Coconut Macaroons

Delightfully chewy and just the right amount of sweet with coconut and vanilla, it’s no wonder these flour-free confections easily became a Passover favorite. Just a few ingredients come together pretty spectacularly, and I gladly enjoy these year-round. The chocolate drizzle makes an especially nice touch.

Mushroom and Red Wine Risotto

Mushrooms and red wine create layers of savory flavor in this creamy, irresistible risotto. Mushrooms appear in various Italian and Jewish-Italian risottos, and it’s no wonder. They produce an almost meaty taste, especially with the wine and onions, and wonderful texture. It’s all deeply and warmly comforting, and satisfying enough to be a main dish. […]

Spicy Chocolate Sfratti (Jewish-Italian Stick Cookies)

Bittersweet chocolate brings rich and extraordinary new flavor—and a new story—to the unique Jewish-Italian sfratti (stick cookies) in my brand new recipe. Sfratti, which means “evictions,” nod to a dark time in Italian-Jewish history in the Tuscan town of Pitigliano, when Jews were evicted and sent to ghettoes by stick-wielding authorities. Eventually allowed to return […]

Artichoke Bottoms with Spinach and Cheese

Artichokes were beloved by Italy’s Jewish community, and stuffing them was one of many ways to prepare the thistles, which were labor intensive to work with but delicious every way, from fried to added to soups and risottos. Spinach was also a favored ingredient of Italy’s Jews. This recipe aims to celebrate those two ingredients […]

Zucchini and Corn with Dill

Zucchini, corn, and dill form a summer all-star team in this easy saute, a recipe adapted from the Meatballs and Matzah Balls cookbook. While the recipe is most enticing during peak corn and zucchini season, it really works year-round (you can always get zucchini and use frozen corn) as a side dish with surprisingly delightful […]

Mint Julep with an Italian Twist

I like to think of bourbon as putting on its summer outfit with the mint julep, the warm weather libation that gets its kickoff with the running of the Kentucky Derby (where it has been the traditional beverage for nearly a century). And I love how a little Italian Limoncello elevates this drink. Although you are […]

Cheesecake with Strawberries

A creamy cheesecake, especially topped with beautiful fruit, almost always delights everyone. Did you know that it became an essential Jewish classic decades ago? In the 1930s, Jewish bakers substituted a relatively new product—cream cheese—along with sour cream for the more-typical-at-the-time cottage cheese in their baked custards, and the New York-style cheesecake was born. The […]

Asparagus, Artichoke, Fennel, & Mozzarella Salad with Lemon-Oregano Dressing

Asparagus, artichokes, and fennel become unlikely but absolutely delicious partners in this Jewish-Italian inspired salad. The dressing of bright lemon and herby slightly pungent oregano—a classic Sicilian pairing—unites the spring and early summer vegetable flavors in beautifully tangy way.  This salad spares not one second in delighting the taste buds with flavors and textures that […]

Roasted Asparagus and Tomato Sformato

The Italians were onto something with sformato, a creamy egg and vegetable dish that is elegant and yet homey, plus irresistible in flavor and texture. Most traditionally, sformato (pronounced sfohr-MAH-toh, coming from the Latin word for “form”) is a vegetable flan prepared in large ring mold or individual molds. But this dish doesn’t have to […]

Spinach Arancini

Rice laced with spinach and cheese and fried—spinach arancini bring home a delightful taste of Sicily. That’s where I first tried this version of deep fried risotto balls a couple of years ago when we visited to explore some of my Sicilian roots. The treat—shaped as big as oranges, ovals, or pears in the case […]

Marzipan Pignoli Hamantaschen with Salted Honey Butter

These hamantaschen are a love letter to Sicily, starring two iconic Sicilian ingredients—pine nuts and marzipan.  The pine nuts particularly evoke the Jews of Sicily who called the island home going back more than 2000 years. When Arab conquerors introduced pine nuts—especially in combination with currants or raisins—Jews welcomed the ingredients into their repertoire, such […]

Mushroom and Barley Soup

A comforting and earthy classic, this soup emerged hundreds of years ago as an essential for Eastern European Jews. Although porcini mushrooms seem like an exotic item today (and are pricey to boot), Jews in places like Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine had ready access to this type of mushroom, which grew profusely in the forests […]

Almond Kifli

Almond Kifli are delightful crescent-shaped sweets from Ashkenazi Jewish traditions, particularly in Hungary and Austria. They might remind you of recipes like snow balls or Mexican wedding cookies with their wonderfully crumbly and light texture and inviting white coat of confectioners’ sugar. This style of cookie has become popular across many traditions worldwide, and it’s […]

Fried Mashed Potato Balls

At once crispy and creamy, fried mashed potato balls take you right from Thanksgiving’s leftover mashed potatoes to a Hanukkah fried delight. And actually, even if I don’t have leftovers, I will make this recipe (don’t worry, latkes, we will be making you, too) because it is uniquely fun and a texture and flavor sensation […]

Deconstructed Pumpkin-Bourbon Cannoli

You might not normally think of cannoli for Thanksgiving and Hanukkah. But they are perfect, especially for this year’s confluence of these two beloved holidays. For Hanukkah, this classic Sicilian dessert neatly captures both the frying and dairy traditions in one package. For Thanksgiving, the filling takes beautifully to a spike of warm holiday flavor […]