The Pride and Passion of The Italian American Podcast

Listening to podcasts has been part of my regular daily routine for a number of years now. Whether I’m plugged in at work or listening to a playlist in the car, my personal favorites – which range from comedy and music to social and current events – offer endless hours of entertainment and education. As of late, I often find myself gravitating toward podcasts that focus on either culinary tips or Italian American culture, as a bit of resource and inspiration for potential future blog post ideas. One podcast that I recently discovered and immediately fell in love with is The Italian American Podcast.

Co-hosted by Anthony Fasano & Dolores Alfieri, The Italian American Podcast offers a wide range of episode topics, such as family history and traditions, recipes, tips on how to trace your genealogy, and special interviews with famous Italian American chefs, musicians, athletes and authors. However, the episodes that really pulled me in as a fan are the ones where Anthony and Dolores invite their audience to not only learn about their own family history and traditions, but to also listen in as they record their family during one of their many special traditional gatherings.

The Italian American Podcast hosts, Anthony Fasano and Dolores Alfieri.

For those of you who have had the wonderful and unique opportunity to celebrate a Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes Dinner with your extended family, or to spend a day preparing a special annual family recipe with your cousins, aunts and uncles, you will no doubt enjoy the episodes that are focused on such family events. Both Anthony and Dolores have been gracious enough on more than one occasion to actually set up a mic during one of their family gatherings to record and share the event with their listeners. The events aren’t scripted, they are just recorded as is…capturing every wonderful and loving sound and conversation that is going on in the background. The laughter, the stories, the memories…they are all captured and preserved for all of us to enjoy. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t almost moved to tears a number of times while listening to these special recordings. And for those of you who have not been fortunate enough to personally experience one of these events, you will quickly develop an understanding and appreciation of these treasured Italian American family moments just by listening to these episodes.

The interview episodes are also done very well, as the guests are asked well-structured and inquisitive questions. The listeners will no doubt learn and absorb from these fantastic interviews. Over the course of the podcast’s history, Anthony and Dolores have interviewed a number of intriguing guests of Italian American heritage, such as celebrity chefs Lidia Bastianich and Mary Ann Esposito, sports celebrities Franco Harris, Mike Piazza and Tony Reali, singers Vanessa Racci and Lena Prima, and authors Domenica Marchetti, Tom Santopietro and Adriana Trigiani…just to name a few.

Earlier this month, I also had the pleasure to be interviewed by Anthony about my Cucina Domenico food blog and my book, A Little of This and Some of That, for their podcast episode #63: The Conversations That Help Us Keep Our Italian American Traditions Alive. I’ve had the opportunity to do a number of interviews over the years, and my conversation with Anthony was one of my favorites. Anthony expressed a lot of appreciation for my efforts in keeping the Italian American traditions alive, and my feelings towards the amazing job that he and Dolores are doing with their podcast is mutual. And who knows…maybe some day we’ll even find an avenue to collaborate with each other!

I highly recommend and encourage you to check out The Italian American Podcast. As their website tagline says, it will inspire you to deepen your Italian American Heritage.

Links

Be sure to visit The Italian American Podcast website at italianamericanexperience.com to check out all of their podcast episodes, blog entries, videos and community page.

You can also listen to The Italian American Podcast on iTunes or on Stitcher.com.

And please be sure to give a listen to Anthony’s interview with myself and Messina Reale, of the website Ovunque Siamo.
Episode #63: The Conversations That Help Us Keep Our Italian American Traditions Alive

Thank you, Anthony and Dolores, for your encouragement and inspiration, and for keeping the passion of the Italian American culture alive and well!

Raspberry Lemon Love Cake

NOTE – this is not a light and fluffy cake recipe. The texture of any Love Cake will be a bit heavy and somewhat moist from the ricotta…and it is damn good!

Italian Love Cake has been a part of my Mom’s Easter pie tradition for many years. Made with layers of chocolate cake and ricotta filling with a chocolate whipped topping, this rich and decadent dessert never disappoints. What is really fascinating about this dessert is the assembly. The cake batter is poured into the pan first, then topped with the ricotta filling. As it bakes, the ricotta sinks to the bottom, raising the cake batter to the top, so both layers are accented with each other’s flavor during the transformation process. Pure magic!

Recently, I watched Valerie Bertinelli make a strawberry lemon version of Love Cake, using a strawberry cake, ricotta and mascarpone filling, and a lemon mascarpone whipped topping. With the warmer weather heading our way, this sounded like the perfect dessert for a summer party. However, I decided to give this dessert my own little spin, and with a few ingredient swaps and some additional attention given during the baking process (more on that in a bit), I am happy to say that the cake turned out exactly as I had hoped!

Instead of using Valerie’s strawberry and lemon combination, I opted for raspberry and lemon, which happens to be one of may favorite summer combinations. I started by switching out the strawberry box cake for a lemon box cake (lemon cake has always been a guilty pleasure of mine). I then incorporated 6 ounces of puréed fresh raspberries and some lemon zest into the ricotta and mascarpone filling, which really added a nice, summery flavor. I kept Valerie’s lemon and mascarpone whipped topping as is, because it just sounded so perfect.

Giving a little extra love to the Love Cake (a.k.a. my center runneth over!)

To bake the cake, I followed the same steps as I would with a traditional Love Cake. The prepared lemon cake batter was poured into the tray first, then topped with the raspberry and lemon flavored ricotta and mascarpone filling, and into the oven it went. Before I go any further, I must explain to you the two steps that I took  that may (or may not) have altered things a bit.

1. The directions say for you to pour the batters into a 9″ x 13″ pan. Because we wanted to bring only a portion of the dessert to my Mom’s house, I decided to pour the batters into two 8″ x 8″ pans, taking one with us and leaving the other at home.
2. As I mentioned, I decided to add 6 ounces of fresh raspberry purée to the ricotta and mascarpone…which, in turn, is adding an additional 6 ounces of liquid to the recipe.

How did these two steps possibly alter the recipe, you ask?  The direction for the original recipe calls for you to bake the cake for 50-60 minutes, or until the entire cake is set and a skewer piercing comes out clean. After a good 60 minutes in the oven, the centers of both 8″ x 8″ pans were still very loose. My first thought was that splitting the pans wasn’t a good idea. Then I thought that adding the additional 6 ounces of liquid to the mix could have been the culprit. Both suggestions are feasable. But as I went back to the original recipe to see if any steps were missed, I noticed that some of the reviews had the same complaint. Their centers had also runneth over! Now I’m not blaming Valerie for this, as I am a fan of both her cooking show and her recipes, and the cake does contain a fair amount of wet ingredients. Also, not everyone’s oven may be calibrated exactly the same. Really, I just don’t want to upset Valerie!

To ensure that the center would finish baking without having the already baked outer portions burn to a crisp, I removed both pans from the oven, covered the outer edges with aluminum foil so that only the soft center was exposed, and popped them back into the oven for an additional half hour. Success!!!

Long story short, a little extra love may be needed for this recipe…but oh, it’s worth it!

Raspberry Lemon Love Cake

Adapted from Valerie Bertinelli’s Strawberry Lemon Love Cake

• Nonstick cooking spray, for the baking pan(s)
• One 16.5-ounce box lemon cake mix (plus required ingredients) 
• 32 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese 
• 3/4 cup sugar 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 4 large eggs  
• 16 ounces mascarpone cheese
• 1 cup milk 
• One 3.4-ounce box instant lemon pudding mix
• 6 ounces fresh raspberries, puréed
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking pan (or two 8″ x 8″ baking pans) with cooking spray.

Prepare the cake batter according to the package directions and pour it into the prepared pan(s). Set aside.

Combine the ricotta, sugar, vanilla, eggs and 4 ounces (1/2 cup) of the mascarpone in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Fold in the puréed raspberries and lemon zest. Gently scoop the filling onto the cake batter, covering it completely.

Bake until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean and the lemon cake layer has risen to the top, 50 to 60 minutes.

*NOTE – if the center of the cake is not fully set after 60 minutes, remove the pan(s) from the oven and  cover the outer edges with aluminum foil. Return the pan(s) to the oven for an additional 20-30 minutes, or until the center is fully set. 

Cool completely on a rack.

Beat the remaining 12 ounces mascarpone in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the milk, beating until smooth. Add the pudding mix and beat until smooth. Let stand until thickened, about 5 minutes. Spread the frosting over the cooled cake(s).

Refrigerate until ready to serve. You can top the cakes with additional raspberries and lemon zest to really impress!

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo on Derby Day!

It’s Cinco de Derby! Or is it Derby de Mayo? Whatever you prefer to call it, this Saturday will prove to be a day full of fun festivities and fancy hats to honor both The Kentucky Derby and Cinco de Mayo. Of course, both of these events are celebrated with tasty theme-related food and drink. Having the opportunity to celebrate both events on the same day raises the bar for creative party planning. Bourbon margaritas, anyone?

While my initial plans were to put together a tasty hybrid dish to represent both party themes, my research just brought up way too many fantastic food and drink options that honor both the Kentucky Derby and Cinco de Mayo.

The links below will be sure to place your Derby de Mayo celebration in the winner’s circle. And a Cucina Domenico blog post wouldn’t be complete without some kind of Italian inspiration. Click on the links blow to get your party started!

Cinco De Mayo recipes

Kentucky Derby recipes

Italian Guacamole recipe

Italian-style Quesadillas recipe