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There are so many Italian restaurants in the northern NJ area, that it is hard to choose a good one. Some of the best have dropped in their quality. We are looking for excellent food, home-made pastas and fine service. What are your choices? :confused:

I haven't finalized plans yet, but assuming we do the next dinner at Bella Rosa in East Hanover on May 18th (that's a Saturday), who would be interested in attending? The price would be similar to the previous dinners and it is BYOB. Here are some links about this restaurant: Recent eGullet thread Daily Record review from March 2002 eGullet thread from Dec 2001/Jan 2002

Wanting to try a different theme other than french for my eating out I'm looking for some recommendations for Italian restaurants in London. Already rang Locanda Locatelli and booked up until july! Been to Zafferano's several times, so don't want to go there. Any other ideas that I stand half a chance of getting in somewhere in central London (not Barnes or Putney etc.)

Remember we had a thread on pasta risotto by Ducasse? There i mentioned that Patricia Wells had a similar recipe in her provence book (great minds think alike...). When i finally checked the book, actually it's the same recipe, where she mentioned her visit to Ducasse restaurant and how she was watching the chef in the kitchen (i think it was not Ducasse) preparing pasta using risotto technique. What's more interesting, in the same book she has a recipe for fried noodles (spanish?), where you just toast fideo-like pasta coated in olive oil in the oven, and then boil it in chicken stock. So i tried it yesterday and it came very tasty. So what other interesting techniques can be applied to pasta beyond usual boiling?

My wife and I have rented a flat in Florence of three weeks in July, I am interested in eating some of the more tradional foods and ultimately cooking it myself. I have family that live in Chianti and will be in Siena quite a bit also, so I have the oppertunity to taste food from all over the region. I already have the local tripe stall and blood-pudding supplier sorted (unfortunately it isn't pig killing time so no blood desert) but are there any other local food of interest in the region which you would consider a must have? Oh, has anybdy cooked cardoons? The last time I came back from Florence I bought two kilos of cardoons with me, but after cooking them I found that they were to old and bitter to eat.

What's your favorite antipasti? Mine are any of the following: Sweet and sour onions (either large yellow ones which have been roasted or cipolini); Chicken meatballs cooked four ways (in broth, with pasta, fried, and with a sauce like basic tomato sauce); Stuffed eggplant or peppers; A gratin of scalloped potatoes and roasted peppers, with chopped garlic and topped with EVOO; Bagna cauda (sic) -- I think this is how you spell it -- its the Venetian dip of hot oil, garlic and anchovies, with which you dip raw veggies into. Not for the faint of palate. Any others? I'm talking about antipasti in the Italian sense, not the Italian-American version (which, forgive me for expressing my foodie flakiness again, I feel IMO is a bastardization of the real thing, not that the bastardization isn't valid, it's just not my thing).

Gnocchi is one of those foods that can be great or horrible. When its good, its light, soft and almost creamy, and when its bad its like tasteless lead sinkers. The strange thing about it is that it contains only 3-5 ingredients (potatoes, flour, salt, and maybe egg and/or some nutmeg). It looks so easy to make, yet I can't seem to get it right. Almost everything I've read says you want to use as little flour as possible, and to do so, you've got to allow as little water as possible into the potato. You also have to use floury potatos such as russets. While I've tried baking and boiling the potatoes, using a masher and a ricer, with egg and without egg, I can't seem to get it right. Does anyone have a tried and true recipe or know what I'm doing wrong?

I mentioned bottarga over on the Pacific NW board and Blue Heron asked me to expound... Bottarga is the Italian name for dried, pressed fish roe...gray mullet in Sardinia, tuna in Sicily. It's my experience that the tuna is more common. You can buy it pre-grated in small glass jars or by the chunk, which is how I prefer it. The classic Sicilian dish is spaghetti with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, parlsey, and bottarga. It's also sometimes shaved thin, macerated in olive oil or lemon juice or both, and served as an antipasto. I like to add it to things that I might have added anchovy to for the subtle depth of flavor, except that bottarga is never quite so subtle. Most recently, I made a salsa verde with things from my garden...lemon mint & spring garlic...and some Meyer lemon zest, juice, olive oil, and bottarga. I've also added it to more traditional salsa verde (basil, parsley, garlic, etc). A little goes a long way. I have several pieces in the refrigerator. I wrap it tightly and it seems to keep forever. One of the older pieces is getting crumbly and more dried out, but that just makes it easier to break up. Recipes usually call for grating, but I've never found that to work well...there's often a membrane in the roe sack that resists grating, so I slice thin pieces and chop them up. You can buy the chunk form at Esperya , and probably the jars at good better food shops. It's expensive, even in Italy. I bought a piece the size of a pack of cigarettes for about $10 last fall. I tucked it into my hip pocket coming through Customs, not sure of whether I could get it in legally, and realized after I got by that the plastic and tape wrapped piece of brown stuff probably looked just like plastic explosives (and this was in November). Jim

Zingerman's describes Wild Italian fennel pollen. Our find of the year: fairy dust for food lovers. This stuff sound interesting. But I still have six small bottles of fish sauce brought home from Bangok eight years ago that I don't know what to do with. Has anyone actually used fennel pollen? I'd love to be able to serve something and casually toss off that ingredient.

after reading Robin Rinaldi's article over on the Media board, i got to thinking about the pasta dish with olive oil, red pepper flakes, and that's about it. what is it called anyway? i'm thinking i want to whip up some tonite or tomorrow. any suggestions? i'm guessing: olive oil garlic red pepper flakes grated cheese some bread crumbs maybe mint or parsley any info would, as always, be appreciated,

What, in your opinion are the strong points of Italian restaurants in the United States? What are the weak points? To what degree do Italian restaurants in the United States succeed or fail to replicate the experience available at comparable restaurants in Italy? As a related question, why is there something called "Italian-American cooking", as evidenced by your own television series on the subject, when there is no such thing as "French-American cooking", to take just one other example?

We have had much discussion at eGullet about the alleged international pre-eminence of French cuisine. Do you accept that for historical reasons French cuisine became the international bench-mark when people started to "live to eat" in addition to "eat to live" ? Or is this just a localised perception in certain Western countries ? Do you believe that French cuisine has maintained any pre-eminence in terms of its use of ingredients, its general methods of cooking, and its innovation ? Or do you believe that Italian cuisine has achieved comparable international stature ? What would you define as the cruucial or unique characteristics of Italian cooking ?

As a brief tangent to the "Foods you would like to see Americans eat/be exposed to", of the other regional cuisines in Italy, which ones do you think are more accessible to the typical American (by "typical", I mean someone who has already been exposed to authentic Italian techniques or at least foods common to Tuscany -- parmagianno reggiano and prosciutto di Parma to name two). Is there some sort of phenomenon, do you think, that's partially or wholly responsible for the (over)emphasis on Tuscan regional cuisine in the United States over the past decade? I would like to see more exploration into other regional cuisines, such as Apulian, Venetian and Sicilian. Thank you for your time.

On Nigel Slater's programme yesterday a chef made a very unusual pasta dish. He used a sheet of fresh pasta and a filling of spinach and ricotta and rolled it up like a jellyroll. Wrapped the thing in foil, and poached it for 20 minutes. Took the log o'pasta, sliced it into discs, placed said discs in a baking dish, topped with sauce and broiled. It looked quite yummy but was it heresy? Is this sort of thing done in Italy or elsewhere? Should I dare try it at home or will I risk being carted off by the pasta police?

I just read the thread on homegrown tomatoes, and it reminded me that I haven't made tomato sauce in a while. I assume people have good recipes and suggestions. One of my favorites is simple -- saute some onion and a little garlic in a good dose of extra virgin, add a can of good peeled tomatoes, crush and simmer. Finish with some fresh chopped basil and parsely. My big problem (no matter what recipe I follow) is that the water in the sauce always separates -- I pour it in the pasta and end up with water puddling around the edges. Who's got ideas? Recipes? Secrets?

I started looking for a good recipe for bolognese, and was surprised to find recipes that do not call for milk or wine, each of which I thought was a requirement to turn an ordinary meat sauce into a bolognese. Oh well. I'd love some recipe recommendations.

Has anyone used a prosciutto bone in a "knock your socks off" recipe? Thanks for any recommendations.

For the past 3 years, I have hosted for our law firm an interactive Italian dinner party in which every attendee must get involved in the cooking/preparation of at least one dish. I set the menu, prep most of the food, and provide general oversight for the meal. We typically have 20 to 30 people attend. Every dish is plated. We serve inexpensive wines that are paired with each dish. I throw some of the standard Italian conformities out the window. For example, I generally serve a salad early in the meal. I don't strive for authenticity all the time. I even offer cappuccino (egad) after dinner. I'm looking for new ideas that can be easily assembled but are somewhat different from what I've done in prior years. Here's my menus from the last 3 dinners (excuse any horrific misuse of Italian): 2002 Antipasti White Bean, Tomato & Basil Bruschetta Smoked and Fresh Mozzarella and Pesto Bruschetta Vino Rosso: N.V. Tre Uve Vino Bianco: 2001 Bidoli Pinot Grigio Insalata Mixed Green Salad with Marinated Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onions and Cracklings of Prosciutto di Parma 2000 Tiamo Pinot Grigio/Garganega Primi Shrimp-Filled Mushroom Caps with a Shallot & Balsamic Vinegar Reduction 1998 Vietti Dolcetto D’Alba Secondi Slow Roasted Copper River Salmon with Chianti Risotto and Braised Baby Spinach 1997 Sensi Chianti Riserva Dolci Ciambela with Minted Berry Compote N.V. Stefano Farina Bianco Della Rosa 2001 ANTIPASTI Prosciutto di Parma with Local Melon Beef Carpaccio with Lemon, Capers and Parmigiano-Reggiano 1995 Melini Chianti Classico Riserva (Tuscany) 1999 Leverano Rosato (Apulia) PRIMI Sun-Dried Tomato Risotto with Grilled Prawns 1998 Pescorari Pinot Grigio (Friuli) SECONDI Roasted Breast of Muscovy Duck with Wild Mushroom, Arugula and Chianti Ragout Soft Polenta with Pecorino Romano and Chives 1995 Fontanavecchia Aglianico del Taburno Riserva (Basilicata) INSALATA Mixed Greens with Fennel, Gorgonzola, and Fig Balsamic Vinaigrette 1998 Borgo Sauvignon blanc (Friuli) DOLCI Fresh Fruit Crostata with Whipped Lemon Marscapone NV Mondoro Asti (Piedmont) 2000 -- I don't have a wine listing ANTIPASTI Rosemary and Cheese Focaccia Herbed Cannelini Bean Puree’ Antipasti Selection of Vegetables, Cured Sausage and Salami, and Olives INSALATA Seared Sea Scallop Salad with roasted Tomato & Garlic Vinaigrette PRIMI Homemade Tagliatelle with Wild Mushroom, Pancetta & White Truffle Oil SECONDI Swordfish Sardinian Style Spinach, Escarole and Basil Saute with Toasted Pine Nuts and Garlic DOLCI Florentine Schiacciata with Crema Pasticcera and Blood Orange Gelato So, can we come up with an eGullet composed menu for our dinner this summer? When the dinner occurs this summer, I'll be sure to post pictures. This event usually occurs in June or July, but I just learned today that I get to do it again! Any suggestions would be appreciated!

What is Italian-American cuisine? There is Italian-American home cooking and then Italian-American restaurant cooking and in my perception they are different things. Which one is what we refer to when talking about Italian-American cuisine? For me Italian-American home cooking is an adaptation of Italian cooking by Italians to the available ingredients while the restaurant cooking is an adaptation to the perceived desires of the customers. In my opinion, the home cooking is superior to the restaurant version which will offer dishes regardless of the quality of ingredients available. For instance, offering Insalata Cuprese (tomatoes, fresh basil, and fresh mozzarella) in February when the tomatoes have the consistency of baseballs. When I say Italian-American restaurants I am not referring to places like the Babbo group, who for whatever you think of them, are inspired by Italian cooking, not Italian-American cooking, or those awful chain places like Maggiano’s, Macaroni Grill and others that use “Italian” like a Disney theme to bring in customers, but to the large number of restaurants serving expensive dishes born from the American perception of Italian food. I often see comments from writers used to eating and criticizing every aspect of a meal at the finest French oriented restaurants writing positively about Italian-American restaurants where I see the food as over-garliced, over-sauced, over-portioned and over-cooked. Is this because diners have become accustomed to this type of food and just accept it or because they have low expectations of Italian-American restaurants. I no longer compare these restaurants to the real thing in Italy, so I have come to appreciate Italian-American cooking in its own right. When done well it is delicious and rewarding comfort food. I think a part of the problem comes from the owners of the restaurants themselves who often have contempt for the knowledge of their customers and know they can cover up poor ingredients with garlic and melted cheese. I often find the best Italian-American restaurants are small, family run operations that try to bring the flavors of their own home into the restaurant. There often seems to be an inverse relation between price and quality and between fame and quality. One thing for sure, don’t trust a concierge who recommends a place in a ‘Little Italy’ when you ask for a recommendation for a good Italian restaurant. What are your opinions on what constitutes real Italian-American cuisine and where to find it?

I have begun research on damson cheese and am looking for any information you might have regarding fruit *cheeses* in general. I understand that it is typically a farmhouse tradition and may generally have gone by the wayside. Damson cheese is similar to membrillo (Spanish) and cotignac (French) quince paste, in that it is sort of a fruit preserve cooked long enough to dry firmly and be cut into slices. I've started other threads related to this topic: In the UK forum: Fruit cheese / Damson cheese, Seeking info: UK tradition -- http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...f=9&t=18619&st= In the Central & Latin American forum: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...T&f=42&t=18627& In the Spain & Portugal forum: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...8&t=18625&st=0& The cookbook author Joyce Goldstein writes: I know lots about quince pastes -- found all over Italy, and molded into beautiful forms in Sicily, and of course, membrillo in Spain -- and next to nothing about other fruit pastes... My initial questions are these: Are you familiar with the Aziena Agricola Marzano fruit pastes? Where do you buy them, and what do you think? [Available in New York City at Citarella shops and DiPalo’s Dairy at 200 Grand Street in Little Italy -- wonderful people and THE place to buy Parmigiano-Reggiano...] What is the Italian word or phrase for this item, i.e., generic (pasta di frutta?) Is this just an upscale consumer’s find, or do you know of a tradition of fruit pastes? Have you seen it commercially, and if so, where (farmer’s markets, upscale cheese stores, etc.)? Do you remember brands? Is it packed in a pot or sold by the slab? Do you knowof artisanal sources? Historical sources? What do you know about persicata, made with peaches (apparently a specialty of Lombardy)? How do you eat it? With a fork, or spread on bread, etc.? Is it eaten with cheese, and if so, which (or once again, the local variant? as opposed to “the best companion” a la Manchego with membrillo? What seems to be popular? Know anything about sources for the molds used to make cotignac / quince paste? Any thoughts about other sources of information about this? I am wearing out the pages of books in the New York Public Library and culinary libraries around me... Thanks in advance!

While driving through Iowa last year we passed the giant Barilla pasta plant. I have to wonder how the Italian executives are enjoying living in Ames, Iowa after leaving their offices in Parma, Roma and Milano. I have tasted both the Italian version and American version of Barilla side by side and there is a major difference. The American version has a softer texture and is much more difficult to cook ‘al dente’. While Barilla is no ones benchmark of great pasta the comparison does raise many questions about the raw materials used in production. After all the wheat used in both is durum wheat semolina. I would assume the machinery used is the same. De Cecco remains my dried pasta of choice in the USA as it is so readily available and consistent. Are there American brands (not fresh) that can maintain an ‘al dente’ texture as successfully as Italian brands? If so, what are they? I will also say the same thing about the cheap imported Italian brands as they also go from undercooked to overcooked without ever hitting the right point.

Last night I made a pasta sauce with some Italian sausages bought in Prato (just out of Florence). These were plain sausage 100% pork meat, no obvious flavouring (eg. No fennel seed, garlic, wine etc) except for salt and pepper. No the thing is they taste fantastic, with a very rich pork flavour and great mouth feel. Why is this? Now it could be the ingredients, but many countries produce great pork (Not Australia sadly), so it must be something else. These sausage most certainly contain saltpetre (or a similar agent) as the meat turns bright pink upon cooking and has a slightly firm granular texture that you get when using saltpetre. But again many fresh European sausage contains saltpetre. Could it be the fat content and the way that it is distributed through the meat, so that upon cooking the meat is based, by the melting fat, but the fat drains away form the sausage? Certainly the sausages are contain much fat and taste very rich, but on eating the item there is never the impression of greasiness that you can get with eating a British style sausage that contains a significant amount of ceral content. What's it all about then?

I am looking for a recipe for a pasta dish from Bergamo called casoncelli. My wife and I had the dish when visiting Italy a year ago, and I want to try to recreate it at home. Do you have a recipe in English? Or, do you know how I can easily translate this? THX Casoncelli alla Bergamasca Da preparare in circa 50 minuti Ingredienti per 6/8 persone Pasta: 400 gr di farina, 100 gr di semola di grano duro, 2 uova. Ripieno: 125 gr di pane grattugiato, 1 uovo, 70 gr di grana grattugiato, 150 gr di macinato per salame, 100 gr di carne bovina arrostita, 5 gr di amaretti, 10 gr di uva sultanina, 1/2 pera spadona o abate, uno spicchio di aglio tritato, un cucchiaio di prezzemolo tritato, sale, pepe. Condimento: 80 gr di burro, 100 gr di pancetta tagliata a bastoncini, 100 gr di grana grattugiato, alcune foglie di salvia. Amalgamate sulla spianatoia la farina, la semola, le uova, un pizzico di sale e aggiungete acqua quanto basta ad ottenere un composto omogeneo, quindi lasciatelo riposare per almeno mezzora. Nel frattempo preparate il ripieno, fate rosolare con una noce di burro il macinato per salame, la pera sbucciata e tritata, quindi unitevi la carne arrostita, l'aglio il prezzemolo e fate insaporire alcuni istanti. Versate il tutto in una terrina, unitevi il grana, il pangrattato, le uova, gli amaretti sbriciolati, l’uvetta tritata, una macinata di pepe e un pizzico di sale. Amalgamate l’impasto: se risultasse troppo asciutto aggiungete un goccio di brodo o acqua. Stendete la sfoglia, ritagliate dei dischi di 6/8 cm distribuitevi al centro un cucchiaio di ripieno, quindi piegate il disco di pasta sul ripieno, chiudete il bordo, ripiegate la parte ripiena sul bordo e pressate leggermente al centro. Lessate i casoncelli in acqua bollente salata, scolateli e disponeteli su di un piatto da portata, cospargeteli con il grana grattugiato e conditeli con il burro cotto a color nocciola insieme alla salvia e alla pancetta. Servite subito. Il tutto accompagnato da un buon vino Barolo

There is a great profusion of high-end Italian places in DC (e.g., Tosca, Galileo, Obelisk, Maestro...) but I have yet to find a reliably good moderately priced Italian restaurant where you can go of a weekday evening when you just cannot bring yourself to cook but want something good (like mamma used to make?). Is there anything that fits this bill?

So I was making a big pot of Marcella Hazan's ragu. I always quadruple the recipe which calls for three pounds of ground beef. As you probably know, this is a long, slow cook, the beef simmering in white wine until all the liquid is absorbed, and then in milk until it is absorbed. I had asked my dad, a competent but cholesterol minded man, to add the tomatoes once the milk had absorbed as I had an appointment to keep. Prior to doing this, he decided that there was a bit too much fat in the pot so he poured everything into a strainer and rinsed it with water. All that lovely flavor, down the drain! Any similar stories?