Our flight from Boston to Sicily is not a direct one. We fly from Boston to Philadelphia and then on to Rome, change planes and fly from Rome to Catania in Sicily. The plane flies along the west coast of the boot and after about forty minutes, it’s possible to see Mount Etna poking through the clouds. The plane banks and begins its descent and, if we’re lucky and sitting on the right side of the plane, we may see smoke rising from the still active volcano.

Even if Etna is sleeping or we are sitting on the wrong side of the plane, we will see groves of citrus trees as the plane makes its approach to the airport in Catania. The trees are filled with either orange or yellow spheres. The blood oranges, spattered with garnet red, are perfect eaten out of hand or used to make peachy-pink orange juice. The lemons offer endless possibilities. When I have played the ‘dessert island’ ingredient game with friends, lemons are what I want on my raft as I head to shore. I need lemons to brighten hot or cold tea, for salad dressings and marinades, to flavor chicken, seafood, vegetables, pasta, cookies, pies and cakes.

We have been looking forward to returning to Sicily since New Year’s Day. These two months of anticipation have inspired me to use lots of lemons to bring the scent and flavor of Sicily to wintry Vermont. A couple of weeks ago, when I wanted a very simple dinner, I made a bowl of steamed winter vegetables topped with lemon butter. Here’s how I did it: … read more

This time next week, we will be in Sicily and it’s difficult to think about anything else. The thorny, green artichokes I saw at the grocery store here last Monday reminded me of the market stalls piled high with artichokes in Ortigia. That evening, Charles and I sat by the fire and made lists and plans for our trip. We remembered the men fishing for octopus on moonlit nights, the calls of the vendors in the open air market, and the fields of artichokes growing near groves of lemon and orange trees, and we looked out at the frozen pond while we had dinner that began with California grown artichokes.

I was twelve when I bought my first artichoke. My mother worked in a large grocery store that had a much more exotic range of foods than the market we usually shopped in. I loved to wander the aisles in search of mystery foods. I discovered lobsters and artichokes at the same time. Two foods that left piles of debris on my plate that were larger than the initial servings. My mother was always willing to indulge my curiosity as long as I promised to eat, or at least taste, what I brought home. Armed with a huge cookbook, actually a binder filled with fifteen small booklets that I had purchased one at a time, I was always able to find appropriate recipes to use in my culinary explorations even before the existence of the Internet.

The name artichoke comes from the Arabic term Ardi-Shoki that means ground thorn. Globe artichokes are harvested as unopened flower buds and, other than the name, have nothing in common with Jerusalem artichokes, which are lumpy roots of some varieties of sunflowers. If allowed to flower, the violet-blue blossom, similar to a thistle, can measures up to seven inches in diameter.

I chose two of the greenest and heaviest artichokes with sharp thorns on the tips of tightly closed petals. Although there are varieties without thorns, I prefer the flavor and texture of the thorny ones. I trimmed the petal tips and stems before cooking. Here’s how I did it: … read more

I buy both cinnamon sticks and ground cinnamon in small quantities. Cinnamon sticks can be ground in a small electric coffee mill reserved for spice grinding or pulverized in a mortar and pestle. It is a familiar flavor in breakfast breads, cookies and all things apple – sauce, pies and crumbles and it adds flavor to savory dishes as well. It is used in Middle Eastern recipes for chicken or lamb and is a component of Indian garam masala. Tomato slices sprinkled with cinnamon sugar are an Amish relish and in Sicily it is used to flavor octopus, gelato and pasta.

When my friend Veronica, the potter who made the pasta bowls we eat from, served me pasta with pine nuts and raisins she told me that a pinch of cinnamon was the crucial ingredient. It was the first meal we had in the pasta bowls she gave to us.  Here’s how I made it: … read more

Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday, the day that many Americans have been anticipating since this time last year. For most Americans, Super Bowl Sunday is celebrated with an all day party and an unending spread of finger food.

Pre-game activities begin after lunch, the game, liberally dotted with commercials, starts at six, is interrupted by the half-time show, then more of the game, and finally the wrap-up. It’s no wonder that most hotels offering Super Bowl packages have a four-day minimum stay – it must take at least two days to recover.

I’m not a football fan. My mind wanders with the interminable delays. I worry about mortal injuries to the referees and camera operators when I see enormous bodies, protected by even more enormous plastic helmets and shoulder pads flying through the air and landing in heaps. I’ve been told that the creative commercials that debut on Super Bowl Sunday are enough reason to watch but I’d rather be putting finishing touches on Super Bowls, Super Platters and Super Sweets to sustain Super Friends who are eating and drinking, cheering and booing in front of the television.

One Super Bowl party website suggested, “serve everyone’s favorite high fat, finger-licking snack foods. After all, your television set is the focal point, not the food.” (Those are fighting words to a cook.) Another site suggested serving “salami, pepperoni, cheese whiz, chips and dips, beer and hot sauce, zingers like salami & cheese stuffed pepperochini.” (I wonder if beer and hot sauce is new mixed drink?) Tailgate classics like Buffalo wings, chili, and layered dips are all possibilities, but I want Super Food, healthy food that is not fussy to prepare and has enough flavor to be a bit of a distraction from the game.

Chickpeas and chickpea flour, also called besan and gram flour, are on the Super Food team I’m inviting to be part of my Super Bowl menu. They taste good and are an excellent source of protein, fiber, iron, potassium and B vitamins. It takes only a minute to make the batter for Besan flatbread that can be served either hot from the oven or at room temperature. It meets my requirements for a super finger food.

Hummus, a party regular at my house, is also a Super Snack. This blend of ancient ingredients – chickpeas, sesame seeds, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil is readily available at the market but when made at home it is absolutely fresh, with a minimum number of ingredients and is preservative free. When combined with warm pita bread, it is a complete protein that will build muscles so necessary for passing and blocking on the gridiron. (Not bad for a non-sports writer!) Best of all, homemade hummus costs half as much and is at least twice as good as store bought. I took a bowl of hummus, surrounded with carrot sticks to a potluck lunch last Sunday and it disappeared before the chocolate chip cookies.

Here’s how I made Besan Flat Bread and Hummus: … read more

Afternoons when I am hungry and wish that I had a personal chef, I make a Marjorie Morningstar lunch, named in honor of the protagonist in the Herman Wouk novel of the same name.

It all began when I was thirteen and an avid reader. I was home alone and hungry and didn’t want to stop reading to make lunch. I wanted it to appear with minimum effort and attention so I turned on the oven, scrubbed the biggest potato I could find, poked holes in it with a fork and put it in the oven. I enjoyed an uninterrupted hour of the melodrama of Marjorie’s quest for love and adventure and the details of her life on Central Park West in New York City while my potato baked in a kitchen, on a hilly street, in a suburb of Pittsburgh.

A weekly trip to the library and a baked potato lunch became my Saturday ritual. The first lunches were simply a baked potato topped with a lump of butter, a pinch of salt and lots of black pepper. It wasn’t long before I added an onion to the menu. I poked the root end of an unpeeled onion with a paring knife, nestled it into a cup made of aluminum foil to catch the juice, and roasted it along with the potato. Roasting made the onion soft and sweet and the onion made my lunch more interesting. The next improvement was influenced by the flavor combination of potato latkes and sour cream that I had enjoyed at a kosher deli. I imagined that Marjorie Morgenstern, aka Marjorie Morningstar, ate something similar in a New York deli.

Caviar came after sour cream. My mother worked in a large grocery store and when I had to wait for her, I wandered the aisles of the market looking for exotic new foods. I was amazed when I found a tiny jar of black lumpfish caviar that cost less than two dollars. It wasn’t sturgeon caviar from Russia but it was caviar that I could afford. Even Noel Airman, Marjorie’s grand passion, would be impressed by a baked potato topped with sour cream and a spoonful of caviar.

I haven’t thought about Marjorie Morningstar for years and discovered today that I can’t get a copy for my Kindle but I’ve have continued to create tasty and quick meals that begin by baking a potato. Here is my list of rule for making the perfect baked potato: … read more