Wine-pairing tips (non-Sommelier version)

As a cook and a diner who writes about food I'm often asked about wine pairings. While my sommelier friends tell me I have a decent nose — I can recognize the aromas in a glass — that doesn't qualify me to go around dispensing serious wine-drinking advice.

What I can do is share some partisan views on which wines tend to work with the dishes I make and enjoy. Here's my layman's guide on what to drink when served Italian mealtime classics.

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Mal d'Africa

I cried the first time I flew out of Africa. I sat numbly gazing down as the plane pulled away from the thick gum tree foliage and the red dirt roads I'd gotten to know intimately. That moment taught me mal d'Afrique, the inexplicable sense of loss and heartache rooted above all in a place. When it bites hard, the Africa bug leaves you bittersweet and charged with mysterious longing and nostalgia.

A similar kind of irrational, romantic attachment enters American journalistic essays on the Italian experience. The angle? Very often it's food. Long-form articles promoting Italy speak less of Stendhal Syndrome and the Bel Paese's world-famous artistic attractions, natural wonders and historic treasures than of the eating experience. These enraptured pieces, a mainstay in newspapers and magazine, prompt a mal d'Afrique-style question: What it is about the Italian mood (and the food) that sweeps Americans off their feet and leads them to write unbridled love stories and food-forward reportages?

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Recipe for Scabbardfish Involtini

Some people are under the (wrong) impression that cooking fish is a complicated affair. It is not! Actually fish is much easier to cook than meat.

When I last visited Siracusa in spring, the Ortigia market was jumping with activity already in the early morning, with the fabulous fish stalls attracting my attention. A vast array of fresh-from-the-sea gleaming, silvery creatures of every sort, including scabbardfish, which is such an underestimated marine delight.

Should you be lucky enough to chance upon sensational scabbardfish, here is a fantastic involtini recipe I learned in Siracusa...

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ProLoco D.O.L., dining in the Centocelle suburb of Rome

ProLoco D.O.L. is not easily categorized. It's a place where you can shop for sublime local products as well as pick up your CSA box every Wednesday. But, it's also a place where you can stop for a quick lunch, grab a glass of wine or a beer with snacks after work, or book a table for a full five-course dinner.

And, this is no ordinary dinner! Dining at ProLoco D.O.L. equals traveling across Lazio – the region of which Rome is the capital – without ever leaving your table. Vincenzo Mancino, mastermind behind this deli-restaurant in the Centocelle suburb of Rome, is a tireless scavenger. He scouts out the region in careful search of the area's best ingredients originating in Lazio (the acronym D.O.L. stands for "di origine laziale") and he succeeds: his shop boasts an unrivaled and always growing supply of local, quality products, such as...

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Guide to the Beaches of Positano

Forget long sandy stretches, the majority of beaches on the Amalfi Coast are mostly rocky. Shores in this part of Southern Italy are pebbly coves pulled from towering cliffs, with rapidly plunging deep blue sea underfoot.

Positano is often known for its main spiaggia grande central lido, but the “natural crèche village” boasts several other beaches to choose from. You can pick one of the Positano beaches listed below and lounge there all day, or hop from one to the next, chasing the sun as it starts to dip behind the mountains when evening approaches.

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