Soil clinging to the leeks' exterior is easy to see. Not visible is the grit between each thin layer.

Leeks—porri in Italian—are coming to market now. Their sweet flavor, tender texture, and lively green color practically sing spring. But, boy, are they dirty!

If you rinse a leek as you would a scallion, you’ll have a finished dish seasoned with grit.

Leeks contain dirt inside their layers, not only on the outside skin, according to Vegetable a Month.com. “Leeks grow layer upon layer, so any dirt surrounding a layer, gets trapped inside as the leek grows outward. It doesn’t help when wind blows or rain splashes more dirt inside the layers.”

Legge piu qui

Auguri to Mary Ann Holm, who won the random drawing for a digital copy of SimpleItaly Loves Chicken.

Grazie to all who commented on the post to enter the sweepstakes. To thank you, here’s a recipe from the e-book.

Chicken Rigatoni all'Amatriciana is slightly spicy and totally satisfying. You'll find the recipe in "SimpleItaly Loves Chicken."

Rigatoni and Chicken all’Amatriciana

Serves 4 to 6

2          tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2          ounces thinly sliced pancetta or bacon, cut in slivers

1          onion, halved and thinly sliced

3/4       pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced

1          can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes

1/2       teaspoon crushed red pepper + extra for garnish

Salt

1          pound dried rigatoni

Grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Set a covered large pot of water over high heat.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the pancetta. Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until the pancetta starts to crisp. Add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes until golden.

Scrape the pancetta and onion to one side. Add the chicken in a single layer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 4 minutes, or until no longer pink.

Add the tomatoes, pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and more pepper if needed.

When the water boils, add 1 tablespoon salt and the rigatoni. Stir. Cover and return to the boil. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Drain the rigatoni.

Add the rigatoni to the skillet. Toss to coat. Add a bit of cooking water, if needed, to

loosen the sauce. Garnish with cheese and more crushed red pepper at the table.

Enter to win a FREE digital copy of "SimpleItaly Loves Chicken" by posting a comment below.

If you love chicken as much as we do, we hope you’ll check out our first digital cookbook.

This collection includes welcome ideas for family meals as well as inspiration for more special occasions. Selections range from “Antipasti, Soups, and Salads” to “Pasta and Pizza Dishes” to “Main Dishes.”

How do we love chicken? Here are a few of the ways:

Chicken and Potatoes alla Pizzaiola
Chicken alla Cacciatora
Chicken and Broccoli Raab Pizza
Chicken Polpettine
Pesto Chicken Noodle Soup with Chard

Chicken Rigatoni all'Amatriciana is slightly spicy and totally satisfying. You'll find the recipe in "SimpleItaly Loves Chicken."

The e-book is available for purchase online at the Barnes & Noble Nook store and the amazon Kindle store.

To celebrate the launch, we’re giving away a free digital copy to a SimpleItaly reader. Just leave a comment below to enter the sweepstakes. (Comments must be posted by midnight March 6, 2012.) A winner will be randomly chosen and notified by e-mail. The digital book will be sent to the winner by e-mail.

(Left to right) Meghan Decker, Caley Bittner, and editor-in-chief Lisa Gotto of Lehigh Valley Style magazine join Sharon in her kitchen.

Cooking with style is a constant goal of mine but, recently, I got to literally cook with Style.

Lehigh Valley Style magazine Editorial Assistant Meghan Decker e-mailed to ask if she and some colleagues could participate in a SimpleItaly Learn-and-Dine class. We conferred and decided to make two types of ravioli.

A video of the resulting afternoon of flour-filled fun—plus recipes for Cheese Ravioli with Sage Butter and Luganega Sausage Ravioli with Porcini Cream Sauce—is on the magazine’s web site.

Grazie mille, LVS.

You really rocked the ravioli!

I shake my head when I see Italian polenta on a menu or magazine article presented as some exotic gourmet dish. Where I came from (that would be the wilds of central Pennsylvania) cornmeal boiled in water is cornmeal mush. Has been for a long time. American writer Joel Barlow wrote a mock-epic poem about this humble daily staple. As a New Englander, he knew the porridge as hasty pudding.

Thee the soft nations round the warm Levant
Palanta call, the French of course Polante;
E’en in thy native regions how I blush
To hear the Pennsylvanians call thee Mush!
On Hudson’s banks, while men of Belgic spawn
Insult and eat thee by the name suppawn.
All spurious appellations; void of truth:
I’ve better known thee from my earliest youth,
Thy name is Hasty-Pudding!

The Hasty-Pudding, Joel Barlow, 1793

Italy didn’t have corn, of course, until Columbus brought it back from the Americas. While the habit of eating fresh corn never really caught on among Italians, cooking the ground dried kernels did. Generations of Italian peasants survived on polenta. I once interviewed an American woman whose father had grown up in the Veneto. His family ate polenta three times a day. On good days, a few pieces of salami or cheese might accompany the porridge.

More about polenta