This week we finished off the northeast and north-central five-session series of lunch classes with Tuscany. Probably the best known, or at least most thought about region of Italy by outsiders, there’s a wide range of cooking that I could have picked to showcase. Decided on a slightly trickier pasta to form – casarecce –… Read More Under the Tuscan Fork

Just a quick rundown on this last weekend. Henry’s back in Peru for a month, so friend Allan of Kelin Cakes (locals, check out his goodies, so to speak!) is filling in. A couple of new dishes to the repertoire…. A caramelized red onion, portobello and camembert tartlet you’ve seen before – the only difference,… Read More Poached Tuna and Wheatberries

This week’s Italian regional lunch class focused on the little known state of Le Marche, or “The Marches”. Located on the east coast of Italy, basically in the center, Marches literally means “marches”, which is an outdated way of referring to borders or frontiers, and this region was demarcated by three of those – Ancona,… Read More Lunch in March Step

One of the things you might have noticed is that I’ve been playing more and more with varied textures in our Casa S meals. More and more you’ll see plates that focus on a single ingredient presented in multiple forms. I realize it’s either all the rage in chef circles, or maybe a little past-rage,… Read More Textural Successes and Failures

If there is anywhere in Italy where food is as important as art, and cooking is considered one of the fine arts, it is Emilia-Romagna. Nowhere is this more clear than in the cities of Parma and Bologna. The former is at the center of the provinces Parma and Reggio which give us the famed… Read More Home of Cheese & Cured Meat

Having left behind our thematic approach to dinners, sometimes I miss out on things that used to provide interesting fodder for menu planning – for the first time in years I didn’t make a plan for Bastille Day that revolved around French cuisine – one of those holidays that’s always been fun to celebrate, whether… Read More Sin Bastille

Just letting you in on what you missed at this week’s evening one-off class featuring a few classic Greek dishes. We started with delicious rice and vegetable filled dolmadakia with a tangy avgolemono sauce. For our main course, a prawn and feta bake – garides giouvetsi, accompanied by… Melitzanes Vizantiou, or Byzantine Eggplant – a… Read More Greek Isle Dining

Okay, I’m spending too much time in front of the computer – I think I’ll have to limit my new little “Game On” posts to one or two a week instead of a daily entry. To be saved for “slow news” days. On to the food stuffs of the day, a look at the first… Read More Lunch in the Serene Republic