Worth the Weight

The 'art' of shoving everything you possibly can into your suitcase; plus a recipe for Pumpkin and Fregola Soup with Borlotti Beans

Illustration by Daniela Bracco

WELCOME to Buona Domenica, a weekly newsletter of Italian home cooking and baking. I’m a journalist, cooking teacher, occasional tour guide, and author of eight cookbooks on Italian cuisine.

FOOD WRITERS IN PIEMONTE, FALL 2025: Join Kathy Gunst and me next October for our second Food Writers in Piemonte workshop. The itinerary will be similar to our sold-out May workshop. Please send me an email at domenica@domenicacooks.com for more information.

This week’s newsletter features a recipe for Pumpkin and Fregola Soup with Borlotti Beans and Pancetta, available to paid subscribers. For all subscribers, I’ve temporarily unlocked a post from last November that includes two recipes featuring winter squash: Caponata di Zucca (winter squash caponata) and Pumpkin Panna Cotta.

Please note the temporary schedule changes to this newsletter, which I’ve detailed below in the body of the newsletter. Plus, coming up in December: A holiday bake-along for my paid community, also detailed below.

Click here to browse through the newsletter archive. If you’re looking for a particular recipe, you’ll find all Buona Domenica recipes—174 and counting—indexed here, ready to download and print—a function for paid subscribers. If you are able to do so, please consider supporting my work by becoming one.

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I have never been a light or even efficient packer. On the contrary, my default packing mode is to try to shove as much as the laws of physics and weight limits will allow into my suitcases and carry on bag.

This was a talent at which my mom excelled. The things she fit into our suitcases at the end of every summer as we were preparing to return to the U.S. still astonish me: great wedges of Parmigiano cheese; enormous ceramic platters, vases and tureens; once, a 24 x 24-inch round mirror with a majolica frame (now on the wall in my living room); stacks of tinned Rizzoli alici in salsa piccante (our favorite anchovies in spicy sauce); bottles of wine and liqueurs. This was in the days before rolling suitcases, mind you, or before there were any limits placed on the weight or number of suitcases you could travel with without having to pay extra. Once my sister and I had packed, our mom would commandeer our suitcases, wrapping fragile objects in our clothes. Only rarely did something not survive the journey intact. The mirror, in fact, was a minor casualty; it still sports a thin crack and small chip in the upper right of the frame. But of course I love it all the more for this.

While I also have occasionally brought back unwieldy, bubble-wrapped pieces of ceramics—a large, intricately painted footed compote from DeRuta comes to mind—most of my booty, to the surprise of no one, has been of the edible {and potable) kind: bags of lentils, chickpeas, and farro from Abruzzo; fresh, finely ground cornmeal from a favorite mill in Umbria that I don’t often get to visit; bottles of wine and new-harvest olive from small producers; small jars of mostarda or honey or hazelnut cream. More than once I have had to pull out—even purchase!—an extra suitcase to fit the overflow.

A few years ago, when I was checking my suitcase, the counter agent informed me it was past the weight limit, an infraction that came with a €100 penalty. “I’ve been in Abruzzo,” I explained, desperately. “I’m bringing back farro and chickpeas and lentils.”

“La capisco”—I get it—the agent replied, nodding his head and letting the bag through.

Do I curse myself as I am trying to roll these overburdened suitcases up the steep hill from our tiny house to where the car is parked, their tiny wheels barely turning on the uneven brick surface? Or as I drag them from the rental car drop-off to the airport terminal? Yes, I do. I know I can live without these things; I know that, unlike in the 1970s and 80s, I can find (almost) comparable versions of nearly everything in the U.S. Still, I load up: cookbooks, vacuum-packed cheeses, packages of dried beans. And always, always tins of anchovies. When I’m finally home, I unpack in a jet-lagged stupor and arrange my stash on the kitchen counter in rows and stacks: the jars of jams and spreads, the glass vials of saffron, the legumes and flours, the tinned fish, the oil and the wine. Then I think to myself: no question, totally worth the weight.

What’s the craziest must-have thing you’ve carried home in your luggage?

One of the items that nearly got edited out from this year’s suitcase full of goodies was a cellophane bag of fregola from my visit to Cagliari, Sardinia. In the end, I wrangled it into my carry-on bag. If you’re not familiar with fregola, it is a type of pasta typical of the island. It is made by mixing durum wheat (semolina) flour with water in a terracotta bowl called a “scivedda,” and working the mixture with your fingers to eventually produce small, grain-like pieces, not unlike couscous. The rough pearls of pasta, which can vary in size, are then air- or sun-dried and toasted until golden-brown.

While in Cagliari, I had a bowl of fregola with clams and tomato sauce, a typical preparation. I had planned to reproduce it here for the newsletter, but once I got home I got sidetracked by fall and pumpkin season. What I ended up with is something quite different: a hearty soup of fregola with pancetta, borlotti beans, and tender chunks of pumpkin. Or, more accurately, a winter squash called koginut. It is a hybrid of kabocha squash and butternut squash, smallish in size, with sweet orange flesh that sort of melts into the soup and gives it a creamy texture.

The recipe, linked below (you have to scroll down a bit), is available to paid subscribers.

For all subscribers, I’ve temporarily unlocked a post from last November that includes two recipes featuring winter squash: Caponata di Zucca (winter squash caponata) and Pumpkin Panna Cotta:

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A TEMPORARY SCHEDULE CHANGE

Friends, I have entered the culinary maelstrom that is recipe testing and manuscript writing for my ninth cookbook, to be published by Gibbs Smith in 2026. Between now and February, I’ll be pretty much consumed with this project, which means I will temporarily be scaling back my publishing schedule for the newsletter.

For the next four months—now through February—I’'ll be publishing a monthly newsletter for all subscribers (this is November’s). In addition, I’ll be sending out occasional (roughly twice a month) recipes for paid subscribers. These will either be new recipes, recipes from my books, or recipes from other sources that I’ve made and want to pass along.

SAVE THE DATE

On Saturday, December 14, I’ll be hosting an online holiday bake-along for paid subscribers, in which we will make a sneak-peek cookie recipe from my forthcoming book. For those who are wondering, this bake-along will take the place of my annual holiday cookie classes, which I am pausing just for this year while I am (ironically) immersed in baking for the book.

I’ll be sending out details next week, so please watch this space.

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RECIPE: Pumpkin and Fregola Soup with Borlotti Beans and Pancetta

In this recipe, I’ve paired fregola with pancetta, borlotti beans, and chunks of koginut squash, a hybrid of kabocha and butternut varieties, which I’ve been seeing more and more at local farmers’ markets. I had actually bought it to display on my front stoop with other pumpkins and squashes for Halloween but decided instead to sacrifice it for dinner.

As for the beans, I used borlotti (cranberry) beans that I had previously cooked and frozen. You can find instructions for how to cook beans in this recipe. Or substitute good-quality canned beans.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Click on the button below for the full, printable recipe, available to paid subscribers:

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FINALLY, SOME TASTY LINKS!

I was recently interviewed by journalist and novelist Lindsay Marie Morris about my culinary background and my book Everyday Italian. Morris is of Sicilian descent. Among other topics, we explored the similarities between Sicilian and Abruzzese cuisine, as both regions were once part of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Morris is also at work on two historical novels that take place during World War II and which feature Sicilian protagonists. Find out more here.

My in-depth recipe for Sweet Potato Gnocchi was recently published on The Mediterranean Dish, a cooking website for which I am a regular contributor. The site focuses on healthful modern recipes from countries across the Mediterranean.

I also shared my go-to recipe for homemade egg pasta on The Mediterranean Dish. This recipe, closely based on my mom’s, is the one I use for basic noodles like tagliatelle, pappardelle, and lasagne sheets. After many decades, it’s still my favorite pasta recipe, easy to execute and pretty much foolproof.

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As always, thanks for reading, subscribing, and sharing.

Alla prossima,
Domenica