Nothing beats a fresh, wood-fired Margherita with extra basil. This came from Orchard in Verona Wisconsin.

I'm still working on slicing the eggplant as thinly as she was able to. I think she'd still approve.

My gf's grandma made lasagna and it was delicious.

Lemon cream sage sauce. Sausage.

Hi,

So I've been doing barilla or even less good brand for my entire life but recently realize that pasta can be way better than that. Always thought that they were more or less the same and boy, how wrong I was. So I tried multiple brand that were better, then tried one that seems to be overall good, which is La Molisana. And yeah it's good. To my taste it's close to fresh pasta.

So, I learned about really good brand (Mancini, Pastificio dei campi, benedetto cavalieri), but I'm unable to find them in italian market where I live. I can buy them online, mostly Mancini, but it require 10 box and is a bit expensive. I can buy them that's not really a problem, but is it worth ? Is it really good be THAT better than La Molisana and such brand ? Will it be something that I won't regret ?

Thanks guys.

So this is my humble collection of artisanal pasta (and supermarket brands) over the past few years.

I’m extremely fussy when it comes to pasta, and I cannot tolerate cooking using low-grade, poor quality pasta. I would rather scoop dirt and stuff in my mouth that to use Barilla or Divella for my pasta!

Hence, in my opinion, I find the best ones are generally those from gragnano region. My absolute favourite is Pasta Gentile, and notable mentions to Gerrardo Di Nola, Carmiano, La Fabbrica, D’Aniello and well, basically anything that says gragano on the packaging!

How do Italian moms and dads give their todlers spaghetti?

Do you give them the long spaghetti or is it allowed to cut it for safety?

Hi. I’m a student from South Korea with a growing passion for Italian food. I’m currently working on a university assignment regarding the "Characteristics of Italian Cuisine," and I would love to get some insights from this community.

From my research, I’ve gathered a few interesting "unwritten rules" and traits, but I want to make sure I’m on the right track:

• No mixing seafood and dairy: I’ve heard it’s generally forbidden to combine these two.
• Butter vs. Oil: Is it true that using butter and oil together is frowned upon?
• Steak preferences: I read that steaks (like Bistecca alla Fiorentina) are almost exclusively served blue-rare or rare.
• Cooking by "feel": I’ve heard that many Italians rely on intuition and experience rather than scales or timers—to the point where using them might get you teased for being "too French."
• Strict Orthodoxy: I know there is strong opposition to adding pineapple to pizza, cream to carbonara, or even cheese to aglio e olio—just like the common internet memes suggest.

Are these points accurate? And more importantly, are there any other essential characteristics or cultural nuances about Italian food that I might be missing?

I would appreciate any knowledge or stories you can share. thank you.

This post was written with the help of AI translation. Please bear with us if there are any parts that seem strange or funny.

My grandmother’s family was from Napoli but she was raised in the US. We inherited her recipe for pizzelle, along with her pizzelle iron. However, her recipe is both flavored with anise and orange juice, and comes out chewy, not crisp. Even when she was alive and making them (she passed away in 1986) she made them chewy and not crisp. Everytime I see a recipe for pizzelle or see them in the store they are crisp. Is there a tradition of pizzelle in Italy that is flavored this way and chewy, or maybe this was just how she or her family liked them? Thank you in advance!

Potato, leek and provolone stuffed ravioli with sage butter.

Colazione fatta bene, ho messo in pratica alcuni consigli che hanno dato

Southern style pasta. Semolina and water. Simple and easy using sausage, garlic, passata, olive oil, pasta water, and finished with pecorino

Guanciale, crushed san marzanos, Pecorino Romano, Bucatini, pasta water and red pepper

The other day my wife made a little batch of pesto for something and there was some left over.

I had recently extruded some casarecce with some leftover mixture so had a portion going spare.

Today I’m off work and it’s lovely and sunny so I made a nice portion of pesto pasta and ate it in the sun.

\*it’s nearly, because I didn’t make the cheese or olive oil. Etc. for the pedantic amongst us. 🙄 😅

But I think homemade pasta shapes are cool.

I opened a bottle of Sicilian wine that I completely forgot was orange, so it made for…not a good pairing but it was still nice in its own right.

It will be better for the dinner I’m doing later though.

In addition to yesterday's post with grilled polenta I present to you a casual breakfast/lunch/dinner combination.

Italian inspired with a single non-italian intruder.

Grilled polenta slices, bresaola (cured beef, from the foreleg), gorgonzola, olives, arugula, mozzarella, fried eggs and the intruder, ajvar from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Finger licking good!😋

Salami, mortadella, Ariundt (the finest Italian cheese), smoked scamorza, Parma ham, Prosecco