Italy on a Plate - The Week in Italian Food: August 28, 2011

As it's the last week of the mid-August holiday, I'm happily surprised at how many great recipes and eating around Italy posts there are this week. Recipes in this week's top 10 include artichokes from Palermo, swordfish from Campania, taralli from Puglia, panzanella and schiacciata from Tuscany, bottarga and arselle from Sardinia and pasta & beans from Piacenza. Even more regions are represented in Eating Italy, with an unusual wine and a torta festa in Liguria. There is a food race - well kinda - in Rome. You can read about seafood and almond harvests in Sicily, a food fest in Northern Italy and much more. Enjoy and Buon Appetito!

Thank you, all of you who voted on where to send me for a week this Fall! You chose Piedmont! I'll be eating my way around the region in late September. You can see the voting results here.

My Choice for This Week's Top 10 Italian Food Recipes from Around the Web:

Cherry Tomato Schiacciata - Emiko Davies

Taralli - from Puglia - Manu's Menu

Carciofi Lessi Palermitani (Palermo Street Artichokes) - The Artichoke Blog

Salvatore Denaro's Panzanella - Elizabeth Minchilli in Rome

Fregola con Arselle - That's Sardinian for this Sardinian pasta and clams recipe - Modern Italian Network

Spaghetti alla Bottarga - Zen Can Cook

Pisarei e Faso from Piacenza (Pasta and Beans) - Ciao Chow Linda

Pesce Spada (Swordfish) Two Ways - and gorgeous photos of fishing in Italy - Z Tasty Life

Grilled Pork Loin with Tuscan Herbs and a Fig Spread - Proud Italian Cook

Dessert Recipes: The Sweet Side of Italy - Not one, but four Italian desserts - The Guardian UK

Eating Italy:

Torta dei Fieschi: Celebrating a Wedding held in 1230 - Beautiful Liguria

Soaking and Poking: Italian Wine Tourism Fieldnotes - Wine Economist

Antica Marina Osteria: Catania, Sicily - As Gina states, "Seafood, Sicily, summertime....jackpot!" - Gina Tringali in Rome

This Wine Goes Well with Fish - An unusual sparkling wine from Liguria - New York Times

Chewing on the Heel: The Mediterranean Diet in Southern Italy - Why Go Italy

Racing Through Rome - A food race, of sorts, through the eternal city - Laissez Faire on Parla Food

Almond Harvest 1981-2011: The Legacy is in Your Tastebuds - Almonds in Sicily - Love Sicily

Viva gli Alpini - Report, and photos, from the Northern Italian Festa Alpina - Rubber Slippers in Italy

The "Sheep Poop Theory": Cesanese del Piglio and Cacio e Pepe - Do Bianchi

Talamonti: Wine & Design Combine Divine in Abruzzo - Life in Abruzzo

Rooftop Bars and Terraces of Florence - Nile Guide Florence

Ice Magic - Gelato and other frozen desserts in Florence - Freya's Florence

Eating Palermo: The Best - and first ever - Fast Food - Anne's Italy Blog

Wines to Find: Rosés from Puglia - Mignon Potenza

Upcoming Food and Wine Festivals in Italy:

Wild Boar Festival - August 26 to September 11 - Porto Ercole in Grosseto

Sagra della Porchetta di Arricia - September 4 - The town Arricia, near Rome, most famous for the roasted suckling pig starts porchetta celebrations on the first Sunday in Septmeber

Piadina Days - September 10 & 11 - The province of Forli-Cesena in the Emilia-Romagna celebrates the region's famous piadina

Festival del Prosciutto di Parma - September 9 to 18 - Parma celebrates its 14th annual Parma Prosciutto Festival

Slow Food Cheese - September 16 to 19 - Bra, the home of the Slow Food Headquarters - An cheese festival that originally highlighted only local cheeses, now is an international affair celebrating artisanl cheesemaking - the site is still under construction

Taste of Milano - September 15 - 18 - Food festival celebrating the food of Milan

CousCous Festival - September 20 - 25 - San Vito Lo Capo, Sicily

Mortadella, Please - September 30 - October 2 - Bologna and Zola Predosa celebrate the Mortadella International Festival and other local food and wines (Here is Information about the festival in English)

Dolcemente 2011 Pisa - October 1 & 2 - Pisa hosts the festival that celebrates all things sweet in Tuscany - Tuscan pastries, chocolate, guided tastings, pastry classes and more

EuroChocolate - October 14 to 23 - Perugia - The biggest chocolate festival in Italy

Alba Truffle Festival - October 8 to November 13 - The 81st Annual truffle festivals takes place in Alba

November Porc - Every Weekend in November - The Strada del Culatello di Zibello Association hosts events in the area of Emilia-Romagna to celebrate cured meats of the area. Each weekend there will be some type of salami competition (the biggest, the heaviest, the longest, the "biggest chocolate") in a different city along with food stands, street markets and other entertainment

Chocolate in Piazza - November 4 - 6 - Carpi in Emilia-Romagna celebrates its 3rd annual chocolate festival

Merano Wine Festival - November 4 - 7 - One of the biggest wine events in Italy - The 20th anniversary of this festival will happen in the northern Italian city of Merano

Festa del Torrone - November 18 - 20 - In Cremona, a festival to celebrate the candy that much of Northern Italy associates with Christmas

Wine and Food Festivals in Emilia-Romagna - Autumn 2011 - A list, with links, to many of the food and wine events in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy

Events in Tuscany - Site listing many events throughout Tuscany, and not only food and wine