Boats waiting for the summer at Providence Rhode Island

Spaghetti  al pesto Genovese using the real recipe from my aunt's Grazia recipe. She lived in Genoa for many years. When you cook the pasta, add string beans and a cut up potato to the water. The traditional way is to use trofie pasta but I didn't have any so I settled for spaghetti. Either way when prepared this way the outcome is wonderful.

 A real "church lady," in charge of the annual strawberry festival at the Zion Episcopal Church in Queens, NYC. A wonderful indefatigable character.

 A dish that screams summer. Spaghetti with fried zucchine, pomodorini and muddica atturrata, toasted breadcrumbs. Una sinfonia di sapori. A symphony of flavors.

Swamp, Jacksonville, Florida.

 

 Italian cuisine has it's slew of delightful and unbeatable complex dishes. Yet, as I have stated several times, it's true genius is in it's ability to create delicious dishes with a minimum of ingredients. Naturally this simplicity requires the best and freshest ingredients. This is easy in Italy but states-side it's not always easy to find these raw materials. But when one finds them it's a whole new ball game. I saw this super fresh bunch swiss chard and I can obtain great bread in my neighborhood. My olive oil is always very good and the garlic and. tomato that I get from a local farmer are tops. So with these three ingredients, swiss chard, garlic and tomato I was on my way. Naturally the olive oil is not really an ingredient because it's a necessary condition. Wash the chard, put oil in a skillet, add a few cloves of garlic along with the chard and then add a few chopped tomatoes. Season with Sicilian sea salt and black pepper and the magic is done. A dash of peperoncino is optional. The result is almost sinful. 

 A dish that screams summer. Spaghetti with pomodorini, fried zucchine and muddica atturrata or toasted bread crumbs. A symphony of flavors.