The history of pasta Puttanesca carries many colorful Italian folk tales (Refer to my prior post) This slightly salty, piquant tomato sauce is full of flavors that will certainly pique your culinary senses. Don’t allow the use of anchovies to scare you away—this sauce tastes nothing like fish. Their use simply enhances the delicious tangy flavors. Puttanesca…
Tag: Italian
Capers: More Than Mere Adventures! When & Why to Use this Highly Under-rated Little Green Orb…
Capers are a tasty pungent additive or seasoning for many Italian, Mediterranean and French dishes. Many Foodies are simply crazy about the flavor that they impart. Caper berries are mainly olive green in color and are about the size of a small pea. Usually available in a pickled form, capers are an important commercial plant…
Puttanesca! This Pasta Has a Past!
The history of Pasta alla Puttanesca carries many colorful Italian folk tales. This quick, tangy, salty, tomato-based pasta sauce is not simply that—it has a past! Some believe that this sauce was initially created by a restaurant owner who had many guests come to his restaurant to eat late one night as he was about…
Rustic Sicilian Godfather’s Pasta Rags “Una Pentola” One Pot
Today’s offering is yet another Una Pentola (One Pot) pasta dish. Which interestingly uses the wide, flat, luscious and highly underrated pasta rag from yesterday’s post. The options are as endless as the wind blows so I decided to “ripetere” (repeat) the recipe…kind of. 🙂 This time I chose to use Sicilian sausage for the…
What Are Your Fondest Mother’s Day Memories? Celebrating All Around the Globe
Wherever in the world they may be, “Mothers” are the main focus of today’s family celebrations and traditions. Mother’s day is a day to honor mothers and other mother figures in varying forms. Families make a special effort to visit, take cards and gifts to her and may treat her to brunch, lunch or high…
Wednesday’s Guest Chefs and Our Recipes: Follower’s Critiques and Photos
Wednesday’s blogs are now dedicated to Guest Chefs and also pictures and comments of Once Upon a Spice’s recipes prepared by our friends, family & followers! If you are interested in becoming a Guest Chef or have photos and comments about our recipes you have prepared, please contact me for details and share your love…
Bret Clark’s Italian Short Ribs with Pasta Rags! Today’s Guest Chef!
Every Wednesday, Once Upon a Spice will feature a “guest recipe” from family, friends and or followers. If you are interested in having one of your recipes posted on our various Social Media pages, please contact us directly and we will do our best to get you some “recipe-press!” Also, please join us at Once…
What Does Easter Represent To You?
Massive Chocolate eggs, filled with treasures and sweet secrets… Source: washingtonian.com “Torta Pasqualina” Source: trendalert.it Torta Pasqualina was originally produced as an Easter pie around 1400 in Genova, Italy. The name itself comes from “Pasqua”, the Italian word for Easter. Traditionally, the pie was prepared using 33 thin layers of phyllo dough–in honor of Jesus’ age when he was…
Easter Ham, Pepperoni and Cheese Bread
My Mama always made this tasty bread for every religious holiday and if we begged, sometimes in between. Mom used to buy pounds of aged meats and cheeses, painstakingly cubing every bit. Then she would mix with beaten eggs, grated Parmesan and fill, what seemed like dozens, of loaves. I’ve converted her recipe into a…
Italy’s Easter Eggs and Italia’s Easter Friday
In Italy, there are no Easter egg hunts, no marshmallow Peeps and definitely no jelly beans. Instead, there are chocolate eggs — massive, elaborately decorated, beautifully wrapped chocolate Easter eggs that fill shop windows across the country. The sweet treats are considered Italians’ food gift of choice at this time of year; each one…
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