I was looking for a simple side dish to go with the Pacific Lime Chicken Thighs I made last night and saw this zucchini salad in POLPO: A Venetian Cookbook (Of Sorts). There are lots of simple recipes in this cookbook, as well as some fancy ones for fish I’m never likely to cook (octopus…
Italian
Pasta with Breadcrumbs from Lidia’s Italy
My youngest texted me from Australia the other day, where she’s studying for a semester, because she was making olio e aglio (oil and garlic) pasta, which my former mother-in-law taught me how to make. It was funny that she was making that because just the other night I made this Pasta with Breadcrumbs, from Lidia’s…
Baked Ziti
You can use grated Mozzarella, which is how I always used to do it, or diced Mozzarella. Now I tend to dice it as I like getting a bite with a small chunk of melted cheese in it. It’s good with meatballs or meat sauce; just use what you have. I gave quite a variance…
Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
I’ve done many variations of spaghetti and meat sauce over the years, like this 30 minute meat sauce or this cook all afternoon “Sunday Gravy” from The Sopranos Cookbook. If you have time to cook the sauce a long time, you can use canned diced tomatoes or whole tomatoes that you squeeze with your hand…
Pasta with Toasted Breadcrumbs
I think Pasta with Toasted Breadcrumbs is the pasta equivalent of stone soup. You might think you don’t have anything to make a sauce but if you’ve got some oil, stale bread or breadcrumbs (I keep some in the freezer), garlic and oregano, you can make a tasty dish. If you’re got a bit of…