about 12 hours. Luckily, there are many things you can do with the stale ends, like this classic Italian peasant soup. ...

In Italy, this is the one true radicchio. When you taste it, you'll instantly know why. Because of its exquisite looks, they call it "the flower of winter."  Because of it's amazing sweet-and- ...

 1 medium onion 2 oz mild flavored pancetta or bacon (optional) 3-4 heads radicchio 1.5 cups Arborio or Carnaroli rice 2 quarts boiling homemade chicken or vegetable stock 2 Tbsp olive oil 4 Tb ...

Slice the heads of radicchio lengthwise into 4 quarters, leaving a bit of root so the leaves stay together.  Toss in a bowl with salt, pepper, and olive oil to coat.  Preheat your grill pan. ...

4-5 heads radicchio, grilled and chopped; 1 recipe homemade pasta using 3 eggs, rolled into sheets, or use ppackaged no-boil lasagna 1 recipe simple tomato, oil, and garlic sauce using about 5 cups of ...

2 heads radicchio, grilled and chopped ½ medium onion, diced 3 Tbsp olive oil 4 eggs, beaten with salt and pepper ¼ cup plain white breadcrumbs (optional) Balsamic vinegar Heat the oil i ...

This recipe is adapted from Cooking by Hand by Paul Bertolli. We have a little Italian hand-crank mill or mulino we like to use to make flour from buckwheat groats. This recipe serves 8 so feel free t ...

 One of our favorite recipes is winter squash ravioli with sage butter.  We try to make it at least once a year, but it takes all afternoon to make and all evening to clean up, with about 5  ...

½ butternut squash, roasted 1 medium onion, diced 1 stick butter, cut in half 2 cups Arborio rice Splash of white wine, if desired 5 cups boiling chicken stock salt & pepper Parmes ...

Eggplant was introduced to Europe by the Moors and became a favorite vegetable in the places that they took over, like Sicily. The Moorish taste for sweet and sour also comes through in this dish. L ...

1 lb. eggplant 1-2 lbs. tomatoes, chopped 1 head garlic canola oil for frying olive oil a few sprigs fresh basil salt & pepper  Slice the eggplant into 1/2-inch rounds and fry them over m ...

Regular readers of this blog will have noticed the strong slant in the recipes we provide toward Italian and specifically pasta dishes.  Our experiences living, working and eating in Italy were a ...

One of the best things to do with fully ripe tomatoes at the height of the season is to oven-roast them.  The resulting concentrated flavor is similar to that of sun-dried tomatoes. Choose firm f ...

This is an unusual recipe for pasta sauce but PLEASE, don't be dissuaded. It is a traditional recipe from northeastern Italy where I did my radicchio research. The combination of onion and anchovy is ...

1 lb barlotti beans, shelled 2 slices bacon or pancetta, diced (optional) 1 cipollini onion, finely chopped 1 carrot, finely chopped 1 celery stalk, finely chopped 1 ripe tomato, chopped, optional 4-6 ...

We love this traditional  filled pasta dish from northeastern Italy near the border with Slovenia that represents the fusion of Italian techniques and Eastern European ingredients found in the Fr ...

This is a very simple, delicious way to prepare any type of string bean, and it makes a great summer salad or cold vegetable side dish. When Tim was working at a farm in Tuscany, this dish was on the  ...

This recipe is good not only for broccoli rabe, but is capable of transforming any of the coarser leafy greens (kale, collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, escarole) into something utterly sinful ...

1 cup water 3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar ½ lb. stale bread, cut into 1-inch cubes 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 2 cups tomatoes, chopped (beefsteak) or halved (cherry) 1 cup celery, thinly sliced  ...

1 ¼  cup warm water (105-115 degrees) 1 tsp active dry yeast 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 3 ½  cups flour 1 ½ tsp kosher salt 1 pound yellow fleshed potatoes Extra virg ...

4 Tbsp butter 1/2 cup sliced onion 1-2 cups freshly shelled peas 1 1/2 cups heavy cream 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesean 2 ounces prosciutto, sliced extremely thin fresh homemade or purchased egg ...

The pizza dough for this recipe is adapted from Jim Lahey of the Sullivan St. Bakery in New York City, who brought us the infamous No-Knead Bread recipe published in The New York Times in 2006. This r ...

Grilled Radicchio | Radicchio Risotto | Radicchio Pasticcio | Radicchio Frittata Storage Radicchio, frisée and escarole store well in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 weeks. Radicchio di  ...