In 2005 Sandy and I took a two week trip to Italy. We started in Venice and worked our way down through Tuscany, Rome and The Amalfi Coast to Sicily. We were married less than two years at the time and didn’t have children yet, so it was the perfect time in our lives for that type of trip. It goes without saying that there were many memorable meals along the way. One such meal was at Osteria da Fiore in Venice.
The best stories about eating while travelling are usually the ones where you just stumbled upon a humble little hidden gem after asking a local in the street. This is not one of those stories. I had planned our dinner at Da Fiore well ahead of time, making a reservation before we even left America. I loved the Da Fiore cookbook and had to go eat there in person. This actually had the potential of being quite the opposite type of story, a lot of build up and hype only to be disappointed. Thankfully, it did not turn out that way. It definitely wasnt cheap, but it was everything I expected, and one of my favorite meals not only of that Italy trip, but of all time.
In the six years since that trip we have had three children. Needless to say another trip to Italy, let alone a romantic dinner for two in Venice, is not in the cards any time soon. So we have to take advantage of the night the two oldest sleep at their grandmother’s and the 1 year old goes down early, by reliving one of the dishes from that legendary dinner, Seared Tuna with Rosemary Oil, at home.
This recipe makes a lot more rosemary oil than you need for the dish, but it keeps for a few months if sealed well and kept in a cool dark place.
1 cupextra virgin olive oil plus 1 tablespoon for cooking the tuna 1/4 cupchopped fresh rosemary plus 1 or two sprigs for garnish 2 teaspoons crushed hot red pepper 1garlic clove 1-1/2 poundstuna loin salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
At least one day in advance, prepare the rosemary oil by combining 1 cup olive oil, rosemary, crushed red pepper, garlic and salt to taste. Cover tightly and let stand overnight. Strain the oil through a fine mesh sieve into a clean jar, and seal until ready to use.
Cut the tuna loin into four even pieces, and season with salt & pepper.
Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pieces of tuna to the pan and sear on all sides, about 1 minute per side, for medium-rare.
Using a sharp knife cut the tuna into 1/4 slices. Arrange on serving plates and drizzle with the rosemary oil. Chop up the remaining sprigs of rosemary, sprinkle on top for garnish, and serve.
I started The Italian Chef website in 1999 and Red Snapper Livornese was one of the first recipes I posted. Occasionally, I like to revisit some of the older recipes from the archives, and since this wonderfully pungent dish from Livorno on the coast of Tuscany is the main course for my Christmas Eve fish dinner every year, this is the perfect time to bring it front and center.
We spend Christmas Eve with my wife, Sandy’s family. They are Portuguese and their tradition is to have octopus, something I can’t eat due to allergies. So, my first Christmas Eve dinner at my mother in-laws, I made a platter of Snapper Livornese to serve alongside the octopus. It was a big hit, and is now expected of me and we have been enjoying this hybrid Portuguese/Italian Christmas Eve fish dinner ever since.
This dish could also be one component in a traditional Feast of The Seven Fishes blowout, if you want some more ideas to go along with it, please check out my cousin Sal’s Christmas Eve Dinner menu.
Red Snapper Livornese Recipe
Serves 4
2 tablespoonsextra-virgin olive oil 1 smallyellow onion, diced 12gaetta olives, pitted and chopped 2 tablespoonscapers 4Red Snapper fillets 1 cupmarinara sauce 1 cupdry white wine salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Heat the olive oil in a saute pan large enough to hold the snapper fillets, over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it starts to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the olives and capers and continue cooking until onion is translucent 3-5 minutes.
Lay the red snapper fillets skin side down in the pan, and add the marinara sauce and white wine. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and place the pan in the oven.
Bake in the oven until fish is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Using a spatula, carefully transfer fish to serving plates, spoon sauce over fish and serve.
In Italy, Porchetta is a deboned pig, stuffed and rolled, and there are many versions depending on the region. I wanted to make Porchetta, but was not quite up to deboning and stuffing a pig, so I decided to do what you might consider “Porchetta Lite”. After doing some searching through recipe books and on the interwebs to see what other people have done, I saw a few variations. Some used pork loin, some pork shoulder, some pork belly. I even came across a few that used pork loin wrapped in pork belly! Again, that seemed like a bit of overkill to me. I figured Pork belly suffed with some Tuscan inspired herbs and garlic and rolled up would make for a delicious and easy porchetta in a home oven. I was right, it turned out great.
Porchetta Recipe
Serves 8
4 lbboneless pork belly, with the skin on 2 tablespoonsfresh sage, chopped 2 tablespoonsfresh rosemary, chopped 4 clovesfresh garlic, minced 2 teaspoonscoarse salt 2 tablespoonsextra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Lay the pork skin side down on a work surface, and with a sharp knife, make a few slits in the flesh.
In a small bowl, mix together the sage, rosemary, garlic, 2 teaspoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Spread the mixture all over the exposed surface of the belly, working it into the cuts in the flesh. Roll up the pork belly and tie tightly with butcher’s twine.
Place rolled and tied belly in a roasting pan. Make some cuts in the skin with a sharp knife, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Place the pan in the oven and cook for 2 1/2 hours. The juices should run clear when pierced with a knife. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes, loosely tented with foil. Slice and serve.
This typically Roman pasta dish was traditionally made with guanciale, but since that ingredient used to be very hard to find outside of Italy, and the Lazio region in particular, pancetta has became a common substitute. This is changing and guanciale can now be found at certain specialty food stores here in America. While you can still make a great Amatriciana with pancetta, if you are able to find guanciale, you should try using it at least once.
Made from cured pork jowl, guanciale is softer and has a higher ratio of fat than pancetta, resulting in a richer sauce. That being said, with either ingredient it is still my favorite pasta dish. So no need to get too caught up in being “traditional”.
Prep time: | Cook time: | Total time:
Serves 4
2 tblsp of olive oil 1/4 of a poundpancetta or guanciale, chopped 1 smallyellow onion, chopped 2 cloves of garlic, chopped 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes 1 28 oz can of imported Italian tomatoes salt to taste 1 pound of bucatini pasta 1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add the pancetta or guanciale and cook, stirring often, until goldenbrown, about 10 minutes. Add the onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and saute until garlic is golden, about 1 minute longer.
Crush tomatoes and add with juices to pan. Add salt pepper and a little water. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, about 15 to 20 minutes.
While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and the bucatini. Cook uncovered over high heat until al dente.
Drain the pasta, then add the pasta and 1/4 cup of the Pecorino Pomano to the sauce in the saucepan and toss well. Transfer to warm serving plates and serve immediately, with the remaining Pecorino Romano on the side.
I feel like I have been beating the simplicity theme into the ground the past few weeks, but the fact of the matter is, this is how I cook in the summer. There are so many great seasonal ingredients that I look forward to all year, and I want to put them front and center in the dishes I eat. Plus, it’s too hot to cook anything too complicated or involved.
Zucchini and yellow squash are two of these ingredients that I look forward to so much. Sure you can get them all year round in the supermarket, but they are so much better when they are from your own garden or a local farm. This recipe comes from my Aunt Maria who is an awesome cook.
Pasta with Summer Squash Recipe
Serves 4-6
1 pound farfalle, penne or fusilli pasta
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 pound small squash such as zucchini or yellow squash, sliced thinly
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt to taste
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese
4 large basil leaves, washed, patted dry and chopped
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook uncovered over high heat.
While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the squash, red pepper and salt. Cook stirring occasionally until squash is starting to soften about 8 minutes.
When pasta is cooked to just under al dente reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta.
Add the pasta, Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese, half of the chopped parsely and the reserved cooking water to the pan with the squash, and stir together over the heat until well combined.
Transfer the pasta to serving plates. Sprinkle with remaining basil and serve.
In Italian the word scottadito means burned fingers. This dish is named scottadito because the lamb chops are so delicious that you can’t resist eating them sizzling hot, straight from the grill and burning your fingers.
Serves 4
2 clovesgarlic, finely chopped 2 tablespoonschopped fresh rosemary 1/4 cupextra-virgin olive oil salt and pepper to taste 12rib lamb chops
In a small bowl stir together the garlic, rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper. Place the lamb chops in a shallow dish and pour the marinade over them, turn the cops to coat both sides. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
Start a fire in a charcoal grill or preheat a gas grill. Place the chops on the rack over high heat and grill turning once, 5 minutes per side for medium rare. The outside will be well seared with the insides still pink.
Bresaola is a cured and air dried beef that is the specialty of Valtellina in the Lombardy region in northern Italy. You should be able to find it in a good Italian deli or specialty store. I remember whenever my Dad had some in the restaurant, I used to love slicing it up paper thin, drizzling a little extra virgin olive oil and squeezing some lemon on it for a little snack just before the dinner rush hit. It is even better when you add some arugula, shaved Parmagiano-Reggiano and cracked black pepper.
Bresaola with Arugula Recipe
Serves 4
6 ounces of thinly sliced bresaola
2 cups of baby arugula, rinsed and patted dry
extra-virgin olive oil
one lemon, cut in half
1 hunk Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
freshly ground black pepper to taste
Using 4 small dishes, spread out 1/4 of the bresaola in each dish, slighty overlapping the pieces.
Pile a handful of the arugula in the center of each dish
Drizzle with olive oil and squeeze a little lemon juice over each plate.
Top with shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano (use a vegetable peeler) and a few twists of the pepper grinder and serve.
Prosciutto and Melon is another simple and classic Italian combination in the same vein as last week’s Caprese Salad. Once again, quality ingredients are key here, use good imported Prosciutto di Parma or if you want to try something different, Prosciutto di San Daniele from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. The balsamic vinegar is optional, but does add a nice touch. Please only use it if you have a really good aged balsamic vinegar, not that phony supermarket balsamic. And remember a little goes a long way.
At first glance, this doesn’t seem like much of a recipe, but it really is an awesome combination, and is worth posting here if only to remind you of something you may not have had in a while. The saltiness of the prosciutto and the sweetness of the cantelope really play off of each other. Nothing beats being able to throw something so delicious and satisfying together so quickly.
Prosciutto and Melon Recipe
1 cantelope or honeydew melon
1/2 pound Prosciutto di Parma, sliced paper thin
Balsamic vinegar for drizzling (optional)
Cut the melon in half, remove the seeds and slice into 1-inch slices, removing the rind.
Wrap each slice of melon in a slice of prosciutto, leaving a little melon showing at the ends.
Arrange in serving plates, and drizzle with a few drops of balsamic vinegar, if using, and serve.
Recently I conducted a small poll on the Italian Chef Facebook page asking what kind of summer recipes people wanted to see more of here. No cook recipes like salads and cold antipasti narrowly beat out Italian grilling recipes. So, over the next couple of weeks I am going to feature some of my best salads and such, starting here with my own personal favorite summer dish, Caprese Salad.
This salad is simplicity at it’s best: tomatoes, mozzarella, olive oil and basil. It is very important that all of the ingredients be the best quality you can find. Tomatoes and basil fresh from your own garden or the local farmer’s market, your finest extra-virgin olive oil, and fresh mozzarrella from a source you trust.
In Campania, Insalata Caprese is made with local fresh buffalo mozzarella, one of the culinary delights of the region. Here in America, buffalo mozzarella is very hard to find so we substitute good quality cow’s milk mozzarella, called fior di latte in Italy. Even if you can find imported Mozzarella di Bufala in a specialty store, you are better off with good fresh cow’s milk mozzarella from a deli or cheese maker you trust, because buffalo mozzarella is best eaten as soon after it is made as possible and does not travel well.
Caprese Salad Recipe
Prep time:
Serves 4-6
2 poundsripe tomatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick 1 poundfresh mozzarella, sliced 1/4 inch thick 4 tablespoonsextra-virgin olive oil 5 to 8fresh basil leaves salt to taste
Arrange tomato slices on a platter.
Top each tomato with a slice of mozzarella. Season with salt to taste.
Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the mozzarella and tomato. Tear the basil leaves into pieces by hand or chiffonade cut, scatter on top and serve.
On June 8, Paul Torre, The Italian Chef who was the inspiration for this website and, more importantly, my father, passed away after a two year struggle with multiple diseases. I knew I wanted to write about this here because he was such a big part of this site, but it took me some time to be able to write what I wanted to say.
I started this website back in 1999, with the purpose of keeping my father’s recipes alive after he retired from the restaurant business. Born to Italian immigrants in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, his family moved back to Italy to escape the great depression shortly after his birth. When he was 18 he came back to America, settling in the New York metropolitan area, and began a 40+ year career as an accomplished chef. The last 19 years of that career were spent as chef/owner of his own Italian restaurant, La Villetta in Larchmont, NY.
When I started this website I was not much of a cook. Although, I had worked in the restaurant since I was a teenager, it was always in the front of the house as a waiter. The early process of trying to get recipes from a chef who did everything by feel was not easy. When I would ask him for amounts of ingredients I would get answers like “You know” and “Better too little than too much.” Eventually, we settled into a routine of cooking together with me taking the handfuls and pinches of ingredients from him, and measuring them. Those were great times that I will always cherish. As I became more comfortable with cooking over the years, and getting together to cook became more difficult, I would discuss a dish with him then go off on my own to work out measurements. When I was happy with my results I would then show him the recipe for approval and final tweaking. Cooking together and discussing food forged a bond between us that greatly added to an already special father-son relationship.
Sadly, he is gone now, so I no longer will have his direct input or advice on this website or life in general for that matter. He was not only a great chef, but a great father and I will miss him dearly. However, his spirit will always be by my side in the kitchen, and I will always apply the sensibility about and principles of Italian cooking that he instilled in me. Being a chef was not just a job for my father, he truly had a passion for cooking and hospitality. That passion is a gift that he gave to me, and I will continue the journey I started here with my dad.
