I was reorganizing a few cabinets the other day and came across some old photo albums – those old photo albums that many of us of a certain age 🙂 remember from childhood. (Peel back the plastic, stick on your photos, lay the plastic back on top.) The yellowing pages contained photos of my mother’s family at our frequent weekend picnics and parties – their smiling faces staring into the camera; kids romping in the background, food tucked into every possible corner of the tables alongside.

Continue reading Childhood Memories and a Few Sauces from Sicily at Our Italian Table.

My sister Michele visited me this week in L.A. for my official IBM retirement party. We thought hard about what to cook together. We’re focused on Sicily at the moment and discussed that nothing but nothing is more Sicilian than pasta con le sarde. Fennel and sardines are so plentiful in Sicily that this dish jumps right out of nature. And when combined with the sweet and sour flavors imported by the Arabs around 900 A.D., you get that classic Sicilian flavor palette.

Continue reading Pasta con le sarde (Pasta with sardines) – The national dish of Sicily at Our Italian Table.

Grilled fresh sardines. One of life’s simple delectable pleasures. I actually never tasted grilled sardines until I started traveling to Sicilia. We would spend afternoons at la spiaggia baking in the hot summer sun with all the Italians and when we had had enough, we would saunter up to the restaurant just alongside for vino and a bite to eat.  At first, I would turn up my nose with memories of those awfully salty canned things we had as children.

Continue reading Grilled Sardines with Salmoriglio Sauce (Sardine alle Griglia con Salsa al Salmoriglio) at Our Italian Table.

This has got to be the the simplest appetizer on the planet. The key is find fresh and cleaned sardines. In Los Angeles, I find them at Korean markets. Sometimes Whole Foods sells them. Even if you can find them cleaned (really just gutted, they only have tiny scales), buy them uncleaned.

Serve about half a dozen sardines for each person for an appetizer.

Ingredients and Directions:

• Fresh sardines
• Olive oil
• Lemon
• Coarse salt

Rinse the sardines in cool water and pat dry with paper towels.

Continue reading Grilled Sardines at Our Italian Table.