Last month I spent a couple of weeks in the Bay Area for work, mostly to shoot my next cookbook with the very awesome photographer Ed Anderson and the super incredible food stylist George Dolese. Even though #UntitledSouthItalyCookbook is pretty much complete, the Tasting Rome tour continues! While I was out west, I was lucky [...]
Passover began on Monday and as Rome's Jews gather to observe this sacred holiday, I think it's important to acknowledge the city's most recent community, which escaped from Libya in 1967. In the wake of the Six Days War, years of Jewish persecution by the Libyan state erupted in violence. Thousands of Jews were evacuated to [...]
Pomegranates are traditionally eaten on the second night of Rosh Hashanah. Rome has one of the world's most ancient Jewish communities--the first Jews arrived during the Republican age around the year 161 BCE. This historic community, whose descendants live in Rome to this day, has rites, traditions, history, and a dialect that are unique in [...]
A shot of last week's segment on WGN Chicago Under normal circumstances I wouldn't get excited about polpette di pollo (chicken meatballs). Chicken balls, perhaps (not that those are easy to find these days, even at my offal-centric butcher), but I'm a veal or pork meatball kinda lady. But these polpette di pollo, inspired by [...]
A few days a year, Boccione "Il Forno del Ghetto," the generations-old kosher bakery on Via Portico d'Ottavia, sells pizzarelle. The bakers make them only during Passover, and due to restrictions on working, the bakery is closed during most of the holiday. If you time it right, this highly seasonal specialty can be yours. Otherwise, [...]
There’s this extraordinary slice of Rome wedged between the Stazione Trastevere, the Tiber, and McDonalds. If you can overlook the stench emitted by the latter landmarks, the place is almost perfect. In addition to its pretty pastel-hued 1920s housing blocks and views of Monte Testaccio and Gazometro, this swath of Trastevere’s […]
