"italian" news and stories

With the Manhattan gripped by frigid temps, it seemed like an appropriate day to sample Fresco by Scotto's new frozen dishes for Midwest delivery giant Schwan's.

Back in 2009, Schwan's approached the telegenic cooking family about replicating dishes from their Midtown eatery for its customers. "So the conversation starts, 'We could really use a Fresco in Minnesota.' And we're like, no way, too cold for us," Elaina Scotto explained, perhaps eating her words a bit today. "So they said, 'What about doing your great dishes, in a frozen food format, and we can ship it anywhere in the United States?'"

We review the Fresco by Scotto dishes after the jump.

Remember when we sat down with Mario Batali last month? Among candid talk of his many, many projects, he gave us a little insight into the much-awaited, many-times-delayed Eataly, which is now set to officially open August 31.

This is the first U.S. outpost of the gargantuan flagship market in Turin, Italy, which combines the feel of an outdoor market with the finest restaurants in the country. Batali -- along with partners Joe Bastianich, Lidia Bastianich and Oscar Farinetti (the franchise's founder) -- gave the New York press a sneak preview of the 50,000-square-foot, bi-level mecca on Tuesday.

Time Out New York calls it a "gastro-playground" and advises food nerds to start their engines; the New York Post describes it as "ambitious, sprawling"; while the Gothamist imagines it's a "haven for Italian ex-pats."

"This is the Italy of Vespas and stilettos," the Gothamist says, while Batali tells them: "It could be the cornerstone of Italian gastronomic culture."

'Salt to Taste: The Keys to Confident, Delicious Cooking'
By Marco Canora with Catherine Young
Photographs by John Kernick
Rodale -- 2009
Buy it on Amazon

If you've never had the experience of eating a meal at Marco Canora's restaurant Hearth in New York's East Village, this book brings that soulful experience to you. If you have eaten there, you'll certainly want to pick up this book to recreate that experience at home. With "Salt to Taste," Canora gives you the skills to fill your kitchen with some of the Tuscan magic he plates at the restaurant.

Canora uses his wisdom at chef to explain what works in restaurant kitchen and what will work in your kitchen at home. He lays out the steps to making pasta at home and gives you three separate recipes for the dough -- each with its own specific use. Although that may sound complicated, it's not at all -- it's actually quite smart. And the chef also shares a variety of red sauces to show the complexity of Italian cuisine.

Filled with straightforward dishes that are the building blocks of wonderful Italian feasts, this cookbook is equal parts cooking inspiration and teacher. As the subtitle implies, there's definitely a level of confident cooking anyone can learn from this book.

See what we tested and whether it's worth buying after the jump.

We've come to the last of the "four Ms" needed to make everybody's favorite concentrated coffee kicker. And the last "M" is the romantic part, the human touch -- la mano, or the hand of the barista. Of course, as a professional barista trainer, I am inclined to think that this last "M" is the most important in the scheme of espresso-making. Call me biased, but seriously, you think this stuff is going to make itself?

The barista's role is perhaps more nuanced and significant even than it seems at first blush. For one thing, there's a good reason we're lumped in with all the fine-tuned mechanical details of the equipment and the blend: The barista is to be part artist, part machine. Just as la macchina is designed to the same thing every time you turn it on, so too should the barista be as consistent as possible. He or she should understand the "how" and "why" behind every step in the process -- from grinding to extracting to drinking.

A good barista can make delicious coffee; a great barista can explain how it came to be that way.

Former President Clinton and President Obama. Photo: Charles Dharapak/Getty Images.

Two presidents known for their shared love of greasy foods chose a healthier choice for a meeting in New York.

After giving a speech to Wall Street on Monday, President Obama met up with former President Clinton at Greenwich Village's upscale Il Mulino, whose cuisine from Italy's Abruzzi region features dishes like Scaloppini Capriccio (veal sauteed in wine with prosciutto, fontina and mushrooms) and Red Snapper Sauteed with Seafood Sauce.

While the White House would not give Slashfood any information on the presidential menu, Clinton told reporters gathered outside that the two had "fish, pasta and salad," the Christian Science Monitor reports.

"It was very healthy. Even I was healthy," said Clinton, whose notorious taste for fast food -- the defunct McDonald's McRib sandwich in particular -- was a target of "Saturday Night Live" humor during his presidency.