Domenica Marchetti –

Pour in the polenta in a slow, steady stream, stirring all the while.

The secret to heavenly polenta is the cornmeal itself, stone-ground for best flavor

March 12, 2024 at 12:11 p.m.

As someone who writes about Italian food, I pride myself in knowing, and understanding, Italian ingredients. But when it comes to polenta, I've been remiss. I did not grow up...

Making panettone at home requires a time investment, but most of those hours, spread over two days, are dedicated to waiting for the dough to rise.

How to bring the delicate texture and sky-high rise of panettone home for Christmas

March 12, 2024 at 12:14 p.m.

My Italian mother made panettone every year for Christmas. It was a production, to be sure, involving an enormous mass of fruit-studded dough, plus lots of elbow grease, two days...

Sfince are fried cream puffs, fried instead of baked, stuffed with sweetened ricotta cream and decorated with crushed pistachios and candied fruit.

St. Joseph’s Day treat: Make fried Sicilian pastry called sfince

May 31, 2019 at 4:03 p.m.

The Feast of St. Joseph, which falls every year on March 19, is a big deal in Italy. Not only does the holiday commemorate the putative father of Jesus and...

19th-century Viennese chef Franz Sacher would be pleased, I think, by the version of his eponymous chocolate cake served at Café Selmarie in Lincoln Square. First, the top of each slice of Sacher torte is decorated with his name, elegantly written in chocolate script. Second, the cake is a real looker: Layers of chocolate cake are mortared with raspberry preserve and chocolate buttercream; the whole thing is then frosted with more buttercream and wrapped in a smooth sheet of bittersweet chocolate — firm enough to be eaten on its own, if you like, with a fork. Third, every bite is delicious. The devil's food cake is firm and pleasant, while the raspberry offers a deep berry counterpoint to all the chocolate. $4.20. 4729 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-989-5595, <a href="http://cafeselmarie.com/" target="_blank">www.cafeselmarie.com</a>. — Bill Daley

3 years gone, Marcella Hazan speaks to us still through new book ‘Ingredienti’

June 10, 2018 at 7:01 a.m.

It's been nearly three years since America's foremost authority on Italian cuisine, Marcella Hazan, passed away. And yet, here she is among us once again, in the pages of her...

In "Preserving Italy," Domenica Marchetti, author of several cookbooks on Italian cooking, explores canning, curing, infusiing and bottling following Italian traditions

Looking for the secret to nonna’s boozy cherries

June 10, 2018 at 11:15 a.m.

Every summer, my maternal grandmother made magic with sour cherries. She would lay the crimson fruits out under the warm Abruzzo sun until they turned dark and crinkled, and then...

The slab of butter is placed on the rolled out dough in preparation for the lamination, a process of rolling and folding the dough to distribute the butter.

Cornetti aren’t croissants: Conjure memories of Italy at home

June 15, 2018 at 2:00 p.m.

Food friends traveling to Italy often ask me where to go for the best spaghetti alla carbonara in Rome, or where they might find the best pizza, or gelato. I...

Italian egg and Marsala liqueur is rich and creamy like eggnog, but light and more foamy. Drink it in small glasses. (Food styling by Lisa Schumacher.)

Similar to eggnog, homemade Vov tastes of Italy

August 18, 2019 at 12:55 p.m.

My Italian aunts had a small but well-chosen stash of liquor in their apartment in Rome. Amid the cognac, whiskey and various amari, there was always the distinctive white bottle...

This photograph shows the proper amount of fat that should be left on prosciutto.

A fat phobia is ruining lots of good prosciutto

May 31, 2019 at 1:32 p.m.

It's getting hard to find good prosciutto anymore. The issue isn't one of availability; the salt-cured, air-dried hams, a specialty of Parma, Italy, are sold everywhere in the U.S., from...

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