What exactly is Polenta you ask? If you are Sicilian, like me, you never had it growing up, but now it is hard to avoid. It is a food commonly prepared in northern Italy and with the invention of the instant kind, it has become one of the easiest comfort foods you can make in a jiffy. Polenta is ground cornmeal but was originally comprised of ground chestnut or farro, and dates back to the days of the Roman empire.  It has at times been considered peasant food (think of Oliver eating porridge in a bowl) because it is so inexpensive...

One of my favorite restaurants in NYC is Bar Stuzzichini.  Here Chef Paul Di Bari shares his frittata recipe with us.  Watch the video and if you are in NYC, stop by and tell them rachaelray.com sent ya! Bar Stuzzichini - Fritatta Recipe from Wayne Arthur on V...

On a recent trip to Sicily, I noticed many restaurants had pickled eggplant that was cut into thin strips, shaped like French fries. However, this isn’t how I grew up with the dish at all. My father and grandmother, and come to think of it, aunts and neighbors, used to make it like this: Take a sterilized mason jar and fill it 1/3 way with EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil), 4 cloves of sliced garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes. Meanwhile, peel two large eggplants and slice them 1/4 thick (not too thin or they will break apart). Take...

We get this question all the time so we decided to ask the experts at Colavita, the makers of Rachael’s EVOO: A basic definition of EVOO: First cold produced from select olives, Rachael Ray’s EVOO is the natural juice squeezed from olives one day after the harvest. No heat or chemicals are used in extracting Extra Virgin Olive Oil. “Extra” is the highest grade for the best, unrefined and unprocessed oil of the fruit. To be graded as Extra Virgin, the oil must exhibit superior taste, aroma and color. And to meet the most exacting labeling standards, it must...

I decided to make a classic Sicilian dessert called the Cassata cake. It’s really like the filling of a cannoli stuffed in the middle of a sponge cake. My family has been making this cake for generations and it’s time I learn how to do it myself. Halfway through, I realized I made a major mistake. Let’s hope it comes out okay. Here’s what I did right and wrong: First, I printed out the Cassata Cake recipe from our website, sent to us by Joan Crosby. What I didn’t see when I read the recipe...

One of my favorite tastes is roasted garlic. I love the way the whole house smells just when the garlic gets going in the oven, but this is so easy, you can do it on the grill if you are already out there grilling other things and you don’t want to heat up the house with the oven on. Roasted garlic is delicious served with some flatbread or crackers. Once roasted, the garlic becomes soft and spreadable, like butter. It also sweetens and becomes mild so you don’t have to worry about a bitter garlic taste or “agita”,...

Here is an email to me from my aunt, Rachel Cala: In Italy, food has always played a symbolic and important role in Easter Festivities. The egg is the Christian emblem of the Resurrection, and Sicilians love to make charming miniature pastry baskets, breads and “dolls” of homemade bread called Buba Cul’Uova. I can remember my own Sicilian grandmother, Rachela Sacco, my namesake, showing me at an early age, the intricacies of pulling, folding and placing an egg in a doll’s nest. My Mom had told me that old timers could not afford expensive chocolate and substituted these dolls for their children...

Last weekend, we had some friends over for a post St Joseph’s Day and not quite Easter party. We knew we wouldn’t see these friends for the actual holidays, so we made a hybrid meal. The St Joseph’s Day tradition is a Sicilian one, really. It isn’t nearly as popular as it used to be but the idea is that Joseph was a generous, pious and poor man. To honor him, on March 19th, you are supposed to open your home to your friends, family and neighbors. Everyone is welcome to your table where people come together...

Caponata, or as my Sicilian family calls it, Capunatina, is a Southern Italian classic. Really it comes from Sicily and you can tell that this one has Arab roots. It’s easy to mess up Caponata so it’s important to take every ingredient seriously and take it slow. Here’s my recipe for this dish from heaven: Take one eggplant and cut it into cubes. Don’t peel it-the skin adds flavor. Put the cubes in a colander and salt it liberally. Toss the cubes and let sit in the sink for an hour so the bitterness drains...