Seasonal ingredients, local olive oil and red hot chili peppers form the foundation of Calabrian cooking and have spurred the now-famous reinvention of home-style, Italian paesano food. Pasta, always al dente, is usually eaten once a day and is served in heaps and tossed with the perfect sauce to complement its shape and texture.Read More
Potato gnocchi become good old-fashioned Calabrian comfort food when you use potatoes from La Sila mountains or eat them with a hearty tomato and Calabrian sausage sauce. We’ll get to that sausage recipe soon enough, but for now here is the recipe for the homemade potato gnocchi. Ingredients: (serves two) >> 3/4 cup all-purpose flour,...Read More
You know you are loved when you visit a home in Calabria and are served a generous helping of homemade lasagna. For many Calabrians, lasagna is a special meal and in the busy world we live in today-yes, even here in Calabria-it is hard to find time to prepare this dish the way you should....Read More
Carnevale has come and gone and the Lenten season is in full swing. In case you missed it, I told my Facebook fans about my plan, not to give something up for Lent, but to spend a little time each day doing something for someone else. So … if YOU need something, just shoot me...Read More
A few weeks ago I asked where all of the good customer service guys had gone? I lamented the lack of a customer-service oriented mentality in south Italy and wondered how businesses could remain open with the attitude they have towards their customers. Well today, I have that answer. photo credit: Gudlyf But before we...Read More
I have a confession to make. A confession that could, in theory, get my Expat-in-Italy status revoked and have citizens from my adopted country kicking my country music listen’, Mexican food eatin’ butt back to Beaumont. You see, the first gazillion times I had lasagna in Calabria-with only one exception-I pretty much hated it. Gulp....Read More
See those leaves up there? Well, technically they are in our backyard year-round. What is not there year-round are those plump, light green balls of figlish deliciousness you see buried among them. You know, figs are the summertime fruit here in bella Calabria … in fact, they are so popular, people have been known to...Read More
Stop the Presses! Call your loved ones … A new, all-natural replacement for Pfizer’s power-pill has been discovered. Where? Well, in Calabria, of course. Remember that McFunky place I told you about in Villaggio Mancuso in La Sila? Not only do they sell great wine, homemade jelly and assorted Silan meat and cheese, but they...Read More
Today is the final installment of Sila Fridays … Wait. Wait. Don’t be sad. Today is the final installment of Sila Fridays until I get back up there and tour a different area. By now you know about getting to La Sila, you know of quaint Villaggio Mancuso, you know where to eat and sleep...Read More
Morzello is a traditional Catanzaresi dish that is served in many local restaurants throughout the area but the best, I’ve heard, is when it is homemade. According to legend, Morzello, or morzeddhu in dialect, was created when an impoverished mother, widowed and alone, was forced to accept odd jobs to support her hungry children....Read More
