I love reading your letter every week. It comes from the heart and always reminds me of something
in my past. My girls, now 36, grew up looking at cookbooks. They would oooh and awww over pictures. Their godmother loved cookbooks as well and it was always a pastime when we went to visit her. How sad, this generation now has everything they need on their phone or Instragram. There is something so satisfying about that "old" recipe held in your hands and the memory to go with it. Have a great week.
A lovely pastime, Christine. Was just talking to someone about this the other day. You can find a recipe for just about anything on the internet. Many are bad/unreliable, but many are good--nearly perfect because they've been tweaked so much by professional outlets (America's Test Kitchen, New York Times, etc), that they might have been created by AI. I do appreciated a well-tested recipe, but it's the personal component that I find most appealing.
I totally agree with you, there is something about these "old" recipes. You're not looking at your phone, laptop, or something. It's the recipe itself.
I love discovering my mom and dad's old recipe, although they are not as good as your mom's. I also love that all of those wonderful, bombshell Italian actresses - Claudia Cardinale, Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, have gifted us their pasta recipes.
You're right. Discovering their recipes is one kind of happiness. Reading what and how they cooked, their notes, the names of the dishes, and other small but very satisfying moments.
This is such a sweet post, Domenica. I love that you dip in to the treasures in your Mom’s recipe box now-and-then to savor the treasures and memories of your Mom and Aunts. I love 8 1/2! Love the name “Bombshell Spaghetti” and Daniela’s illustration is a Wow! 💣 🍝
My mother made cream puffs & they were delicious. We were in a small village in N Italy with friends. We arrived late and found the one restaurant in the town. Luckily it was still open. Sparsely populated at this hour, but locals yelled at us to get everything, so we did. Course after course came to the table. It was all fine, but not necessarily cooked at a star level or with fineness. Still I was quite full and expected to say no to dessert...I heard the cart behind me & readied to say no politely when I saw the cream puffs. Of course I said yes. So lovey to eat them and be connected to my mom. Thanks for you post, D., and for all of them.
I loved this post Domenica! And yes I'm of a certain age, so relate to all of it including the PA Dutch design! The spaghetti sounds good and easy too!
Lovely post, thank you. I am reminded of a visit to Rome many years ago to a place where I ate dishes named and possibly invented for famous actors and actresses, not far from Harry's Bar. Taverna Flavia, I seem to think. It had Insalata Veruschka and I suspect there was Spaghetti alla Claudia Cardinale on the list too. Although my Cardinale was the alcoholic variety. Maybe that place was the source of the recipe? Who knows?
What intrigued me most about the photograph of your mom’s recipe box was the books on your shelf. I recognized some of them and wonder how you organize your cookbooks? My small space does not allow all of my cookbooks to be together. But I still maintain a system.
Ha ~ I thought there might be some perceptive folks peering at the books, which is why I positioned the recipe box in front of some of my Italian collection (including a few of my own!). I organize the books loosely by category, Italian being the largest. There's also a vegetarian section, baking, American, Asian, French, preserving. And a sort of nameless category that includes Alice Waters, David Tanis, Zuni Cafe Cookbook, Canal House and stuff like that. And then there's the giant piles on the floor that are in no particular order because there is no more room on the shelves!
Cooks have much in common: except for the Tannis book, I own all those you mentioned, too! (Waters, David Tanis, Zuni Cafe, Canal House). I guess I’ll have to hunt for it!
The Canal House cookbooks are all around great: beautiful photos, interesting stories and excellent recipes.
I will happily be making your Mom’s pasta recipe as soon as fresh, local basil comes to market. And was anyone more beautiful than Claudia Cardinale in “The Leopard”? PS. The answer is NO!
Ash, family memories! I cherish the old recipes I've been given over the years and while I may not make them very often, just seeing my mom's handwriting always brings tears to my eyes. I came across a little recipe booklet that came with my mother's Sunbeam electric mixer that I remembered. And there in all it's glory was the heavily stained recipe for the Devil's Food cake I made all the time....
The concern with using cured prosciutto rather than prosciutto cotto (cooked ham) is that it tends to toughen up when it cooks. I would melt the butter and add the herbs and maybe leave the prosciutto till it's time to toss everything together.
Everything about this story is yummy: words, images, recipe. Old recipes for me are comfort food, regardless of content or degree of difficulty. I’ve inherited an vault’s worth from my late mom who wrote and illustrated a foodletter for 3 decades and, like you, love to share them and their stories with the world in my own newsletter. Keeping the legacies alive!
I recently found your Substack thanks to Notes. Looking forward to delving into it. What a wonderful gift to have from your mom, and generous of you to share it!
I'm just thrilled to have found you via Jolene Handy. I ADORED this post, how fabulous to have access to all those family loved recipes. I've been writing about movie star recipes for over 18 years at silverscreensuppers.com and my immediate thought was to dash to my spreadsheet to see if I could discover the source of this recipe. Alas no, but I found three other Claudia recipes in my collection - Fettuccine Alla Carcerata, Insalatina Rose and Courgette Soup. I feel a Claudia banquet coming on! Jenny x
Hello Jenny, and thank you. Jolene's newsletter is such fun and full of great stories and history. I'm looking forward to checking out yours. And, a Claudia banquet? I'm in.
I love reading your letter every week. It comes from the heart and always reminds me of something
in my past. My girls, now 36, grew up looking at cookbooks. They would oooh and awww over pictures. Their godmother loved cookbooks as well and it was always a pastime when we went to visit her. How sad, this generation now has everything they need on their phone or Instragram. There is something so satisfying about that "old" recipe held in your hands and the memory to go with it. Have a great week.
A lovely pastime, Christine. Was just talking to someone about this the other day. You can find a recipe for just about anything on the internet. Many are bad/unreliable, but many are good--nearly perfect because they've been tweaked so much by professional outlets (America's Test Kitchen, New York Times, etc), that they might have been created by AI. I do appreciated a well-tested recipe, but it's the personal component that I find most appealing.
I totally agree with you, there is something about these "old" recipes. You're not looking at your phone, laptop, or something. It's the recipe itself.
I love discovering my mom and dad's old recipe, although they are not as good as your mom's. I also love that all of those wonderful, bombshell Italian actresses - Claudia Cardinale, Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, have gifted us their pasta recipes.
Long live the bombshell actresses of yore!
You're right. Discovering their recipes is one kind of happiness. Reading what and how they cooked, their notes, the names of the dishes, and other small but very satisfying moments.
I also have a really old recipe book that belonged to my parents. It is something I occasionally cook with and adore.
If I eat more pasta, will I be a bombshell too?
This is such a sweet post, Domenica. I love that you dip in to the treasures in your Mom’s recipe box now-and-then to savor the treasures and memories of your Mom and Aunts. I love 8 1/2! Love the name “Bombshell Spaghetti” and Daniela’s illustration is a Wow! 💣 🍝
Thank you, Jolene. I truly want to frame this illustration, it's so good.
I absolutely agree with you, the title and illustration are gorgeous.
Do Sophia next! This looks both delicious and refreshingly simple. Also, OMG Claudia in Il Gattopardo is so delectable.
I need to watch that again!
My mother made cream puffs & they were delicious. We were in a small village in N Italy with friends. We arrived late and found the one restaurant in the town. Luckily it was still open. Sparsely populated at this hour, but locals yelled at us to get everything, so we did. Course after course came to the table. It was all fine, but not necessarily cooked at a star level or with fineness. Still I was quite full and expected to say no to dessert...I heard the cart behind me & readied to say no politely when I saw the cream puffs. Of course I said yes. So lovey to eat them and be connected to my mom. Thanks for you post, D., and for all of them.
What a lovely memory, Beverly. Thanks for sharing it. Cream puffs are on my list of things to make from my mom's recipe files...
What a sweet and heartwarming story. Thank you for sharing it with us.🧡
I loved this post Domenica! And yes I'm of a certain age, so relate to all of it including the PA Dutch design! The spaghetti sounds good and easy too!
Here's to women of a certain age, Susan!
I am of the same opinion, tasty and simple, that's what I need after a hard day's work.
Lovely post, thank you. I am reminded of a visit to Rome many years ago to a place where I ate dishes named and possibly invented for famous actors and actresses, not far from Harry's Bar. Taverna Flavia, I seem to think. It had Insalata Veruschka and I suspect there was Spaghetti alla Claudia Cardinale on the list too. Although my Cardinale was the alcoholic variety. Maybe that place was the source of the recipe? Who knows?
Interesting, thank you, Louis ~ I'll have to check out Taverna Flavia when I'm back in Rome.
What intrigued me most about the photograph of your mom’s recipe box was the books on your shelf. I recognized some of them and wonder how you organize your cookbooks? My small space does not allow all of my cookbooks to be together. But I still maintain a system.
Ha ~ I thought there might be some perceptive folks peering at the books, which is why I positioned the recipe box in front of some of my Italian collection (including a few of my own!). I organize the books loosely by category, Italian being the largest. There's also a vegetarian section, baking, American, Asian, French, preserving. And a sort of nameless category that includes Alice Waters, David Tanis, Zuni Cafe Cookbook, Canal House and stuff like that. And then there's the giant piles on the floor that are in no particular order because there is no more room on the shelves!
Cooks have much in common: except for the Tannis book, I own all those you mentioned, too! (Waters, David Tanis, Zuni Cafe, Canal House). I guess I’ll have to hunt for it!
The Canal House cookbooks are all around great: beautiful photos, interesting stories and excellent recipes.
I will happily be making your Mom’s pasta recipe as soon as fresh, local basil comes to market. And was anyone more beautiful than Claudia Cardinale in “The Leopard”? PS. The answer is NO!
Agree!
Me, too.
Ash, family memories! I cherish the old recipes I've been given over the years and while I may not make them very often, just seeing my mom's handwriting always brings tears to my eyes. I came across a little recipe booklet that came with my mother's Sunbeam electric mixer that I remembered. And there in all it's glory was the heavily stained recipe for the Devil's Food cake I made all the time....
Such gifts, these old recipes...
It's so sweet that you keep your mom's recipes. "Devil's food," that sounds intriguing.
Love the bombshell image!
Daniela Bracco, my illustrator, is amazing.
Can I also use regular Prosciutto and let it cook as it is warmed by the hot butter? I my memory Prosciutto is smoked but not cooked.
The concern with using cured prosciutto rather than prosciutto cotto (cooked ham) is that it tends to toughen up when it cooks. I would melt the butter and add the herbs and maybe leave the prosciutto till it's time to toss everything together.
Everything about this story is yummy: words, images, recipe. Old recipes for me are comfort food, regardless of content or degree of difficulty. I’ve inherited an vault’s worth from my late mom who wrote and illustrated a foodletter for 3 decades and, like you, love to share them and their stories with the world in my own newsletter. Keeping the legacies alive!
I recently found your Substack thanks to Notes. Looking forward to delving into it. What a wonderful gift to have from your mom, and generous of you to share it!
That made my day! I’m happy you found it.
Amie, you are saying exactly what I think you are saying. It's wonderful that you don't forget your mother's legacy and keep it alive.
Never mind the recipe, which I imagine is delicious, your writing is stellar and fills me with joy!
Jack ~ thank you! One of the nicest compliments I've received. Cheers, D
How wonderful to have a Spaghetti alla Claudia Cardinale recipe! My thanks to you and your mum.
I wish I'd known about the recipe when my mom was alive. I would have asked for the backstory, though I guess it's fun to speculate.
I'm just thrilled to have found you via Jolene Handy. I ADORED this post, how fabulous to have access to all those family loved recipes. I've been writing about movie star recipes for over 18 years at silverscreensuppers.com and my immediate thought was to dash to my spreadsheet to see if I could discover the source of this recipe. Alas no, but I found three other Claudia recipes in my collection - Fettuccine Alla Carcerata, Insalatina Rose and Courgette Soup. I feel a Claudia banquet coming on! Jenny x
Wow, that sounds interesting. I'll be sure to check out a couple of your articles.
Hello Jenny, and thank you. Jolene's newsletter is such fun and full of great stories and history. I'm looking forward to checking out yours. And, a Claudia banquet? I'm in.