Tucked high between mountains in the Pietre commune of the Amalfi Coast countryside, Felicia’s Home Restaurant is not a traditional restaurant but an invitation to cook alongside Felicia in her 17th-century farmhouse, Casale De Vivo, where she grew up. Arriving here will literally take your breath away as your eyes try to take in the beauty. As you wind past the garden and enter a courtyard, roses climb the home’s patinaed stone walls, grapevines creep along a trellis that shades a beautifully set farm table, aprons flutter in the breeze from a clothesline, and an outdoor kitchen built around a wood-fired pizza oven gives way to stunning mountain views.
Felicia greeted Brian Hart Hoffman and me with a big bongiorno and benvenuti that felt like a hug from our long-lost Italian family. As she showed us her indoor kitchen, certainly the heart of any Italian home, beautiful ingredients were laid out on the counter like a still life painting. We immediately felt at home and couldn’t wait to learn Felicia’s pasta techniques. Brian and I followed along as she led us through her process of making and kneading pasta dough, which we would then shape and cut in several ways, from traditional fettuccine to trofie, a twisted pasta shape perfect for soaking up the lemon sauce it would later be served with. Pizza dough was mixed for a rest before being stretched into rounds in the outdoor kitchen with the ingredients from the garden at arm’s reach. Fresh basil was abundant, as were sweet and sun-warmed tomato clusters Brian couldn’t stop popping in his mouth, heads of garlic, homemade tomato sauce, and fresh mozzarella. Once the pizzas were topped, Felicia used a wooden pizza peel to add them to the oven and turn as needed. Here, everything was cooked by Felicia’s senses, without a timer in sight.
As hot pizzas Margherita came out of the oven, we gathered around the table for a memorable lunch with Felicia and her daughter, Giovanna. Felicia brought incredible dish after dish from her kitchen: cantaloupe wedges topped with salty prosciutto, caprese salad, bruschetta, trofie with a lemon sauce, fettuccine simply cooked with tomatoes, and the most incredible lemon tiramisù we’ve ever tasted … so good, in fact, we knew it had to grace the cover of this issue. Light, ethereal, and brightened with just the right amount of limoncello and lemon, the dessert was perfection. Our smiles were big, and our hearts were full after a delightful day with Felicia and her family.
To spend a day with Felicia in her home, visit feliciashomerestaurant.com.
Head to our YouTube channel and watch our day with Felicia! Watch here.
Lemon Tiramisù
Felicia’s Pizza Crust
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