Thick and chewy, with the nuttiness of whole wheat, bigoli is the signature pasta of the Veneto. At Ristorante Celeste in Venegazzu, outside of Treviso, Giuliano Tonon taught me how to extrude fresh dough into strands with a torchio, the traditional hand press. But bigoli is not only a restaurant treat—most home cooks in the region have a torchio in the kitchen and make bigoli every week! Happily, this pleasure is now available to Americans since I have found a genuine torchio for sale on the Internet (see Sources, page 340). Bigoli can also be made with an electric pasta-extruder or a meat grinder. The two traditional sauces on the following pages are packed with flavor. With homemade bigoli, they each make a big, gutsy pasta, very worth the effort and very Venetian. (And if you can’t make your own bigoli, whole wheat spaghetti will be delicious with either sauce.)
Like Sri Lankan cashew curry and vegan stuffed shells.
Put that half-full tub to use with recipes that go beyond the Italian American classics.
Like seared scallop piccata and chocolate Guinness cake.
Turn humble onions into this thrifty yet luxe pasta dinner.
Keep this easy frittata recipe on hand for quick breakfasts, impressive brunches, and fridge clean-out meals.
There’s a reason they say, “easy as pie,” you know?
A warmly spiced Ashkenazi charoset, perfect for your Passover seder—or spooned over yogurt the next morning.
From oven risotto with crispy mushrooms to green curry vinegar chicken.