I cook because I love to eat. I garden because I love to cook.
The story of Jimmy Nardello’s peppers is an immigrant tale. Giuseppe and Angella Nardello arrived from southern Italy in the late 1800s, immigrating to Naugatuck, Connecticut. With them they brought seeds from their Italian garden, including a sweet frying pepper. They grew these peppers to …
I love food stuffed inside food. I’m not talking turducken (a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey) or anything extreme like that, but rather smaller bites. Neat little packages with a morsel or two inside a wrapper, providing layers of flavor. The …
I grew up in Philadelphia, so I was weaned on cheesesteaks and hoagies. When you eat cheesesteaks and hoagies, you add peppers; pickled peppers. Sometimes sweet, usually hot. Not crushed red pepper flakes like you put on pizza, although they once adorned a hero I …
I grew up in Philadelphia where the reining sandwiches are cheesesteaks and hoagies. However, there is another Philadelphia sandwich that gets far less attention – roast pork. Comparable in design to a cheesesteak or hoagie, thin sliced pork is stuffed into a long, crusty Italian …
I didn’t grow up eating much Italian food. As a kid, I was under the false impression that Italian restaurants only served spaghetti and meatballs; in my mind, nothing else was available. Then I grew up and moved to Long Island. Italian food is the …
Summer demands simple food, and grilled vegetables fit the bill. I sometimes look at the prepared foods in the big glass case at a supermarket or pork store or deli and see piles of sad, limp grilled vegetables. They don’t look at all appetizing and …
I love roasted red peppers. They add extra flair to almost any meal. They are perfect when tucked into a gourmet sandwich or as part of an Italian-flavored salad. They add zest to an antipasto platter and are a delicious small bite served on crostini, …
As the cold of winter continues, I have time to reflect in this off season about the crops I grew in my garden last year and changes I want to make in the coming year. During this time, I like to review the list of …
The extra hour gifted to us this morning by switching from daylight savings time to standard time makes it perfect to cook a big breakfast – including skillet vegetable hash topped with a fried egg. Except in my family we don’t get the extra hour, …
The best summer foods to grow in your garden are the ones that have the simplest preparations for the table. Asian shishito peppers are one of those foods. They grow easily and abundantly, and when it’s time for harvest, you pick them, sear them for …
