Niccoli’s All Italian Blog

One of my favorite Italian chefs is Giada De Laurentiis, host of Everyday Italian. She has several books that are easy to follow, and meals are usually quick and always delicious. Check out Giada’s “Everyday Italian” and Giada’s “Family Dinners” for wonderful Italian recipes.

Here are some basic steps to making that perfect pasta:

1. Use a lot of water and a large pot.
2. Salt the water to add flavor and to help the pasta absorb the sauce.
3. Do not add anything else to the water. No oil, no butter, nothing.
4. Bring the water to a rolling boil, add the pasta and cover the pot to make it quickly boiling again. Remove the lid when it begins to boil for the second time.
5. Do not rinse pasta. You want starch on the pasta to help the sauce adhere to it. The only exception is if you are making a cold pasta salad.
6. Checking pasta for doneness by removing a strand or two with a fork and tasting for doneness.

This fantastic Italian dessert is made with whipped ricotta, powder sugar and a licorice liquer. All this is put into a cannoli shell and dusted with powdered sugar. Bon Appetito!

Don’t these look great?

Or you can buy our Cannoli shells and stuff them yourself!

Tiramisu is translated as “pick-me-up” in Italian. This favorite dessert is known for the high energy contents, eggs and sugar with the caffeine in a strong espresso coffee.

There are many different stories about the origin of Tiramisu. It’s a layered cake so some people place its origin in Tuscany, where another famous layered Italian dessert is very popular. It’s called “Zuppa Inglese” (English Soup). It is not English and it is not a soup. Instead is a simple cake of ladyfingers or sponge cake, soaked in liquor, and alternated layers of chocolate and egg custard.

Of course, layered cakes have been around for long time, but the inspired idea of Tiramisu is not in the technique of layering, but in the components. This is the true innovation in Tiramisu!

Round tomatoes have between five and seven locules or seed pockets but plum tomatoes like the San Marzano have two. This small seed cavity allows the seeds to be scooped out easily, leaving all the meat.

The plant can bear up to 12 bunches of fruit, the skin has a bright red color and is easily removable, an indispensable characteristic for preparing peeled tomatoes.

All in all, this type of tomato is considered one of the best available!