• Recipes,  Something Savory

    Italian-Style Stuffed Peppers

    Here is my grandmother’s tried-and-true recipe for the best Italian-style stuffed peppers.  Although I have made a few modern variations on stuffed peppers recently (some unsuccessful, I must admit), I wanted to take it back and make the *real* stuffed peppers my family and I have enjoyed for years so I asked my grandmother for her recipe.

    The peppers are stuffed with a tasty mixture of ground beef, pork and veal, along with onions, cooked rice, bread, Parmesan cheese, fresh parsley and garlic. It’s full of traditional Italian flavors and almost tastes like a meatball. The cooked rice adds texture and heartiness, and the mixture of meats adds a ton more flavor and richness than if you only used ground beef. We have a special way of cooking it that doesn’t dry out the filling, but still allows the stuffed peppers to retain their shape. These stuffed peppers make for a lovely meal. Enjoy!

  • Recipes,  Something Savory

    Osso Buco

    Last weekend we visited my family in America and I was delighted to help my mom and grandmother cook up a Milanese classic, veal Osso Buco. A traditional Osso Buco consists of thick-cut, bone-in veal shanks that are braised for several hours in a white wine, tomato and herb sauce, and finished with a piquant gremolata topping.

    “Osso Buco” translates in Italian to “bone’s hole,” – you can see how this dish got its name once the veal is cooked up to perfection and all of the marrow has seeped from the bones, thus creating a rich, decadent sauce, and, yes, leaving a “bone’s hole” in the center of the shanks. Because the veal is slow-cooked in this sauce, the meat becomes tender and succulent and falls easily off the bone.

    This is a timeless and classic

  • NYC

    Dinner at Del Posto

    This past weekend we finally made it back to one of the fanciest Italian restaurants in New York, Del Posto. The hotspot, run by celebrity Italian food personalities, Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich and Lidia Bastianich, occupies an opulent space in Chelsea, where  live piano fills a bustling, warmly-lit dining room. Del Posto received a four-star rating from New York Times critic Sam Sifton a couple years back, much to the surprise of discerning editors and restaurant-goers alike who doubted it deserved a coveted spot next to the finest dining establishments in the city–Per Se, Daniel, Le Bernardin, Eleven Madison Park and Jean Georges.