Ginger and Vanilla Bean Apricot Compote

Do you know the difference between jams, jellies, preserves, conserves, marmalades, fruit butter, and compotes?
If you don’t, let me walk you through it.
Let’s start from jams.
Jams are made from fruit that is chopped or crushed and cooked with sugar until the pieces of fruit are soft and lose their shape.
Jellies instead are made from juice, or better yet fruits are crushed and cooked to extract their juice. The mixture is strained through a fine mesh fabric to remove fruit solids. As a result jellies have a bright, crystal-clear consistency.

Moroccan Potato Salad

I always thought most people do like potato salad to a degree, but is rarely somebody’s favorite thing.
More just something you accept.
“Oh, potato salad’s here. Guess I’ll have some before those ribs to get cooked!”
This past weekend I was proven wrong.
I showed up to a BBQ with a big bowl of potato salad and not only was I welcomed, but adored too.

Summer Tomato Frittata

I love frittatas.
I love frittatas probably more than you do.
I know, I know, it’s a bold statement to make, but I really love frittatas.

Avocado Caprese Salad with Balsamic Reduction

It’s easy to overeat during lunch time. You’ve been up since 6am, work is stressful, you’ve already eaten your daily intake of healthy snacks but you’re still starving.
And you know what? Everyone makes bad decisions when they’re starving.
Your mouth is watering, the stomach aches with hunger.
You walk into the Deli.
The options are endless.
Everything looks good.
Even things you normally don’t eat look good. Like Fried Chicken Sandwich or the Italian Meatball Sub with Double Provolone Cheese — you know, just to throw some examples out there.

Caffe' Shakerato

First things first, let’s do the pronunciation thing.
Caffe’ shakerato is pronounced as you might expect, sort of “shake-er-AH-toe”.
I know it sounds funny but that’s the way it is.

Turkey Pesto Meatballs

I worked at a pizza place in Ocean City (MD) during the summer right before I started college.
It was called "Circus Pizza" and it was owned by an Italian guy and his Russian wife. 
They ran the place like it was their own home. They offered honest Italian dishes and a really good thin-crust pizza. They were both adorable and arguably the best employers I've worked for.
One night after service was over and everyone had gone home, I started making tomato sauce for the next day in one of those huge commercial mixers. Brilliant me decides that if the sauce takes 10 minutes to mix on speed 1, it should only take 1 minute to mix on speed 10.
I patted myself on the back for coming up with such a smart idea and happily turned the dial to 10. Only for a second.

Classic Basil Pesto

I'm a real snob when it comes to pesto — only fresh homemade, thank you very much and a strict no to anything coming from a jar.
Oddly enough, I haven’t posted my recipe for Classic Basil Pesto on TIY yet.
I wonder why.
I made Kale Pesto, Avocado Pesto, Avocado-Spinach Pesto, Radicchio Pesto but not Basil Pesto.
Weird things happen on this blog.

Honey Roasted Plums with Thyme and Olive Oil

The heatwaves are coming and we all know it.
When it gets hot outside the last thing I want to do is turn on the oven.
My apartment is always hot during summer months and turning on the oven would make it the hottest place on the planet.
Not really, obviously, but that’s what it feels like when it’s 100 degrees outside and the oven is cranking at 400 degrees for half an hour.
I have A/C (not central, just a window units) so I can cool the apartment down, but I feel it’s a total waste of money — I don’t know about yours, but my electric bill is bad enough already.
That being said, I don’t completely avoid the oven during the summer, but I try not to use it as much.

It's Friday, Laugh A Little!

Hello friends.
Today I have no recipe for you.
Today it’s Friday — the day we’ve been waiting for all week — so I’m doing something a little different.
Today, I’m celebrating Friday.

Zoodles Aglio Olio e Peperoncino

Spaghetti aglio, olio, e peperoncino is an awesome Italian dish — spaghetti made with garlic, olive oil, and hot chili pepper. Served with chopped parsley and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.
It’s well loved because it’s so easy and inexpensive to make, and it’s a perfect solution when you’re in a crunch.
For instance, when you’re starving after a night out and you’ve got nothing in your fridge or you don’t feel like getting greasy food from the nearby Deli, making this spaghetti is a cinch.
Even when it’s 3am and you’ve had a few too many.
You know, just to throw a random example out there.
And just for the record, making spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino late at night is pretty common in in Italy — according to my friend Francesco.