Caesar SaladOur Caesar Salad is thick, creamy and rich with a great balance of garlic to the other ingredients. We substitute fish sauce for the traditional anchovy fillets; fish sauce is made from anchovies, is much easier to use and you don’t have an opened tin of anchovy fillets to deal with. We strongly recommend splurging…
More information Family-style Rustic Escarole SaladFamily-style Rustic Escarole Salad highlights the delicious texture and slightly bitter flavor of escarole in a very simply-prepared dressing with thin toasts adding an extra crunchy element. This recipe is a family favorite of Vito’s; he learned to prepare it from his great-aunt Evelyn and it’s a great example of the simple, rustic fare of…
More information Grilled Eggplant Syrian PizzaGrilled Eggplant Syrian Pizza is tender slices of smoky, grilled eggplant topped with a beef paste seasoned with warm spices and herbs. Based on lahmacun, pronounced "lahma'joun", derived from the Arabic lahma bi'ajeen, which translates as "dough with meat." The thin, crispy flatbreads, topped with seasoned meat paste, are a popular street food in Turkey,…
More information Savory and Sweet Cheese SpearsSavory and Sweet Cheese Spears is a classic pass-around appetizer in the Netherlands, where cheese has been a staple of the Dutch diet for centuries. While there are technically only two types of cheese in the Netherlands: soccer-ball shaped Edam and flat, wheel-shaped Gouda, there are a great many subcategories. These are based on what…
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Grilled Radicchio and Arugula SaladGrilled Radicchio and Arugula Salad packs a whole lot of flavor and color into a relatively simple salad. While both radicchio and arugula, particularly the wild variety, have a bitter attribute to them, grilling the radicchio mellows that. The silky Asian-inspired, slightly sweet dressing both complements and plays off the opposing smoky and bitter flavors…
More information Ajvar Eggplant Red Pepper SpreadAjvar Eggplant Red Pepper Spread (pronounced “eye-var), is a Balkan dish similar to Baba Ghanouj or Hummus. Eggplant and red peppers are grilled, then puréed with other ingredients and then the purée is added to hot fragrantly seasoned olive oil for a final finishing touch. We prefer to prepare our Ajvar Eggplant Red Pepper Spread…
More information Cream Cheese Celery SticksCream Cheese Celery Sticks are a mid-century modern appetizer. This classic would have originally not been seasoned, just the cream cheese and the celery, as Vito’s Mom prepared it countless times. We’ve decided to update this classic appetizer by using a variety of seasonings to top it; “Fancy Shmancy”, as Vito’s Mom would say. You…
More information Fresh Figs and ProsciuttoThere is a very short, very special time each summer when figs are ripe and that is the time for Fresh Figs and Prosciutto. Salty, smooth prosciutto, sweet, soft figs and a light touch of freshly ground pepper are all that’s required for this easy but elegant appetizer. We first enjoyed Fresh Figs and Prosciutto…
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