It’s rare that I ever get around to posting follow-ups. I’ve been the lucky recipient of additional stories and recipes in response to past posts — I even have a plan to scrapbook them. But I’m always in the thick of a backlog of new posts and new stories.
Charlotte Truesdell’s Ricotta Cheesecake will be a first, then.
I wrote about the Truesdells in 2019. It was one of those times where I randomly chose a recipe from a community cookbook only to find a goldmine of information about the person who contributed it. In the years since the post, I’ve walked past the “Il Palazzetto” house many times, thinking of its history.
In March of 2020, a woman named Matilde Morara reached out to me. A resident of Bologna, Matilde was a friend of the Truesdells, who she met while they were all living in New York in 1971. Matilde lived in Baltimore for a year in 1980, spending time with the Truesdells in their famously splendid home, enjoying music and good food. She told me that Charlotte was an excellent cook of Bolognese food, Matilde’s native cuisine.
Continue reading “Charlotte Truesdell’s favorite Ricotta Cheesecake”