Month: April 2022

Dolci, Holidays

Pizza Grano

This special dessert has many names: pizza grano, torta di nonna, Easter pie, and Neopolitan grain pie. As the last names suggest, it’s a Southern treat typically served on Easter. In fact, many years ago in San Francisco, I went looking through the Italian neighborhood for the wheat to make this pie. Nobody knew what […]

Secondi

Chicken Florentine

Everybody should see Florence at least once—the duomo is an architectural marvel, as is the Ponte Vecchio, and the Boboli gardens across the river provide a great panoramic view of the city. Some of the greatest renaissance art can be found in Florence. It’s also a foodie destination, with a long tradition of high-end cuisine. […]

Dolci, Holidays

Sfingi

Two days after St. Patrick’s Day comes the Feast of San Giuseppe (St. Joseph). They were probably both Catholic holidays that were superimposed over older pagan festivals marking the vernal equinox. In any case, we celebrate them both with traditional food—corned beef on St. Pat’s, and sfingi on San Giuseppe. And in both cases, we […]