Sicilian Girl

Tweet Fennel, a favorite Italian vegetable, customarily eaten raw with a bit of salt, sees the year’s second crop in Autumn. We enjoy it in soups, salads, a creamy bowl of beans and even as a beverage. If you’ve never tried this versatile vegetable, this is a perfect recipe for you. Roasting fennel softens the […]

Tweet Sardines, these oily-rich, small, silvery, saltwater fish, are named after the Italian island, Sardinia. The soft-bone fish is considered to be at the bottom of the aquatic food chain, as they only eat plankton. This means they don’t have the heavy metal toxicity levels, such as, mercury, found in larger fish. Sardines are a […]

Tweet Tuscan white beans, known as cannellini beans, are a staple in my pantry and make it easy to put together a healthy, satisfying meal in very little time. Whether it’s for a snack, a bowl of soup or a salad, beans (especially canned), just make life easier. This dish is so creamy (without any cream) […]

Tweet Whether it be for fish, chops or chicken, the technique of poaching is not a new concept. Poaching is merely simmering food in a liquid until it’s cooked through. This cooking method is not just for proteins either, as I use it to prepare everything from eggs, to fruits and vegetables. Although water is […]

Tweet Last night’s dinner was a simple rosemary-roasted chicken with vegetables. Having spent much of the morning gardening, this first meal of the day needed to be quick and easy. Since the potatoes and fennel were already cooked, I only needed to slice them to make our vegetable frittate. This healthy, deliciously filling meal is […]

Tweet For many folks, soup is the original comfort food, whether it’s a soothing light stracciatella or a hearty pasta e fagioli. This full bodied fennel soup falls somewhere in between. An easy to prepare recipe with only a few ingredients, this soup is so thick and creamy that you’d never guess it has no […]

Tweet Roasted, poached, grilled and fried, these are just a few of the ways I have prepared poultry this year, but during the fall and winter months, there is nothing quite like those dinners with the delicious smells that permeate your kitchen. From the moment you lift the lid off a dish that has been […]

Tweet Many of the meals that I prepare, particularly those I’ve created, are actually born out of a previous meal. This is not creative genius on my part, rather a result of growing up in a household that could not afford to waste food. Bread that had become stale, had a new lease on life […]

Tweet Italians eat fennel (finocchio) in much the same way as Americans eat celery, raw with perhaps a bit of salt. Tossed in a salad, fennel adds a wonderful aromatic crunchy bite. You may also enjoy it cooked, braised, sauteed, roasted or baked. Fennel is actually a bulb-like herb with little yellow flowers and is […]