The food scene at Great GoogaMooga; courtesy of C. Taylor Crothers
Great GoogaMooga, the epic food and music festival that took over Brooklyn's Prospect Park for a weekend last spring is back for 2013 and kicking off on Friday, May 17. READ MORE >
Photo © John Kernick
F&W’s Grace Parisi reinvents her Calabrian grandmother’s favorite recipes so they’re lighter and speedier.
Creating recipes that hit all the high points of southern Italian cooking is a no-brainer for me—one set of my grandparents came to this country from Palermo, the other from Messina and a town in Calabria. My maternal grandfather was a baker, pizzaiolo and restaurateur, and my paternal grandmother (my namesake) was an amazing home cook who taught me that not every southern Italian dish comes with a red sauce. My recipes here are a tribute to her. Southern Italians love their raisins, pine nuts and capers, all of which I mix into meatballs simmered in a sweet-and-sour braising sauce: agrodolce. Our beloved raisins and capers appear again with stewed peppers in a luscious side dish, peperonata, that I serve with grilled baby lamb chops. Aside from the chops, which may have been a bit fancy for my grandma, I think everything here would have been quite at home on her table.
Recipes
Grilled Eggplant Parmesan This grilled-vegetable version of eggplant Parmesan, like the one Grace Parisi's Calabrian grandmother used to make, is much lighter than the fried kind.
Grilled Lamb Chops with Peperonata A hearty mix of stewed peppers, onions, raisins and anchovies makes this peperonata more of a side dish than a condiment.
Agrodolce Meatballs Even in southern Italy, not every meatball is drenched in tomato sauce. These are cooked in a sweet-and-tart mixture of balsamic vinegar and chicken broth.
Oil-Poached Tuna with Fennel and Orange In this clever one-pot dish, Grace Parisi poaches fennel, shallots and orange zest in extra-virgin olive oil. She then cooks a tuna steak in that oil, making the fish incredibly moist and flavorful.
Related: More Fast Recipes from Grace
Fast Italian Recipes
Italian-American Classics
Photo © Peter Arkle
F&W celebrates its 35th anniversary throughout March. For more fun clips from the archives (like legend Julia Child looking badass), follow us on Instagram #FW35th @foodandwinemag. Here, the trends that came and went.
“Floribbean” Cuisine
In the late ’80s, F&W proclaimed that Floribbean food and cocktails were here to stay.
Southwestern Food
“The Southwest is hot!” F&W exclaimed in 1987. This is still true; just not the food.
Creole & Cajun
Jambalaya and gumbo are classics, but they’re not “state of the art eating,” as F&W reported in 1989.
Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Along with Camembert and pasta salad, a talisman of the high life from the Reagan era.
Baby Veggies
Itty-bitty vegetables seem to reappear on menus (and in F&W) every five years or so. The last time was 2008.
Download the Full Story: 35 Years of Food Trends »
Photo © Michael Turek
Before launching their much-anticipated new Manhattan restaurant, Charlie Bird, sommelier Robert Bohr and chef Ryan Hardy organized a wine tasting and dinner centered around a fantastic roast chicken recipe. Here, Bohr and his sommelier wife Jordan Salcito offer their favorite pairings.
Bohr’s Picks
2007 Bellus Girasole ($28)
Bohr loves its leafy, herbal notes.
2008 Fattorie Romeo del Castello Vigo Etna Rosso ($46)
Volcanic soil gives this red a firm acidity.
2010 Paolo Bea Santa Chiara ($46)
An intense white blend from Umbria.
Salcito’s Picks
2011 Venica & Venica Malvasia ($27)
A zesty, tart white from Italy’s Friuli region.
2010 Monastero Suore Cistercensi Coenobium Rusticum ($29)
A dense white from a convent in Lazio.
2011 Arianna Occhipinti SP68 ($40)
A vivid, slightly wild blend of Nero d’Avola and Frappato from Sicily.
Read More: An Italian Wine-Pairing Summit
Related: Taste Test Winners: Italian Value Wines
16 Italian-American Recipes
Photo © Stephanie Meyer.
Homemade tortillas are on a whole different level from their store-bought siblings, especially when mixed with bacon fat and the green bite of fresh scallion. Don’t be intimidated—they’re fun to make and fairly simple. Rene Ortiz, from La Condesa, inspired this recipe, which has a roll-your-own element that echos the fun of family fajita night. And parents, please make these tortillas with your little kids, who will go bonkers for the meal if they get to help make it. SEE RECIPE »
Poaching salmon in wine gives it a lovely flavor; using the poaching liquid
to make a vinaigrette is a delicious way to dress the salad. © Lucy Schaeffer
Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.
I love salmon, but cooking it indoors is not something I ever do at home—frankly, I don't even like cooking it at work and then having to get on the subway smelling like low tide. Grilling (outside) is acceptable, poaching (inside) even better.
The poaching liquid traps the smell and keeps the fish incredibly moist. A full-bodied, semidry Riesling is my choice here because it’s strong enough to stand up to salmon without overpowering it. I whisked a few tablespoons of the poaching liquid into mayonnaise and horseradish to make a piquant, creamy dressing, and tossed it with crunchy tender escarole leaves, butter beans and, of course, the yummy salmon. I would save the remainder of the bottle of Riesling for another day and serve a bright, citrusy Sauvignon Blanc at dinner. SEE RECIPE »
Related: Fish Dishes for Passover
Quick Fish Recipes
Healthy Fish Recipes
Fire & Smoke © Aaron Cook | AACK Studio
You love them for shade, for climbing, and if you're a squirrel, for their cozy hollows, but trees also have a lot to offer when it comes to cocktails. The roots and bark imbue tinctures with a woody sweetness, the sap lends itself to an aromatic syrup, the leaves infuse spirits with freshness and the buds can be made into a concentrated tree-essence. MORE >
In this succulent recipe, lamb shoulder is braised in Syrah with kalamata
olives and dried sour cherries that have been soaked in red wine. The unusual
combination makes the sauce deliciously sweet and savory. © Tina Rupp
F&W food editors apply their incredible cooking knowledge to explaining what to do with a variety of interesting ingredients.
Lamb shanks find themselves all over restaurant menus this time of year. Cooked low and slow, the luscious meat pulls effortlessly from the bone. When I’m craving something meaty and warming, I’ve recently turned to lamb shoulder chops, because they’re often even less expensive than shanks. Good butcher shops almost always have lamb shoulder and I’ve started to see it around supermarkets as well. The entire thing can be cooked whole—like in this Syrah-Braised Lamb Shoulder—but 1-inch thick chops will braise in a fraction of the time and they can even be grilled if you don’t mind a little bit of chew. When you can, buy the chops with the round bones in the center. They’re occasionally more expensive but they come with a little bonus: luscious marrow to flavor your sauce or spread on toast.
Related: More Delicious Lamb Recipes
Fast Lamb Chop Recipes
Wine Pairings for Lamb
Mission Chinese Food chef Danny Bowien.
You don’t need me, or any chef in the world, to tell you the best ways to keep from gaining weight. They involve breakfast, balanced meals and exercise. Instead, I’ve become fascinated with the less obvious ways that chefs and other people who are constantly around food keep from packing on pounds. “I make [my manager] eat everything they send out. He’s the closer.” »
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