The NEW YORK ITALIAN FOOD & WINE GUY Blog is dedicated to many things, but mainly to three very GREAT ONES being NEW YORK, ITALIAN FOOD, and ITALIAN WINE. What's greater than these?
Join us on a delightful journey through the charming Tuscan countryside!
Your private driver will pick you up from your hotel and take you along the scenic Chiantigiana Road to the historic town of Greve in Chianti. Wander through the bustling village square, where you can watch artisans at work and soak in the local atmosphere. Don't miss the chance to visit the birthplace of the famous explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano.
After exploring Greve, we'll continue our adventure with a visit to a prestigious wine estate. There, you'll be greeted by a knowledgeable winemaker who will lead you on a private tour of the vineyards and ancient cellars, revealing the secrets of winemaking along the way. Indulge in a delightful tasting of fine wines paired with delicious local food, capping off a truly unforgettable experience.
This full-day tour from Florence takes you on a journey through Chianti, a region that has been producing highly popular wines for centuries. Enjoy the landscape of rolling hills, vineyards, cypress trees, olive groves, and ancient villages.
Travel along small country roads until you reach Montefioralle, a medieval village perched on a hill. Along the way your driver will tell you a bit about the region’s history, culture, and wines.
Stop for a brief walk before reaching Greve, a small town known as the capital of Chianti wine production. When you reach the central square you can visit the small shops or the wine museum, if you like.
You’ll pass through the small town of Panzano, making your next stop at a winery where you’ll have a chance to explore the cellars, taste the wines, and discuss them with the winemaker. Taste wines that are typical of Chianti, such as Classico, Riserva, Super Tuscan, and Vin Santo.
At lunchtime your driver will be happy to suggest a nice trattoria that also produces some excellent wines, or perhaps you’d prefer to have a private lunch in the cellar of a winery.
This is part of the documentation of my maternal grandfather Fillipo Bellino (Bellina) entering Ellis Island in 1902, immigrating from Lercara Friddi , Sicily. Our family surname was actually Bellina spelled with an "a" at the end, and not Bellino which became our family name as a result of just one of many mistakes made by clerks working on Ellis Island. This happened to many families.
My grandmother Giuseppina Salemi immigrated to New York, also from Lercara Friddi , Sicily, five years later in 1907. My mother's parents were married in New York and later settled in Lodi, New Jersey where Nonno Fillipo opned a shoemaker shop on Main Street in Lodi. They lived above the shoemaker shop and had 5 children; Lilly, James, Frank, Anthony, and my mother Lucia.
The notorious Mafia Boss Salvatore Lucania, aka Charles "Lucky" Luciano was also born in Lercara Friddi, Sicily and immigrated to New York 1906, and settled on East 10th Street in the Lower East Side of the city.
Nonno
FILLIPO BELLINO
1902
Frank Sinatra's family was also from Lercara Friddi Sicily. Like my grandfather, Sinatra's grandfather was a shoemaker in Lercara Friddi. Frank Sinatra's father Martino Severino Sinatra immigrated from Lercara Friddi, Sicily to New York City in 1903. He later moved to Hoboken, New Jersey where his son Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915. Frank Sinatra would go on to become a singer and actor and was considered by millions to be the greatest entertainer of The 20th Century.
Frank Sinatra
At 3 Years of Age
Hoboken, NJ
1918
The BELLINO'S
LODI , NEW JERSEY
1939
Fillipo, Lucia, Antonino, Giuseppina
Not in Picture, Sister Lilly, and Brothers James and Frank
Grandma Bellino's Italian Cookbook / Recipes From My Sicilian Grandmother (Nonna) is a book based on my mother Lucia Bellino's recipes that she learned from her mother, my maternal grandmother Giuseppina Salemi Bellino. My nonna came from Lercara Friddi, Sicily in Provincia di Palermo, which was a town about 45 minutes south of Palermo. Most of the recipes in the book are Sicilian dishes, but not all. Both my grandmother and mother Lucia had friends from other parts of Italy, like Naples, Genoa, Calabria, Abruzzo, and Puglia, and my nonna as well as my mom picked up recipes from their friends whose families came from these other regions of Italy.
Their are also recipes from my Aunt Fran whose family was from Lazio (South of Rome), and my Aunt Helen Cavallo who was born near Salerno, Italy and was a wonderful cook, making Neapolitan dishes along with those of Salerno, and the nearby coast of Amalfi and the region of Campania.
My uncle Tony became quite a good cook, specializing in meat preparations as he worked at his friend Jimmy Scarlotta's family butcher shop on Main Street in Lodi, and some of the recipes are mine, that I picked up in Italy, and was taught some by my former boss Pasquale who was from Brindisi, Italy, and was quite a good chef.
Fill a large pot with water, add salt and bring it to the boil.
In the meantime, heat the extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan. Chop the guanciale into thick strips, add it to the an and cook until crispy. Add the white wine, cook for a minute to reduce, then remove the guanciale from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Add six or seven San Marzano tomatoes to the pan with the remaining oil and fat from the guanciale. Use a wooden spoon to flatten the tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes.
Cook the rigatoni in the pot of boiling water until al dente, add the crispy guanciale back into the pan of tomatoes then drain the pasta and add it to the sauce.
Toss everything together well then divide into portions and serve with a sprinkle of grated pecorino and a crack of freshly ground black pepper.
Spaghetti is one of the most famous dishes of the Amalfi Coast. The dish comes from the town of Nerano on the coast of the Sorrento Peninsula just across from Capri. The dish was created by Maria Grazia at her trattoria in Nerano. The primary ingredient of the dish is Zucchini with Povola or Caciocavallo Cheese grated into the pasta. Many restaurants on the Amalfi Coast and Capri serve this dish, and most locals know how to make it, and cook it at home, especially if they happen to have a little garden growing Zucchini, Tomatoes, and other vegetables. It’s easy to make and soul satisfying. If you’ve been to the area you may have already eaten it, and so know you can make it back home. Enjoy.
Ingredients :
3 medium sized Zucchini, washed
4 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 tablespoon Butter
3 cloves Garlic, peeled and cut in half
¼ cup fresh Basil, washed and leaves torn in half
¾ cup of grated Caciocavallo Cheese
1 pound imported Italian Spaghetti
Sea Salt and ground Black Pepper
Slice the Zucchini into ⅛” rounds.
Fill a large pot ¾ full of water, with 2 tablespoons salt and bring to the boil.
Place the Olive Oil in a large frying pan, and turn heat to a medium flame. Add the Zucchini and start to cool. Sprinkle the zucchini with about ½ teaspoon each of salt and Black Pepper. Add the butter and garlic and cook the zucchini for 4-5 minutes on medium heat.
Add about a ¼ of the pasta cooking water to the pan with the zucchini, turn the heat to low and cook for about 6 minutes on low heat. Stir the zucchini with a wooden spoon as it is cooking.
Put the spaghetti into the rapidly boiling water and cook according to the directions on the package and the spaghetti is al dente (slightly firm to the bite) usually about 10-11 minutes.
After the zucchini has cooked for a total of about 11 minutes. Turn the heat off. add the Basil and stir. Taste 1 piece of zucchini for seasoning to see if you want to add any more salt or pepper.
When the spaghetti is cooked, turn the heat off and drain the spaghetti into a colander, reserving ¼ cup of the pasta cooking water in case you need to add to the sauce.
Return the spaghetti to the put that it cooked in. Add all zucchini and all the juices from the pan in the pot with the spaghetti and stir.
Add half of the grated Caciocavallo cheese and stir. The consistency should be just slightly loose. If it is too tight, add a little pasta cooking water and stir.
Plate the spaghetti on 4 plates, giving each person an even amount of zucchini. Drizzle a little olive oil over each plate and serve.
Note : It’s best to make the dish with Caciocavallo Cheese, but if you can’t find, a combination of half grated Pecorino and half of Parmigiano Reggiano is a good substitute, or just Parmigano or Pecorino on their own.
Note II : Once you know how to make Spaghetti Nerano, you can make little variations, simply by adding one other ingredient that marries well with the dish. A great addition to this dish is to make Spaghetti Nerano just as above, and to add 4 or 5 pieces of sauteed shrimp on to each plate. Just have the shrimp ready and cook them in a little olive oil, seasoned with salt & pepper, and cooked for about 2 minutes on each side. Turn the heat off and add 4 or 5 pieces of shrimp to the plate with the Spaghetti Nerano and enjoy.
This Recipe complements of Best Selling Italian Cookbook AUthor DBZ from his latest book
Cookbook Author Daniel Bellino Zwicke says that this is the single best plate of
Spaghetti Vongole he has ever had in his life, and he has had many. He took this picture of
his plate of Spaghetti Vongole at Ristorante / Pizzeria Da Marino in Naples one day. Daniel says that it was one of the most memorable meals of his life, "I Loved it," he said. He had a Insalata Frutta di Mare ( recipe ) for antipasto, which he said was as good as can be.
Daniel says that he was just planning on a plate of Spaghetti Vongole and a stater, but when he saw the pizzas coming from the oven and how good they looking, he couldn't resist. He ordered a
Pizza con Salame thinking he would eat just half. "It was so good, I ate the whole thing. One of the best pizzas I've ever had in my entire life, and much better than ones I've had at Da Mateo and other much more famous Pizzerias of Napoli," stated Daniel.
RECIPE - SPAGHETTI VONGOLE
1 lb. Imported Italian Spaghetti (or Linguine)
1 pound Cockles or Manila Clams
18 Littleneck Clams
12 tablespoons Olive Oil
4 cloves Garlic, peeled. Cut 3 cloves into thin slivers, keep one garlic clove whole.
1/8 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
12 Cherry Tomatoes, cut in half
Salt & Black Pepper
4 tablespoons chopped fresh Parsley
¼ cup Water
Place Littleneck clams in a medium size pot with a lid. Add Water and clams with 1 whole garlic clove, cover pot. Turn heat up to high and cook clams until they just open. Turn flame off. Remove clams from pot and reserve the cooking liquid.
Put a large pot of water on stove and bring to boil for cooking the pasta. Add Spaghetti or Linguine to pot of rapidly boiling water with salt and cook according to directions on package.
Sauté Garlic in Olive Oil in a large sauté pan over medium until garlic just starts to brown, lower heat to low and add Red Pepper. Cook 1 Minute.
Add Cherry Tomatoes and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes.
Add Cockles (or Manila Clams) to pan with garlic and olive oil. Add cooking liquid from larger Cherry Stone Clams to pan. Put cover on pan and turn heat to high, and cook until the Cockles (clams) just open.
Remove cooked Cherrystones from shells and chop each clam into about 6 pieces or so. Add the Chopped Cherrystone Clams and Parsley to pan with Cockles. When pasta is done cooking, drain it and add to pan with clams. Using a pair of tongs, mix pasta with clams, and cooking liquid.
Divide Pasta into 4 to 6 equal portions on plates or pasta bowls. Divide all cooking liquid and Clams over each portion of pasta on the plates. Sprinkle on some more Olive Oil once Pasta is plated. Enjoy.
RECIPE excerpted from POSITANO The AMALFI COAST COOKBOOK / TRAVEL , courtesy of author Daniel Bellino Zwicke ....
