the birth of "The Classic Italian Cook Book"

This is the original Harper's Magazine Press edition of "The Classic Italian Cook Book", published forty years ago, in November, 1973. My name is Peter Mollman, (the proprietor of this blog) and I was the editor and publisher of this landmark of the culinary world. Here is how it came into being.

In 1972 I was a Senior Vice President at Harper & Row Publishers, New York. I was responsible for all copy editing, design and manufacturing for the over 200 annual titles published by that major publisher. Simply: an editor at Harper's (and we had superb editors) gave my team the edited author's manuscript, and we took that manuscript and ended with finished books on the warehouse floor, ready to ship.

In addition to that job, I had an ancillary position as Publisher of Harper's Magazine Press, a fairly new joint venture between Harper & Row and Harper's, the magazine. Harper's was at a major level at that time, under the editor Willie Morris, and with a "dream team" cast of writers and contributors. The press was small - just me, as publisher, from Harper & Row, and Larry Freundlich, as editor, from the magazine side. We published about twenty titles a year, most derived from relationships with the magazine's editors and authors (Annie Dillard, Pete Axthelm and Bill Moyers for example) but also a number of titles of authors or subjects that Larry or I had a special interest in.

In the summer of 1972 I was in Italy for the third successive summer. My trips were a result of our publishing a number of art books and large-format pictorial books at Harper, including
"Forever Wild" and other Sierra Club titles. Our high-quality color printing was all done in Italy, where the artisan color separators and pressmen were located, in Milan and Verona primarily, and I was on hand at those establishments for the printing process.

During those wonderful trips I, like so many, fell in love with Italy: the landscape, the people, the great cities, the art, and -- especially -- the food. In a New York Italian restaurant world headed by Mama Leone's, what I ate in those wonderful trattorias in Italy was awesome -- a surprise and a delight.

At Harper we had a strong cook book tradition -- publishing Craig Claiborne, for example -- so I knew the cook book publishing scene. And I was sure there was no cook book published to that time that reflected the kind of and quality of the Italian food I had been eating. I wanted to publish that book. So, armed with a title I had already developed in my mind -- "The Classic Italian Cook Book" -- I set out to find an author.

I was having little if any success until the September 7, 1972 edition of the New York Times arrived at my desk. In that edition was an article by Raymond Sokolov: "Anyone for Cooking Lessons in the Long, Cold Winter Ahead?" -- with a long list of major cooking schools available in New York City. Included in that list were major figures such as James Beard, Cordon Bleu, Virginia Lee, Diane Kennedy. And also on that list was Marcella Hazan.

The paragraph about her school said: "Mrs. Hazan, just back from Italy, is resuming her classes in "authentic Italian food." She specializes in northern and central Italian recipes and structures her lessons around full menus with wines. Students sit down with her and eat what they have helped make. Classes are limited to six students. The basic course of six three-hour sessions can be scheduled either on Mondays at 6 p.m., Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. or Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. starting the week of October 4. The price is $95. An advanced course will be available to Mrs. Hazan's former students for $115. Phone 246-7614."

That was it. I picked up the phone and called. Marcella answered. I told her I read about her cooking school and was interested in whether she might want to write a cook book. Marcella's English wasn't that good at the time; she said she and her husband had talked about a cook book, and that they would get back to me. (In her memoirs she reported that when telling Victor about the call she thought that I was from Harper's Bazaar).

Victor did call back. I told him who I was and why I was interested -- relating how much I loved eating in Italy and why shouldn't that food be available to the home cooks in this country. This, I learned later, was exactly what the Hazan's approach to cooking was and what turned out to be their mantra through the next almost forty years of authoring cook books and teaching cooking.  

Victor, on the phone, said they were very interested. They invited me to meet them at their apartment for dinner. Marcella's recollection of the evening is wonderful. I had described what I was looking for, a cook book with recipes for dishes that were like the ones I had in Italy. I asked her if she would like to write one. She said, "No, I can't write in English." Victor broke in: "I can put it in English for you." And he could, and they did.

From my side, I believe we "connected" almost immediately. In dealing in the publishing world through the years, one comes across one's share of egos, stardom, and self importance. Not only was I struck by the genuineness and sincerity of the Hazan's at that meeting, in addition to their obvious knowledge and skills, but I also felt that there was something major going on, hard to define, but there.

The rest was easy. I visited Marcella at her home several more times, took a class (I still have the typed recipe for scallopine di vitello al Marsala), talked with Victor, a Harvard graduate (as was my son, so we had something else in common) and we agreed to move forward.

Within a month or so of our meeting, we had a contract. I am ashamed to mention how small the advance was -- working with a first-time author, and a new subject, true -- but I am still ashamed so I won't mention it. In the publishing world the fact that we could go from first meeting to a meeting of the minds, a common goal, and a contract, in that short time was unprecedented. It was really a factor of our being a stand-alone, small publishing unit, with no decision making required except mine and Larry's. And we made decisions fast.

In signing a contract, there is the line for "delivery of manuscript". At the contract signing in my offices o, East 33d Street, I read it, and paused. Marcella said, I believe, "three months". I smiled and said, "Let's make it ten." The Hazans delivered the manuscript in less than ten months, and what a manuscript it was.

The organization, all theirs, was perfect; the style of presentation of the recipes was clean, clear and totally understandable. No complicated stuff thrown in. And Victor was not only an excellent translator, he was truly a poet. If you read the introductions to the different chapters, and, especially, read the "Afterthoughts", which is like nothing else in the cook book world, you will see what I mean. It was an incredible collaboration! From the words in the text, we came up with that I think is a brilliant and accurate subtitle: "The art of Italian cooking and the Italian art of eating."

In addition to the text, we had the services of a superb draftsman, George Koizumi,who worked closely with Marcella to provide instructional drawings that really worked. The drawings for making pasta, for example, are works of art in themselves.

As excellent as the manuscript was, different, sharp eyes examining it will find ways to make it better -- striving for perfection. Our copy editors at Harper were those trained, sharp eyes: making sure all the ingredients were there, were added properly, cooking steps clear and logical, no redundancies, all details covered (like cooking, is the pan covered or not). The Hazans got their marked up text and galleys, cleaned up the details, corrected and added as necessary, and the book moved through galleys, pages and finally printed sheets.

And then in late October we had the first printed books. The rest is history.

the incomparable Marcella

 

Forty years ago last month, November, 1973, "The Classic Italian Cook Book", by Marcella Hazan, was published - a book described by Saveur Magazine as simply "the best cook book ever." Published by Harper's Magazine Press, the genius of Marcella was introduced to the world, and the world of cooking was never the same. This wonderful picture of Marcella, who died in September at the age of 89, appeared on the jacket of the original publication.

This is a day I will never forget, because I was the editor and publisher of "The Classic Italian Cook Book", and was able to deliver to Victor and Marcella the first printed copies of their book that November day. In a subsequent blog here, I'll tell the wonderful story of our meeting and joining forces to make "Classic" happen.

In a wonderful tribute to Marcella, Mark Bittman wrote in the New York Times: "What Alice Waters did for restaurants, Marcella did for home cooks, demonstrating that the simple treatment of decent ingredients leads to wonderful dishes". Mark also compared her to her great friend, Julia Child, and said: "By the time I was developing a career in food writing -- say 1983 --  "Marcella" was as meaningful as "Julia" was a decade earlier. To me, Hazan was the more important author; it was cooking from her book that taught me to interpret Child's work in a way that felt contemporary."

The book achieved instant recognition and acclaim -- a testament to the brilliance of the book: Craig Claiborne, James Beard, Roy Andreis de Groot, Mimi Sheraton, Ms. Magazine, all heaped praise. It quickly achieved acclaim not only as the best guide to Italian cooking ever written in the U.S. but as, simply, one of the best cook books ever.

Cooks all over the country started to exchange stories about and share their experiences in the kitchen with Marcella's recipes. "Pork loin braised in milk" became a standard in the culinary conversations.

For the original publication, Marcella wrote: "Behind the delicacy and variety of Italian dishes is a remarkable simple and direct approach to food." She went on: "I have tried to show how this approach creates the greater pleasures found in the Italian art of eating. I hope everyone who reads this book will find not just a source of new recipes, but also greater beauty and happiness in their life at the table."

Millions did.

tomato sauce time!

Ava, age six, and her big sister Zoe, age almost nine, are major fans of Grandpa Pete's tomato sauces. Last week their family purchased a major amount of Early Girl tomatoes at their local farmer's market in San Mateo, and they proceeded to make their own sauce from one of Grandpa Pete's recipes. Because the tomatoes were so fresh and perfect and tasty, their mother opted for the purest of the sauces: Marcella #3. A key part of the tomato-sauce-making process is running the cooked tomatoes through a food mill (or Moulee for the French) as Ava is doing above.

The sauce is originally in one of the best single cookbooks ever written. Marcella Hazan's Classic Italian Cook Book (now out of print but you can get it, used, from Amazon). Marcella has three wonderful fresh tomato sauces in her book, and this one is, surprise! "Number Three" on the list.

The recipe is very simple. Take two pounds of tomatoes, quarter them, and cook them over a light heat (don't let them burn (maybe add a tablespoon of olive oil) covered, for ten minutes. Remove from heat and run them through the food mill a la Ava, using the middle size disc. Return the tomatoes to the pot, add six tablespoons of butter, one onion cut in half, and a teaspoon or so of salt. Cook at a steady simmer, uncovered, for thirty minutes. Remove from heat, take out the onion with a slotted spoon and toss it, taste for salt, and you are tomato sauce ready. You can go a step further and run this sauce back through the food mill, with the finest of the discs, if you wish.

Tomato sauces freeze perfectly. And there is nothing like adding a touch of sunshine and warmth to a bitter winter evening than serving your tomato sauce, direct from the freezer, on your favorite pasta. Grandpa Pete's web site: www.classicpasta.com has all of these wonderful tomato sauce recipes. Or you can go directly to the sauce section: www.classicpasta.com/additional_pasta_recipes.htm for all of the tomato sauces and a lot of other pasta sauce spectaculars like a wonderful variety of bolognese and the "best lamb ragu ever".

Do not let the fall tomato season get away without getting some home-made fresh tomato sauce into your freezer.

fregula

There is nothing like a new pasta discovery for a dedicated pasta lover. I saw the package below in one of my Italian delis; knew nothing about it; and knew it was discovery time. Bought it. Googled it.

The pasta is fregula sarda, a tiny round pasta that resembles large grain couscous. It is made with hard durum wheat, and, as the name implies. is native to Sardinia. The pasta is primarily used in soups, but we found a recipe on the "TasteFood" blog, for fregula with asparagus and lemon. We made it -- delicious and different. Worth a deviation!

For the recipe, go to: 

www.classicpasta.com/special_shapes_additional.htm 

and find "Other Shapes" and click on "fregula with asparagus and lemon".

Enjoy!

pasta as therapy

After five weeks, I completed an intense series of radiation for a lymphoma  tumor build-up. Thankfully, it all worked. Tumor gone. During the treatment, I did various things as therapy, and one of the most rewarding was making fresh pasta. One session I got in to making garganelli and it was simply just great fun. And when those lovely little tubes were ready to cook, sauce and eat, it was double rewarding.

The results are shown above. Pictured is my garganelli board, which I bought from Terri Mirri on his site: www.artisinalpastatools.comwww.artisanalpastatools.com. Making the garganelli is really easy to do. It does not take long to get the hang of wrapping the two-inch pasta sheets around the dowel and running it over the comb. Go to my basic web site: www.classicpasta.com and click on "pasta" On the "pasta" page, on the right, go down to fresh pasta and click on "garganelli". There you will find complete how-to, with pictures. (By clicking on "ingredients" on the left side, you can link to a section "where to buy" which will guide you to artisinaltools,

We sauced the garganelli with some of our home made tomato sauce we had made last year, when tomatoes were at their best and then froze. This really works!  We have several fresh tomato sauce recipes under "sauces" on the classic pasta web site.

it's the pasta!

In a lovely article in the New York Times on March 1, David Tanis writes about the glory and joy of making fresh pasta by hand, and then serving it with little (if any) sauce. The article is called "Noodles with No Need to Dress Up", and is illustrated with photos as above, showing the hand cutting of the pasta -- in the photo it looks like pappardelle.  He describes creating the deep well in the large pile of flour, adding the eggs, stirring, mixing and kneading -- all the actions that we who also make our own fresh pasta know and love.

As David says: it isn't something you master in one go, but it is not rocket science either. "There's a learning curve," he says, and only experience tells you how the dough should feel and how thin to roll it. We would add that the most important "feel" is for the moisture. Each batch one makes varies in how moist it is and it does take experience to get the feel of it -- and either adding flour or gently adding moisture to get it right.

Unlike the wonderful wizards of the rolling pin, those lovely Italian ladies who are absolute magicians in rolling out the pasta, turning it, and rolling it to perfection, we do use the pasta machine to stretch it out to the proper thickness. Then one also can cut the sheets into the strand widths one wants with the machine, but doing it by hand, as shown above, gives the result a special look and feel.

The most important point -- and the one requiring repeating -- is that the pasta is best served (no pun intended) with little sauce. As all the great Italian cooks tell us: it is about the pasta, not the sauce. A little butter and cream (alfedo); cheese and pepper (cacio e pepe) or just some pancetta and herbs, and one has a perfect pasta dish. That's all it needs.

For a more complete step-by-step demonstration of making fresh pasta oneself, go to the "pasta" section at www.classicpasta.com. And thanks David: keep it simple!

spaghetti carbonara

 

In the New York Times Food Section of November 21, famed writer and foody Calvin Trillin reported that he has no use for turkey for Thanksgiving. His choice: spaghetti carbonara. We can understand the selection. We rate the dish as one of our top five all-time comfort food dishes, so why not go for comfort on Thanksgiving. (the photo above is from that edition of the NYT: photo by Daniel Krieger at the Locande Verde restaurant).

 

Calvin's recipe is a little different from most, but according to writer Ian Fisher, that is not surprising. He reports that an Italian food historian claims there are over 400 versions, "from the most classic Roman to variations that are delicious but drive traditionalsts mad." Calvin uses pancetta, fontina and prosciutto.

 

This superb article gives a lot of fascinating detail about carbonara, it's history (after 1944) and the arguments over ingredients. One of the major arguments is about cream: In Rome Never!! The proper Roman version, according to the article, has only five ingredients: pasta, guanciale, egg yolk, pecorino Romano and black pepper.

 

David Downie in Cooking the Roman Way allows for pancetta or bacon instead of the classic gianciale. He also uses a combination of pecorino and parmigiano, and he also agrees that the variations in carbonara are endless.

 

Our classic version (see www.classicpasta.com) does use a little garlic, goes with any of the three meat options, and does use a little white wine. Some hints from the Times article: make in small batches (one pound of pasta maximum at a time); do not let the meat get too crispy, follow directions on mixing the pasta with the egg mixture to avoid scrambing the eggs, by all means reserve some of the pasta water to add to the pasta if necessary, and do not skimp on the pepper.

 

Here is the "official" verson from the NYT. (we like our variation a little better - be sure to look it up).

 

salt

2 large eggs and 2 large yolks

1 ounce packed Pecorino Romano plus additional for serving

1 ounce grated Parmesan

ground pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 pound (4 oz) of guanciale, pancetta, or bacon, sliced into pieces about 1/4 inch

thick by 1/3 inch square

12 ounces spaghetti

 

In a mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, yolks and cheese, with a pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper

Get a big pot of water boiling.

In a saute pan heat the oil and saute the pork of choice until the fat comes out and just before it gets crisp. Set aside.

Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente (test by tasting). Reserve a cup of the liquid and drain.

 

Reheat, for a moment, the pork, if necessary. Add the pasta to the pork and stir. In a heated bowl, put in the pasta/meat mixture. Stir in the cheese/egg mixture. Add reserved liquid as necessary to keep it somewhat creamy, and not dry. Serve immediately  (very important), with extra cheese and pepper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

california olive ranch

Here is one of the most informative and fun email-ers in our "Eating Italian" landscape. In addition to lots of information on olive oil generally -- it is not all commercial -- there are great recipes and a host of other assorted facts and figures.

Go to their web site: www.californiaoliveranch.com and sign up for the enewsletter. The emails are frequent but, in this camp anyway, always anticipated with much pleasure.

If you sign up right away (this is November 1) you will get the email with a great interview with the Canal House publishers. These are the same wonderful women you met on this blog -- just scroll back -- with their background, interests, and some terrific recipes, which they present in absolutely beautiful books.

penne with peppers and bacon

We believe that Marcella's Italian Kitchen is the most under-appreciated of all her wonderful cook books. The wonderful pasta recipes are worth more than the price of admission. Here is an incredible taste treat we have adapted from one of the recipes in this book. Simple, fabulous and you will love it.

for the sauce:

• four tablespoons of butter
• three tablespoons olive oil
• two good-sized red bell peppers
• one half cup onion, chopped
• one clove garlic, peeled and minced
• six ounces bacon, sliced and chopped into quarter inch pieces
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• one quarter cup freshly grated pecorino (or parmesan)
• two tablespoons chopped parsely

for the pasta:

• one pound of penne or similar tubed pasta

Cut open the peppers and seed them and get rid of the core. Then slice and chop the peppers into quarter inch squares.

Put a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and saute the bacon until it is starting to brown but not yet crisp. Remove from the skillet and set aside on paper towels. Use a tablespoon of the fat as below (optional).

In another saute pan put in the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil and two tablespoons of butter, over a medium high heat. (If, like us, you like that flavor of fat, also add the reserved tablespoon of fat from the bacon). Add the garlic and onion and cook until the onion starts to turn  soft. Add the peppers and cook for ten minutes or so until the peppers are soft but not mushy. Add the bacon back into the pan and salt and some freshly ground pepper. Stir and saute another minute.

Meanwhile bring 4-5 quarts of water to a boil. Add two tablespoons of salt. Drop in the pasta and stir. Continue cooking until al dente. Save a cup of the pasta cooking liquid. Drain.

Add the pasta to the reheated sauce and stir. Add the tablespoon of butter and the parmesan and stir. Add from the reserved pasta water as necessary to keep the sauce moist. Cover and turn the heat to high and steam for one minute to get the pasta very hot.

Put the finished pasta in warm serving bowls, top with parsley, and serve immediately.

Then get Marcella's Italian Kitchen  and check out all the other great pasta recipes for yourself!

Canal House Cooking . . . 

Thanks to my friend Nach Waxman and his great book store: Kitchen Arts & Letters, I found this book, one of a series, called Canal House Cooking Volume No. 7. This is their Italian volume.


"They" are two talented ladies, Christopher and Melissa, who have a studio, workshop, and atelier devoted to "good ideas and good work relating to the world of food", in a red brick warehouse alongside a canal in Lambertville, New Jersey.

This Italian book is a result of staying several months in a remote farmhouse in Tuscany and also traveling throughout the country they love. When they returned home, Volume 7 (shown above) was the result. The book, not large but carefully selected, is as useful and intriguing as it is beautiful.

The book opens with a terrific essay on Italian sparklers -- spumante, prosecco, and many others, and goes on from there. 

Here is one of the opening recipes, which we did immediately: 


prosciutto and arugula tramezzini

Beat eight tablespoons room temp unsalted butter in a bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about one to two minutes. Set aside. Makes about 8-12 half sandwiches.

Use plain white sandwich bread. Trim the crusts off three slices. Spread some whipped butter on each of the three. Put one thin slice of prosciutto on each of two slices. Top them with small arugula leaves. Stack them on top of each other, arugula side up.Top this stack with the third slice of bread, butter side down. Cut the sandwich in half on a diagonal. Presto: two half sandwiches.

Their web site is "thecanalhouse.com".   You can order the book from Kitchen Arts & Letters, 1435 Lexington, NY NY 10128 (kitchenartsandletters.com).

Fall is, of course, wonderful fresh tomato sauce time. We bask in it, and put a lot of sauce away in the freezer for those winter months. We came across this recipe, and adapted it slightly. It is just terrific. Peppers, when they come to the market in all their glory, provide not only a wonderful flavor and texture, but dazzling color. We have an all-start flaming red extravaganza with this fall classic.
And note -- true to our roots -- we do not peel or roast the peppers! Easy.

for the sauce:

one pound of red bell peppers, cut in medium dice
one and one-quarter pounds tomatoes, roughly diced
two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
three garlic cloves, peeled and diced
one medium onion, roughly chopped
one quarter cup fresh basil, chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper
two tablespoons fresh parsley
one quarter cup fresh parmesan

for the pasta:

one pound spaghettii (or linguine, or penne)

In a saute pan over medium heat, add the olive oil and garlic. After thirty seconds, add the onion. Cook until the onion is tender, about three minutes, and add the peppers, a teaspoon of salt and some freshly ground pepper. Cook until the peppers have softened, about ten minutes.

Add the tomatoes and the basil, and bring to a simmer. Cook about fifteen minutes; the tomatoes should have broken down.Then cover, reduce the heat to a very mild but constant simmer, and cook for another fifteen minutes. Cool and then put the sauce through the medium blade of a food mill. Return to the pan.

Bring 4-5 quarts of cold water to a heavy boil. Add a couple of teaspoons of salt. Add the pasta, stirring it well to get it separated and mixed. Cook to al dente. Reserve one cup of the pasta water. Drain.

Add the pasta to the sauce; add the parsley; stir. Add cooking liquid if necessary to make the sauce not too thick. It should easily thoroughly coat the pasta. Check for salt and pepper. Serve with the parmesan on the side.

fegato alla Veneziana

This is Trattoria alla Madonna, just off the Rialto, in Venice. I first found this gem in 1970, and since thenI have established a tradition that my first luncheon on a trip to Venice always would be here. With always the same menu: spaghetti con vongole and fegato alla Veneziana. Not having been in Venice for a while, I pined for a fegato, so last week I made it myself. My wife and I loved it.

There are many recipes, varying only slightly, for fegato -- some with a touch of aceto (vinegar) -- not here. Marcella's does not have wine, but we like it with. This simple recipe is adapted from that huge compendium, La Cucina, The Regional Cooking of Italy

Whatever the recipe, one fundamental principal must hold: simmer the onions very slowly for a long time and then cook the liver in a flash!

ingredients:

• four tablespoons olive oil
• four tablespoons butter
• one-half cup beef or veal broth
• one pound of onions, thinly sliced
• one pound of calves liver, cut thin and then thinly sliced
• two tablespoons white wine
• salt and pepper

In a saute pan, heat the olive oil, butter and broth. Add the onions, and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally until very translucent, but not colored. Remove the onions. This could be a half hour.

Add a touch more olive oil if needed. Turn heat up. Add the liver and do a quick stir. The liver, depending on its thinness, should be done in just a few seconds. Add the onions back, add the wine, salt and pepper, stir and serve. Serve ideally over a soft polenta.

A simple variation: at the last step add a tablespoon of lemon juice and a tablespoon of chopped parsley.

great issue

As a peruser of a lot of food magazines, often inundated with recipe after recipe, it is possible to feel bloated in a figurative sense. So when an issue comes along with a creative approach that rings bells and has a lot of "wows", it is a special delight. The October Food and Wine is one of those.

Loving all things Roman, I was entranced with the article "Eat & drink Like a Roman", which provided new insights into the Lazio region. Our love of the food of Rome is well documented -- see www.classicpasta.com, on the home page, for a view of the Piazza Rotunda and links to recipes for the big three of Roman pasta classics: Amatriciana, cacio e pep, and carbonnara. This magazine has its versions of Amatriciana (by the Queen of Amatriciana they claim) and cacio e pepe. We are now trying these versions. And an interesting riff on Lazio's wines -- remember Frascati?

"Ravioli should be tender, not wimpy" says Domenica Marchetti in the magazine, in an excellent article on making ravioli -- plus suggestions for three fillings. No matter how good one thinks one is in creating home-made ravioli, new insights and tips, as here, are always appreciated.

The ubiquitous Mario has yet another meat ragu, what he calls a Butcher's ragu, which he serves in his newest restaurant "Eataly". At the pasta section in this complex, he offers three different pasta shapes and five sauces: customers mix and match as they please. Mario uses fusilli with this ragu.

One of the favorites of mine when I ate at the classic Little Italy trattorias in lower Manhattan in the sixties and seventies, was chicken scarpariello. I haven't had it for years. But Grace Parisi has the recipe for it in this issue, so the missing link has been solved!

And finally a quote we love, as it is really the theme of the recipes in classicpasta.com: from the aforementioned Anna Dente, the Queen of Amatriciana: "Like the best songs, the best recipes have few ingredients."

Eating . . . a Memoir

Jason Epstein, an old friend from wonderful New York publishing days, was not only an editor par excellence, a brilliant creative genius and innovator in that world, but also a first-class cook and lover of everything in food.

He has written a memoir -- see above -- that is nothing but a pure delight. And filled with insights that are both entertaining, enlightening and fun. Nothing for you to do but buy the book . . . and enjoy! "It is delicious" as Maida Heatter says. Plus, you will find a host of terrific recipes -- all easily done -- Chinese, Italian, French, New England, etc. A feast.

Jason talks about several key Italian recipes in his memoir, which qualifies it for a place in our "eating Italian" blog. He also provides some excellent tips and bits of advice that I, for one, found incredibly valuable.

As we also recommend: one finds out when the pasta is properly al dente by tasting. We pick out the strand of pasta or the individual penne and then blow on it to cool it for tasting. He has a cup of cold water at hand to do the cooling. When the pasta is ready he lifts it out of its water with a long-handled strainer (for penne) or tongs (for spaghetti for example) and drops the pasta directly into the sauce. This rather than dumping the pasta into a collander to drain it. We like it.

We had to include several of the recipes from "Eating" in our web site:
http://www.classicpasta.com/.


First there is Jason's take on a classic Bolognese:

www.classicpasta.com/jasons_bolognese.htm. Then you can compare his with our own "best Bolognese sauce ever" and put them both to a test.

His simple and spicy tomato sauce that he prepares for the penne (see above) is found at:

www.classicpasta.com/garlic_tomato_sauce.htm. We present the recipe almost exactly as Jason writes it, in his wonderful style.

And for an added attraction, a scallops and fettuccine dish:
www.classicpasta.com/fettucine_scallops_Jason.htm.

Buy the book: read, enjoy and cook!

negroni (part two)

If you scroll back through these posts (a highly recommended activity) along about April, 2009, there is a post featuring the classic Italian drink: the Negroni.

It's colorful (deep red in color actually) history of its discovery and acceptance is detailed in that blog: from the Campari bar in Florence in the 1860's through Count Negroni in the early 1900's.

The drink, pictured above, consists of equal parts of Campari, sweet vermouth, and gin, plus a slice of orange, generally.

Now, thanks to an article in the recent La Cucina Italiana, we have another variation, the Sbagliato, which translates into the 'mistaken' Negroni. According to the magazine, in a bar in Milan, the proprietor reached for a bottle of spumante rather than gin. The bubbly was tried, and received wholehearted approval.

Here is the official Sbagliato formula, courtesy of La Cucina Italiana:

one ounce campari
one ounce sweet vermouth
one ounce dry spumante (prosecco)

Fill a rocks glass with ice, add the Campari, vermouth and spumante in that order. Stir and add an orange slice.

Eccola! . . . perfect for summer.

Classic Rome, or Roman classics

We recently had lunch at a relatively new restaurant in San Francisco, Chiaroscuro (www.chiaroscurosf.com), where the menu featured three Roman classics: tagliolini cacio e pepe; tagliolini alla carbonara; and spaghetti alla chitarra all'amatriciana. Plus they had a "trilogoia", which was a tasting of all three of these delights, which I had. This was a beautiful presentation and a tasting delight. I was transported back to one of my favorite places: the Piazza della Rotunda.

You may prepare all of these classics yourself: go to www.classicpasta.com, and on the home page there will be this article on Rome, and the recipe links. Enjoy!

risotto with mushrooms and pancetta

One can not have too many recipes for risotto with mushrooms. It is hard to imagine any other foods that meld so perfectly. There are several risotto recipes available on www.classicpasta.com, but true to our calling, here is another.

This recipe comes from Janet Moga, of the East Bay, who has tested (and corrected) many of the recipes on the site. She uses slightly more dried porcini than we, but both are excellent -- your taste.

If you have truffle oil available, here is a great chance to use it.

The recipe: http://classicpasta.com/risotto_mushroom_and_pancetta.htm

best minestrone ever

The winter season is soup season of course, and here is our favorite of all the many and varied minestrone recipes out there. This is quite a hearty version, and, for us, when we get the beans "just right" it is a perfect balance: not too thick but definitely not too liquid!

The recipe is on classicpasta.com, and here is the link:

www.classicpasta.com/minestrone.htm

We used a short cut that really works when we last did this soup. We did not have time for long soaking, so we used Lidia's quick soaking method. Put the beans, after cleaning, in a pot of water with the water covering the beans by at least two inches. Turn up heat and boil. When you get to a boil, continue the boil for one minute. Turn off and let sit, uncovered, for an hour.

Works perfectly!

butternut squash soup

Welcome to our mangia italiana blog for 2010.

Let's keep in touch . . . we promise to keep you supplied throughout the year with a steady influx of information, tips, ideas, discoveries and suggestions concerning all food Italian. (If you haven't done so, scroll back through previous blogs to see the variety and quality of the information herein). Our goal is to provide you with three new blogs a week. So do stay connected!

Now is the time for the great winter squash explosion. Butternut squash is obviously one of our favorites.

Here is a great butternut squash soup recipe we have adapted from Faith Williger's "Red, White and Greens." The original recipe is from Fabio Picchi, chef at the famed Cibreo in Florence.

We add a little cream to the soup at the end which he doesn't. Take your pick. Any squash will do -- acorn for example -- butternut is our favorite.

The complete recipe is on http://www.classicpasta.com/, the best site on the web for all things pasta. Here is the link:

http://www.classicpasta.com/butternut_squash_soup.htm

While you are on the classic pasta site, browse for a moment. Go to "pasta" and then click on "ravioli" on the right hand side of the page, and then "butternut squash ravioli". Another taste treat!

pesto time

All of that wonderful basil that has been growing in our garden all summer needs to be used before the nights turn chill and it starts to get a little bitter. Carol (left), one-half of classicpasta.com, and her good friend Judy got together so Judy could learn to make pesto. One of Judy's, and our, favorite dishes is halibut a la Carol, which we will divulge in a subsequent blog. It uses pesto to a beautiful result.

We make pesto with the basic Marcella method, and a slight variation. This is her blender pesto from "The Classic Italian Cook Book" and "Essentials." There have been a few bursts from some with "make-it-authentic" zeal that call for using the actual mortar and pestle (from which pesto gets its name). But the blender is what is now used in almost all of Italy, and it works fine, without all the mortar-pestle effort.

• two cups fresh basil
• one-half cup olive oil
• two tablespoons pine nuts
• four cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
• one-half teaspoon salt
• two tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Pecorino Toscana (or Parmesan)
• three tablespoons of butter, softened

Gently tear the leaves of basil into small pieces (about the size of the smallest full leaf). Carol, generally in a hurry, skips this labor and just puts the basil leaves, as is, into the blender. Put the basil, the olive oil, the garlic, the pine nuts and the salt into a blender. Blend at high speed. Using a spatula, halt from time to time, and spatula the ingredients down into the center of the blender, to get a uniform, complete blend.

When well blended, one can go to (1) completion or (2) freezing for use later in the winter.

For completion (to use right away), put the blended pesto in a bowl, add the cheese and work it in with a wooden spoon. Easy to do (although one can just add the cheese to the pesto while in the blender and blend there). When the cheese is evenly distributed, add the softened butter and also mix it in with the wooden spoon.

Marcella suggests, very wisely, that when one is cooking the pasta, reserve a tablespoon of the pasta liquid and add it to the pesto, and stir, just before adding the pesto to the pasta.

Freezing

Ah, pesto in the winter, tasting as fresh (almost) as when it was prepared in the summer. To do this, halt when you have blended well the basic pesto, before adding cheese and butter. Take the pesto and put it into a freezer jar, preferably small, seal well, and freeze. Carol also takes the basic pesto blend and spoons it into an ice cube tray, providing many small cubes of pesto ready to be used at different times. Works beautifully.

Then, when it is pasta time, have the frozen pesto already thawed (takes about five seconds in the microwave)) and then beat in the cheese and butter and serve. This just sparkles with flavor!

There are plenty of wonderful pasta and pesto recipes in www.classicpasta.com.


Next: pesto in its native habitat --Portofino!