Monday, November 23, 2020

Ronzoni Sono Buoni Macheroni Pasta







RONZONI

MEZZE RIGATONI



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"Ronzoni Sono Buoni," if you are Italian and grew up in the New York area in the great decades of the 1960's and or 70s you know the slogan. We Italians do love our pasta, we're weened on it! Pasta is the main staple of our diet. Many are fanatical about and love it so, they insist on having it several times a week. I'm one. Pasta, can be covered in a wide variety of sauces,  in some soups like; Pasta Fagoli (Pasta Fazool), in Minestrone's, with Pasta and Peas, and Pasta con Ceci (Chick Peas). Yes, we are weened on it. Mommy gave me, my bothers and sister Pastina coated in a bit of butter and Parmigiano when we were just toddlers  and every so often I have to pick up a box of Ronzoni Pastina, as I love and crave it still, and of late as with many my age, you start craving things you loved as a child, thus my stints with PASTINA ."Ronzoni Sono Buoni," it means, Ronzoni is So Good, and that it is. This brand of  Pasta, born in New York City at the turn of the 20th Century has been a mainstay of not only Italian-Americans of the East Coast but, for all. For years before the surge of many a imported pasta product in the U.S., Ronzoni, was not the only game in town for Macaroni, there was the Prince and Creamette, as well, but Ronzoni dominated the market and though I don't have stats, I would wage to say that 85 to 90 % of all commercial pasta sold in the New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia areas was Ronzoni, the pasta in the bright blue boxes, Ronzoni Sono Buoni. God I wonder how many plates and bowls of Spaghetti, Ziti and other Ronzoni pastas I ate over the years, starting with Pastina as a toddler  and moving to Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce or Meatballs, Baked Ziti, Stuffed Shells and more. Oh “Stuffed Shells,” they bring back memories of my mother who loved them. We had them often, along with Lasagna made with Ronzoni Lasagana. You don't see Stuffed Shells around that much any more, they used to be on many a restaurant and even more home menus. There popularity has waned, but every once and a while I'll pick up a box of Ronzoni large shells, just for the purpose of bringing back those memories of mom making them and me loving them as  a child. I'll make a batch of tomato sauce, cook the Ronzoni Shells, and stuff them with ricotta and Parmigiano, bake them in tomato sauce, and "Voila" Stuffed Shells of days gone by. I do the same with a Pastina as I still love the dish so, dressed with butter and fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano, “makes me feel like a kid again!” Yum, delicious little pleasure you can whip up in minutes and bring back visions of your youth. All with some butter, Parmigiano and a box of Ronzoni Pastina. That's Ronzoni, every bit a part of my life and youth as a spring ol Slinky, Etch-A-Sketch, The Three Stooges, Saturday Morning Cartoons, and all the favorites of my youth, Ronzon Sono Buoni, “Ronzoni it's so good!”




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SPAGHETTI
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SEGRETO ITALIANO

SECRET ITALIAN RECIPES

SALSA SEGRETO

FAMOUS PASTA SAUCE

RECCIPE

Of GINO'S

NEW YORK



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Saturday, November 7, 2020

Positano Amalfi Coast TravelGuide Cookbook Recipes



"IT'S ALMOST HERE" !!!

POSITANO

The AMALFI COAST COOKBOOK - TRAVEL GUIDE

COMING November 28th 2020

"The BEST THING to HAPPEN in 2020"

AMAZON.com


Yes boys and girls, Ladies & Gentlemen, it's almost here. Positano The Amalfi Coast Cookbook / Travel Guide is coming. It will be available on Amazon.com on Novemeber 28, 2020, "The Best Thing to Happen in 2020," so the saying goes. The book is like no other ever written on Positano, Capri, Naples, and the Amalfi Coast. Anyone who gets it, will see that it's one of the best Italian Cookbooks ever published on the specific region and cuisines of Naples and the Amalfi Coast. There are lots of great recipes that I have collected and developed over a 35 year period of going to the beautiful island of Capri, Positano, Napoli, and the Amalfi Coast of Southern Italy, which most people have just recently discovered in the past 15 years or so, I made my first of many wonderful trips way back in the Summer of 1985. I've been going ever since, and have stayed in and explored almost every inch of this one of the World's most beautiful areas, and in particular, the food, the people, and the natural beauty of the Amalfi Coast, the surround area and islands.

Yes I have a wealth of knowledge that you will not get and most other cookbooks or travel guides of the area. Did you say travel guide you say? Yes, this book is like no other ever written on the Amalfi Coast in that is a cookbook and travel guide, with true stories of Naples, Capri, and the Amalfi Coast written by me. Why both a cookbook slash travel guide. Well, I love cooking and I love travel, and I am, if I must say so myself, well versed on both. I worked in the restaurant and wine business in New York for more than 30 years, cooking for 10 years, and then as a wine director specializing in Italian Wine. I got to know and become friendly with hundreds of Italian people who make wine and own wine estates all over Italy. Yes my knowledge of wine, food, cooking, writing Italian Cookbooks, and Italy and World Travel are quite extensive, and I bring this experience to you within the front and back cover of this book, Positano - The Amalfi Coast Cookbook / Travel Guide.

This book first started out as a travel guide of Positano and the Amalfi Coast with Naples and Capri. Yes a travel guide, with essays as well as having 30 or so recipes of the best loved most popular dishes of Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Somehow as books often do, it morphed into something else. It became more of a cookbook than a travel guide, but never-the-less, a travel guide as well, not only in the traditional travel guide sense of chapters on specific places, and info on the best hotels, and restaurants in Naples, on the islands, and all around the coast. So, info in the traditional sense, but a great deal of wonderful info and little known secrets translated in the stories I tell of my frequent trips and all the eating, chatting, maneuvering around and all sorts of little tidbits for you to divulge.

There's no pictures you say. Yes this is true, no pictures other than the beautiful cover ("I think so"). No I don't do pictures in my books but stories that people seem to like quite a bit, "my storytelling of food, experiences, travels, and what-not." If you want pictures though, you are in luck. I've created a companion website to this book, Positano-Amalfi-Coast,com, and it has all the gorgeous pictures of Positano, Naples, Capri, and the whole of the Amalfi Coast that you could ever want, they're on my website, so use it in conjunction with this book.

Why the recipes. I love food, especially Italian Food, my specialty, and I love the food of this area, and I want to tell you something. The reason for all the wonderful recipes that I've amassed over the years, through having so many meals at wonderful restaurants, trattorias, and pizzerias in Naples and all around the coast, talking to the cooks and chefs, going home and re-creating these dishes, and writing up recipes on how to make them, and jotting everything down. It's been a 35 year journey. I want you to read the book and pick out the dishes you love, maybe you had a certain dishes at a special little trattoria where you had a most memorable time, and now that you're home and you miss being on the Amalfi Coast, you want to learn how to make that special dish and cook it at home for friends, family, and loved ones. It's a way to relive all those wonderful memories of Capri, Positano, the Amalfi Coast, no matter where you stayed or went, this book will help you relive all those wonderful times, as well as help you plan future trips whether you been there before, or this will be your first time, we are here to help and inspire you to have the Dream Vacation of your life. This is my hope.



Daniel Bellino Zwicke