Food

My mother got this recipe for the moistest, sweetest coffee cake from the Boston Globe’s Confidential Chat section, probably in the early 1960s. A reader called, “A Fireman’s Wife” submitted it.

This recipe was taken directly from her WGBH broadcast and differs slightly from the printed recipe.

Springtime is fiddlehead season.

This authentic tapas dish is easy to make and the marinade of olive oil, lemon juice, thyme, paprika, and oregano makes it uniquely flavorful.

This is the easiest, quickest, and one of the most delicious eggplant recipes I know.

Pesto is pretty easy to make, especially if you have a food processor.

This braciole is easier to make and tastes even better than the more traditional braciole that is cooked in an oven.

This cold soup is light and creamy and great for a hot summer day.

Instead of butter, use oil, vinegar and parmesan cheese.

If a blueberry muffin and a honey bun had a baby, this would be it.

This is a fun dessert that’s easy to make and sure to impress.

This is an easy recipe that doesn’t take much more work than grilling a few hamburgers, and is probably less expensive.

To make the perfect and best hamburger, keep it simple. And don’t buy those pre-made patties (yech!)

You can easily make this with leftover steak or even a supermarket rotisserie chicken. Perfect for a quick weeknight meal.

This recipe from a Boston restaurant is quick, easy, delicious, and gluten-free. Perfect for an after-school snack or for a weekend munchie attack.

This delicious combination of chocolate, cherries, and whipped cream will help you get through the last days of winter.

You can make this dish in about 5 minutes. The secret is buying fresh asparagus and then trimming it correctly.

The important thing is that you make a delicious sauce and that it complements the dish you are making.

Chicken Parmigiana is good as an entree or as a sandwich made with two slices of garlic toast.

This is a french recipe for adult macaroni and cheese (but the kids will love it too).

This recipe comes directly from Ireland where Irish housewives and chefs shared their secrets.

This is an easy to make recipe for traditional King Cake, using packaged crescent rolls.

Sometimes you need a recipe like this to remind you how easy perfection can be.

These authentic Italian meatballs are so tasty and juicy, they’re an act of love.

This is an amazing recipe from Boston chef Joanne Chang. Store-bought Oreos are delicious but these are even better with real flavors replacing the processed ones.

You won’t miss the calories in this healthy dish made with an authentic Italian carrot sauce.

This vegetarian meal plan contains rich, creamy dishes that will fill you up. You won’t be missing the meat.

This is a quick and easy version of a classic Italian dessert called “Zuppa Inglese,” popular in Northern Italy.

These cookies have only three ingredients but taste great, better than store-bought versions.

Here’s the secret to creating latkes that are crispy.

This Turkish dish is similar to eggplant parmesan but without the cheese and without as much work.

Check out this Thanksgiving feast prep schedule.

This recipe has its roots in African-American culture. It’s perfect for a Sunday chicken dinner or a special holiday, like Thanksgiving.

Here’s a simple and delicious way to cook shrimp, perfect for a quick weeknight supper but also impressive for a special occassion.

This simple recipe has always produced a moist, flavorful bird.

This slow-cooker recipe is good for a weeknight meal or for a crowd to watch the big game.

This is one of my favorite recipes from the weekly Dorm Room Chef series I produced for the Boston Globe.

Two recipes for making this popular holiday side dish: one is a classic from Campbell Soup and the other is a healthier version, from scratch. Both are quick and easy.

Consider these Italian tapas: appetizers before a full meal or delicious snacks for an intimate cocktail party.

These will brighten up any holiday party.

Nepitella completes the trifecta of Italian herbs that are a must-have in any Tuscan kitchen.

From a nineteenth-century, classic, Italian cookbook, it doesn’t get any more authentic than this.

Guests at our house said this was one of their favorites.

This is a very thin and savory potato cake from northern Italy.

This is an easy recipe and the kids like them too. Don’t forget the ketchup!

Here’s something different and guaranteed to be addictive.

You can make these at a moment’s notice and are great to bring to a party. But watch out: they’re addictive.

This is how you make Taiwanese street food.

These are some of my favorite recipes from the weekly Dorm Room Chef series I produced for the Boston Globe.

You make this from scratch but it’s quick and easy.

It’s like a giant, luxurious, but surprisingly light, arancini.

This is eggplant, chicken, and zucchini layered with cheese, like a lasagna.

This combination of roast chicken, potatoes, shrimp and salad was impulsive and glorious.

This is winter comfort food at its finest.

The long list of ingredients on bread products in a store is frightening. That’s one reason to make your own. Taste is another.

This soup is easy to make and guaranteed to make you healthy.

The light batter is reminiscent of tempura: another example of the similarities between Asian and Italian cuisine.

This is delicious by itself as a side dish or when mixed with pasta.

By Mark Micheli (This story ran in the Feb. 22, 2015 edition of the Boston Sunday Globe.) MALDEN — It took Maria Tran 11 tries before she successfully left Vietnam in 1984. “It was not a trip. It was an escape,” said the owner of […]

This will warm up even the coldest person on a winter’s night.

This is magic. In just a minute you can be eating a light, fluffy, chocolate cake.

Light, crisp, delicate and delicious.

French cooking doesn’t have to be complicated as evidenced by this simple to follow recipe for a classic soup.

Fresh guacamole is much better than store-bought and it’s pretty easy to make.

These would go great with watching a football game or just watching the snow fall.

Why would anyone make their own hummus when it’s readily available at most supermarkets? Because the homemade is that much better. Trust me.

Nepitella is a cross between basil and mint and pairs perfectly with mushrooms.

This is super easy, super fast, and so good.

(I wrote this article for the Boston Globe and after much digging was able to find out that the ban was in place for 50 years.) By Mark Micheli Globe Correspondent Italian cold cut connoisseurs are eagerly awaiting the arrival of imported salami, pancetta, coppa, […]

(Above: Head baker and manager Ben Tock of Bricco Panetteria in Boston’s North End. ) I wrote a story for the Boston Globe about a North End bakery that specializes in old world Italian bread. I thought a Globe photographer was scheduled to take photos at […]

This is also called, “Roman Egg Drop Soup.”

This is savory and sweet: perfect as a meal or as a dessert.

This is pseudo-Mexican comfort food. And so easy to make.

This is easy to make but takes more than a couple of hours.

This is a sweet, savory, gooey piece of heaven.

You can make this dish as fast as it takes you to boil a pot of water.

This makes a great first course or can be served as a side dish.

Another vegetarian delicacy from Southern France.

Here’s a meal plan that will work for vegetarians and meat eaters.

Instead of serving cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto for a first course, try this.

The wine is fermenting nicely today. I went into the basement and I could hear it rumbling: the sound is like that of water boiling gently on the stove. An audible “boil” started yesterday, about three days after crushing the grapes. This is a little unusual, as […]

It’s got to be fall somewhere. And so it is: in Chile. That’s why I’m able to make wine today. I purchased 10 boxes of Malbec grapes from a vineyard in Chile. I picked them up at the Beer and Wine Hobby Store in Woburn […]

This is sure to impress your guests. It’s easy and quick to make, but don’t tell them that.

Bacon, eggs and cheese. This is Italian comfort food at its most rustic.

This sweet treat makes a good gift too. And it only takes about 30 minutes to make.

Slice, dip, eat. Repeat.

Oh, sweet custard! I first had this dessert in the village of Oia (pronounced ee-ah) on the island of Santorini in Greece (shown above) and had to get the recipe.

This is an untraditional recipe of a traditional Greek dish. It takes about 3 hours to make but it’s worth the effort.

(Above: Mothers, daughters, cousins, and nieces all celebrated Greek food in the RootsLiving kitchen.) After an amazing trip to Greece last month, Trish asked for a “Big Fat Greek Mother’s Day” party for herself and her cousins and our niece, Jenno. So I whipped out […]

These make great holiday gifts too, but be sure the recipient can handle their alcohol.

This is chicken and potato gnocchi soup from the classic nineteenth century Italian cookbook, The Art of Eating Well, by Pellegrino Artusi.

Chef Todd English makes a good lasagna. I still remember one I had at his Olive’s Restaurant in Boston that was made with veal. He has a knack for taking an old standard and then being innovative, without being preposterous, paying more attention to the […]

Working from home has its benefits and one of them is being able to plan a breakfast meeting in your own backyard. Last week I held an editor’s meeting in the great outdoors. No sterile company conference room or institutional cafeteria for us. Since we’re […]

This could be an appetizer for many or a meal for six, served with a salad.

Learn how to make and eat this classic Italian side dish.

These rich and creamy potatoes will have your guests asking for the recipe and more.

There are many variations on this Spanish dish, including one with chicken and another with seafood.

Blending these ingredients may seem strange, but it creates a savory, sweet dish.

The time and effort is worth it to make the best roast beef for sandwiches you ever had.

This recipe creates a vegetable lasagna like no other: a rich spinach mixture, covered with velvety noodles, and topped with a light tomato sauce and cheese.

So maybe you forgot to go shopping or make a dinner plan. You’ve worked all day and now you have the dreaded task of figuring out what’s for dinner. You hate to spend money on take-out again: a pizza, subs, chinese food, etc. But you’re […]

This is based on my mother’s Italian tomato sauce recipe and can be used on most anything that calls for tomato sauce.

Eat this flavorful and healthy dish and lose weight.

Fat Tuesday is also called “Pancake Day” in the United Kingdom and Ireland where many feast on fatty foods the day before Lent begins.

Don’t let the name fool you. This bread is not too sweet. It goes great with morning coffee or an after-dinner glass of red wine.

After the clock struck 12, and after the obligatory flute of champagne (actually it was an old bottle of Asti Spumanti that had been sitting in the RootsLiving wine cellar for 10 years), we ended the night last night with hot Tom and Jerry cocktails. […]

This makes a great hearty meal in the winter.

These sweet biscuit cookies are from the Garfagnana mountain region of Tuscany.

Also known as “Tuscan Bean Soup,” this is a real crowd pleaser and one of the most requested recipes.

This unique appetizer is tangy, sweet and hot.

Build up your immune system with this nutritious soup.

The cold soup is low on calories but high on taste.

Pack up these salads, bruschetta and a bottle of wine.

Trish has been making this favorite appetizer for more than 20 years.

When it’s hot and you don’t feel like cooking, try these poolside.

When I was a boy, this was my favorite dish to eat at my grandmother’s house.

Liquor and fruit? To most Americans, that’s as crazy as wheat germ with a side of fries. However, Europeans often pair the healthy with the good stuff. Think of crepe suzette or zabaglione. I remember my father eating a bowl of strawberries, red wine and […]

When you walk into Polcari’s Coffee store in Boston’s North End it’s like walking back in time: a very fragrant time. The scent of more than 40 different types of coffee beans mingles with the scent of a 100 different freshly ground spices to create […]

So here it is mid-July. You’re probably stuck, toiling away at work somewhere. Before the summer slips away, it’s time to take stock. What are your favorite things to do in the summer? Make a list now, before it’s too late. And make sure you do […]

Now, here is someone you need to check out: Musician and culinary school-trained chef Jen Kearney. I saw her and her band, “The Lost Onion,” at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, Mass. last year and was blown away. Her band –six pieces including trumpet, sax, and […]

There’s a thousand flavors in this summertime dish.

This vegetarian dish will please even the most ardent meat lover.