Browsing Tag

holidays

Pizzelle

December 20, 2016

Welcome to the December edition of Cucina Conversations! This month, we made our theme a little broader and are bringing you Italian recipes that are perfect for sharing and gift-giving during the Christmas season. I love baking year-round, but I really love baking during the holidays. The Christmas music comes on Thanksgiving Day, I spend a day or two with my nose in my cookbooks deciding which recipes to make for my annual cookie gift tins, and then my kitchen turns into a cookie-making factory for a solid two weeks (or more). Gifting homemade cookies from my kitchen to our dearest […]

Parmigiano Thyme Crackers

December 16, 2016

For those of you who know me well, you know I am an Ina Garten devotee/fan/worshipper. I own all of her cookbooks, watch repeats of her show, and triple check the DVR to make sure it’s set to record her newest episodes. I admire her cooking and entertaining style, particularly her philosophy of using best-quality ingredients to cook simple and flavorful recipes. There is nothing pretentious about any of her recipes–they are comforting, familiar, and always foolproof (seriously, I have never had one of her recipes fail). I especially admire her talent for taking every recipe she makes and presenting it beautifully […]

Parsley and Pecan Crusted Salmon Ball

December 12, 2016

You know those holiday recipes that must be made or else there will be a family-wide mutiny? This parsley and pecan crusted salmon ball is one of those recipes. When I was growing up, this was on the appetizer table at Christmas every year without fail. It had to be. I have no idea where the recipe originated–I always knew it to reside in a small black three-ring binder on a set of bookshelves in the family room of my childhood home in Maryland. Now, a copy of the recipe resides in a larger and almost bulging binder in my kitchen here in Texas. It’s […]

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

December 9, 2015

This past weekend, Peter and I bought our Christmas tree and finished decorating our house for the holiday season. I also started my Christmas cookie baking. Every year, I send homemade cookies to a few family members and friends. I started this tradition several years ago and it’s my favorite activity during the Christmas season. I start planning and preparing in November–I print out my list of cookie recipients, buy cookie tins and shipping boxes, stock up on ingredients, and make my (ambitious) list of cookie recipes I want to bake. I like to bake different cookies every year to keep […]

How to Make Pumpkin Purée

November 19, 2015

We have arrived at this week’s last “basics” post. Today, I’m showing you how to make homemade pumpkin purée. I know this is not an Italian recipe, and I’m breaking my all-Italian-recipes “rule”, but around Thanksgiving, I start making many of my favorite, traditional American recipes. Italians do eat many varieties of winter zucca (squash) which they use in velvety zuppe (soups) and fillings for ravioli, tortelli, and other stuffed pasta. I’m making a pumpkin pie for our Thanksgiving dessert table this year, and I wanted to make my filling with fresh pumpkin. Homemade pumpkin purée couldn’t be easier to make. Sure, opening […]

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