I use a lot of vermouth actually. Obviously it's a fortified wine and so therefore it has a lot of flavor. When I'm doing pastas, for example, I'm using white vermouth sometimes. If I'm doing a seafood pasta with clams, it's amazing. People are like, 'What's that flavor in there?'
Italian food products and cuisine have infiltrated just about every corner of the globe, but nothing compares to trying classic Italian dishes at their source-and there's so much more than pizza, pasta, and gelato. Don't expect to find the same dishes on menus all over the country. From carbonara in Rome to the best street food in Palermo, each Italian region has its own recipes.
Everything revolves around the food. Instead of trying to tweak a recipe to fit with a sweet or tangy drink, start with the food and ensure it remains the star of the show. The real purpose of seeking an appropriate drink pairing is to create balance with the food. Sweet with salty, bitter with sweet, etc. In this way, food flavors aren't masked with the addition of a drink, but instead are highlighted.
Last summer, I found myself in Venice during peak tourist season. The crowds were suffocating. Every piazza felt like a theme park, every restaurant seemed designed for Instagram rather than actual dining. Standing on the Rialto Bridge, packed shoulder to shoulder with thousands of other visitors, I couldn't help but wonder: is this really Italy? That question stayed with me long after I returned to London.
Of course, pasta is incredibly versatile and can be transformed into dishes showcasing an endless array of flavors. So when you're looking to pair your pasta meal with a glass of wine, it's important to consider what type of sauce you'll be using to ensure the ingredients work well with the wine. While some pasta sauces are more flexible to pair with, others require a bit more care to ensure the flavors aren't overwhelmed, muted, or negatively impacted.
Historically speaking, an osteria was a spartan, no-frills establishment where people would go to have a drink. The original osterias date all the way back to the Roman Empire. If you go to Ostia Antica or Pompeii, you find the osterias of the era. They were like bed-and-breakfasts, with rooms for rent above the dining room where people could listen to music.
Country of origin labeling became mandatory on all international products entering the United States in 2009. The goal was to ensure American consumers knew where the products they were buying came from, enabling shoppers to make informed buying decisions. These products include everything from Mexican avocados to French wine to pasta from Italy, with the latter thankfully safe from recent U.S. tariffs. However, does the location a product comes from actually matter?
Few low-prep dishes satisfy and delight on busy weeknights like one-pot pastas, and one of the best ingredients to take your pasta dishes to the next level is vegetable broth. Boiling dry pasta directly in vegetable broth instead of water imparts bolder flavor as the pasta soaks it up. Plus, you'll end up with a pot full of starchy cooking liquid from the boiled pasta, which can provide a solid base for building a pan sauce.
This coccoli, which can be a street food or restaurant appetizer, is truly an icon in Florentine - a term that simply means "from Florence" - fare. The word "coccoli" translates literally to "cuddles," and these fried dough balls do indeed feel like warm little hugs. They're about the size of dumplings; served hot, they've got a crispy exterior to crack into - with just the right amount of grease - where you'll find both fluffiness and chewy doughy-ness all at once.
Pecorino Romano is one of the oldest cheeses in the world, with roots going back to Ancient Rome. But today, most of it is no longer made near Rome at all. In this episode, we visit I Buonatavola, one of the very last producers still making Pecorino Romano in Lazio, the cheese's original territory, to understand how global demand, especially from the United States, reshaped where and how this cheese is made. We explore the differences between Pecorino Romano made in Rome and the versions
