Liver

I've always loved liver since I was a little girl, eating it at the cafe in Cyprus my parents hung out in grossing out the other kids.  In Tuscany I always order fegatelli, pigs liver wrapped in caul fat, seasoned with fresh laurel leaf and wild fennel pollen and grilled or oven roasted.  At Union Square farmrs market I always grab the lamb liver at Violet Hills Farm when he has it.
Here I sauteed it with some lamb kidney and bacon, a few pan roasted cherry tomatoes and served it over toasted bread.  I can't think of a better breakfast

Frying in Extra Virgin Olive Oil

when we first moved to Italy fried zucchini blossoms seemed so exotic.  How weird, we thought, the Italians eat flowers.  But soon we were  converted to the sweet flavor dipped in a simple batter and fried in Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Extra Virgin used to be the most common fat in the Mediterranean, everyone had a few olive trees and everyone produced oil for the year or if they didn't someone in the family did.  In America people tell you all the time you can't deep fry in olive oil.  But in the Mediterranean we do every day all the time originally because it's the fat that was available, now because people love the taste.  Aside from zucchini blossoms, we also fell in love with calamari fried in olive oil.
Little tiny calamari. just a few hours out of the water, dredged in a littlae flour, fried in fresh oil(very important) and then served with nothing more than salt and a little squeeze of lemon.  The airport in Rome is right near the little fishing village of Fiumeccino and I try to time my departures or arrivals into Italy with a meal at one of the little seafood restaurants there.  Some simple fried fish, a plate of pasta and some lovely chilled white wine and  I feel right back at home or well fortified for take off

Late summer dining

It's really late August before we get all the great summer vegetables and even though by September fall vegetables and fruits are showing up, it's still to warm to want to eat them yet and summer vegetables always continue into early October.  All the restaurants are previewing fall menus with long heavy braises and root vegetable purees but for me summer vegetables are such a short season I want to eat them as long as they are here.  I love to make eggplant parmesan the Tuscan way with aromatic besciamel instead of ricotta or mozzarella.  A light tomato sauce made from fresh plum tomatoes, lots of Parmigiano and basil.  It seems so light and delicate even if it's not.
Sometimes I find green coriander seeds in the market from flowering cilantro.  It's a wonderful intense burst of flavor in the seed that tastes sort of like what I imagine India to taste like.  I like to sprinkle them over fresh salad tomatoes with Feta cheese and a little slivered fresh chili.  It's an exotic play on Insalata Caprese.  the idea behind it is the same though, creamy salty cheese and ripe tangy fruity tomatoes
One year I worked in a tiny hole in the wall in the East Village where the kitchen was in the tiny dining room.  It was a particularly hot summer and it was all we could do with one wheezy old air conditioner to keep the room cool.  I made a lot of cold soups that summer, variations on gazpacho with richness coming from the olive oil blended into the fruit or vegetable base.  This is one I still love to make with cantaloupe melon, a little bit of plain yogurt, some sherry vinegar and plenty of olive oil.  I garnish it with little shavings of prosciuto  or jamon serrano or just a sprinkling of  dried chili pepper.  It's refreshing and beautiful looking