5 Ingredients or Fewer

Mackerel is not a popular fish, but I love it: it is flavorful and very nutritious. As with all fish, but especially with mackerel, the freshness of the fish is the key. This dish is very good eaten hot, but also at room temperature.

I had this dish at Del’s Bar & Ristorante DelPizzo, on Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh, the local restaurant that caters to the neighborhood crowd, not too far from our restaurant Lidia’s on Smallman Street. This velvety combination of tomato and cream sauce is good on any pasta. The day we were there, it was offered with shells. But I think it is even better served with fettuccine.

In Italy, wild fennel grows literally wild, all over the place, especially in the south of the peninsula. Duringmy travels across America, I also found it abundant as well, wild and cultivated, but the wild fennel grows especially aromatic in California. You can buy wild-fennel seeds to make this recipe, but you can just as well harvest them in the wild by picking the dried flower tops that harbor the fennel seeds in late summer. The anise-licorice flavor brings freshness to any meat when used as a rub.

Everybody can relate to a sausage-and-pepper submarine sandwich being Italian American, since it is served at every street fair in the Northeast. The use of peppers with sausages is not as prevalent in Italy as it is in the Italian American community here, but this is a delicious dish. Imagine turning it into breakfast, especially on a morning when you have a few extra mouths to feed. The recipe is easy to prepare, because the sausage is taken out of its casings and crumbled into the pan, and everything else is added to it. You just scramble it all together; do not worry about making a perfectly round frittata here.

In creating this recipe, I added the mortadella on the spur of the moment. I love raw artichoke salad, but have often prepared this salad with many other, different ingredients, such as raw mushrooms, or shavings of Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano. Recently I made a beautiful salad of small artichokes, crunchy celery, and some great imported mortadella, which I happened to have on hand. And so this salad was born: it certainly is based on tradition, but with my own touch. It has now become a family favorite for buffets, antipasto, or just for lunch.

Savannah holds the second largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the United States. It is quite a sight to see: Our city turns green and corned beef and cabbage is everyone’s favorite dish for the day.