Canal House Cooking Volume No. 7: La Dolce Vita

by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton
photos by Christopher Hirsheimer; illustrations by Melissa Hamilton

Facts: Andrews McMeel Publishing LLC,  124 pages, $29.95 (or Amazon at $12.90)
Photos: 55, plus illustrations
Recipes: 66
Give To: Passionate home cooks with a bent toward Italian cooking

At the risk of being accused of having a bias toward Italian cookbooks, I’m going to review two in a row. But, other than the fact that each book has tasty Italian recipes, they couldn’t be more different. And, Canal House Cooking, Volume 7: La Dolce Vita is a gem.

Canal House — which happens to be on a canal — isn’t a restaurant but rather a studio/kitchen/atelier where Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton cook every day. They are proponents of home cooking – even the tagline is “home cooking, by home cooks, for home cooks.”

Oh, and you noticed that this is Volume No. 7? Previous volumes focused on seasonal, holiday, and farmers’ market cooking. Then one afternoon, a lunch of cannelloni inspired them to focus on Italian food, specifically homemade food.

To have true in-depth knowledge of Italian home cooking, they needed to be on Italian soil. A rustic Tuscan farmhouse was their base camp for a month – daily excusions would be their fodder. The first day they noticed that a vegetable farmer was within walking distance and hiking a bit further they “passed a garage with the door rolled up and noticed two aproned women… chatting away as they plucked a pile of chickens.” Back at the farmhouse that evening, they dined on roasted capon with chestnut stuffing. Each day was an adventure that ended in the kitchen developing recipes and recreating flavors.

The experience yielded toothsome recipes like Speck, Fontina & Lemon Panino, Salt Cod with Tomatoes and Green Olives, Braised Lamb & Green Beans and Vin Santo-Poached Pears with Gorgonzola Dolce. All courses are represented in clear and well written recipes, i.e., a few cocktail recipes followed by antipasti, soups, pasta and rice, fish, meats and desserts. Salute Melissa and Christopher!

To see Canal House and hear the authors talk about Italianate cooking watch this video.

Gelato di Gianduia

Makes about 1 quart

photo © by Christopher Hirsheimer

In any form, the classic Piemontese combination of toasted hazelnuts and chocolate is one of our favorite flavors. You’ll see why, when you taste this luxurious gelato.

Ingredients
3 cups skinned hazelnuts
2 1/4 cups whole milk
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
Pinch of salt
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon Frangelico or other hazelnut liqueur
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method
1. Heat the oven to 350°F and toast the hazelnuts on a baking sheet until deep golden brown, about 15 minutes. When cool, finely grind 2 cups of the nuts in a food processor. Chop the remaining cup of nuts and set them aside.

2. Put the milk and cream into a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in finely ground nuts, and steep for one hour. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into another saucepan, pressing on the solids before discarding them. Add 1/2 cup of sugar to the milk. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

3. Put the egg yolks, salt, and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar into a medium mixing bowl and whisk together until thick and pale yellow. Whisk in the cocoa. Gradually ladle about 1 cup hot milk into the yolks, whisking constantly. Stir the warm yolk mixture into the hot milk in the saucepan. Reduce the heat to low, stirring constantly, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and registers between 175°F and 180°F on an instant read thermometer, about 3-5 minutes.

4. Strain the custard into a medium bowl. Add the liqueur and vanilla and stir frequently until cool. Cover and refrigerate until completely chilled, about 4 hours. This will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

5. Churn the custard in an ice-cream maker following the manufacturer’s directions. Just before the gelato has finished churning, add the reserved chopped nuts, letting the paddle stir them in. Transfer the gelato to a quart container with a lid. Cover and freeze for a couple of hours or until it is just firm.

Tags: Canal House Cooking Volume 7 La Dolce Vita, chocolate hazelnut gelato, Christopher Hirsheimer, cookbook review, Linda Avery, Melissa Hamilton, recipe
Posted in Book & Product Reviews, Desserts, Recipes | No Comments »

Editor’s note: Linda Avery returns with a look at Colman Andrews’ new cookbook, The Country Cooking of Italy and an easy recipe for frico (cheese crisps). Interestingly, Gabrielle Hamilton, author of Blood, Bones & Butter, was in Phoenix recently for a book signing  and said “ if we think we have enough Italian cookbooks, we don’t and — and we need his The Country Cooking of Italy.”

The Country Cooking of Italy

by Colman Andrews
photos by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton

Facts: Chronicle Books, 392 pages, $50.00 (or Amazon at $29.56)
Photos: I counted 60 in the first 150 pages – let’s consider that representative
Recipes: Hundreds – literally
Give To: passionate home cooks, Italian food lovers

When I reviewed Colman Andrews’ The Country Cooking of Ireland in 2009, I wondered how long it him took to put together such a collection. Apparently the answer is about two years. This is a man who grabs the bull by the horns; a man who doesn’t do anything slipshod.

After the success and awards garnered by “Ireland” (his sixth James Beard and the Julia Child/IACP award), he kicked it into high gear and two years later, another voluminous cookbook is introduced: The Country Cooking of Italy. He again partnered with noted photographer Christopher Hirsheimer. (By the way, Andrews and Hirsheimer were two of the co-founders of Saveur Magazine in 1994.)

The book is formatted like the Ireland book. Beautifully photographed recipes are peppered with page-long stories, some historical, some educational, some anecdotal from Andrews’ travels. Although images of recipe dishes abound, lifestyle photos deepen the interest and are testimony to Hirsheimer’s talent.

These aren’t the recipes of fine restaurants but of the casalinga (housewife) or what one would be served at an agriturismo (an Italian farm property offering accommodations and meals).

Most pan-Italy cookbooks forget about the little known regions so I was gratified to see numerous mentions of Le Marche, birthplace of my grandparents and Olive all’Ascolana, the deep-fried olives stuffed with meat particularly famous in Le Marche and served in local bars from Venice to Tuscany.

Go to Amazon and use their “Search Inside This Book” feature to see the index of recipes. Remarkable. In no time you’ll be humming “That’s Amore!”

Frico  (Friulano Cheese Crisps)

© photo by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton

Makes about 20 fritters; serves 6 to 8

These easy-to-make cheese crisps or fritters are a specialty of Friuli, and are best made with Montasio, a firm cow’s milk cheese from that corner of Italy. there is also a cheese from Valcellina in Friuli’s Pordenone Province, rarely seen today, called frico Balacia, specifically meant to be fried. Some purists insist that the cheese must be fried in lard. (A source for Montasio is Corti Brothers).

Ingredients
1 pound/500 grams Montasio or Asiago, grated
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon butter
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Method
1. Combine the cheese and flour in a large bowl, and mix together well but gently with your hands.

2. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium-low heat, and add 2 tablespoons of oil.

3. When the oil-butter mixture is hot, working in batches, use a spoon to form fritters 2 to 3 inches/5 to 7.5 centimeters in diameter, using about 2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture for each fritter and gently tamping down each fritter with a spatula. Make sure the edges of the fritters don’t touch.

4. Cook the fritters, without moving them, until their edges turn golden brown, about 3 minutes.

5. Then, using the spatula, carefully turn them and cook until golden, about 2 minutes longer. As the fritters are ready, drain them on paper towels.

6. Serve the fritters at room temperature.

Tags: cheese crisps, Colman Andrews, cookbook review, frico, Linda Avery, recipe, The Country Cooking of Italy
Posted in Appetizers, Book & Product Reviews | No Comments »

Editor’s note: We promised another cookbook review from Linda Avery to inspire your New Year cooking and here it is: Melissa Clark’s Cook This Now, along with a recipe for grilled lamb sausages paired with an arugula and celery root salad. 

Cook This Now

by Melissa Clark
photos by Andrew Scrivani

Facts: Hyperion, 416 pages, $29.99 (or Amazon at $19.79)
Photos: 21
Recipes: 137 (see Note)
Give To: cooks looking for seasonal inspiration

Cook This Now by Melissa Clark topped Epicurious’ Best Books of 2011 and Clark is all about seasonal cooking.

She sets the stage from the start with content pages listing recipes by month, when their main ingredients can be optimally obtained. Of course, there are plenty of crossovers and nothing will stop you from having November’s Carroty Mac and Cheese if you have a hankering in March.

Each recipe has an addendum, which I really like, dubbed “What Else?” This is where she notes suggestions for substitutions and other information such as buying Atlantic or Spanish mackerel rather than the larger king mackerel with a higher mercury content, or substituting a combination of a lemon and a tangerine for a similar flavor if you don’t happen to have Meyer lemons on hand.

Note: The dustcover of this book announces 120 recipes but that doesn’t include the 17 bonus recipes from Melissa Clark’s cookbook In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite

Also, for space considerations, we cut Ms. Clark’s engaging headnote down a bit. (Sorry, you’ll just have to buy the book to read every delicious word.)

Grilled Sausages with Celery Root Salad with Hazelnuts and Arugula

photo © by Andrew Scrivani

During my junior year abroad in Paris, in between gobbling warm croissants, raw milk cheeses, and countless macaroons, I ate an awful lot of celery root rémoulade.

I never bothered making celery root rémoulade when I was in Paris because it was ubiquitous and cheap. But once I got back to New York, if I wanted any more of the silky, savory salad, I’d have to tackle the homely root and whip some up myself.

And that’s the thing about celery root rémoulade. It starts with celery roots, which, with their hairy skins and muddy crevices, are never going to be the most inviting vegetable in the bin. But once those roots are peeled and grated, a quick toss with lemony, mustard-imbued mayonnaise will make the most of their inner beauty.

These days, my celery root salad of choice is a lighter take on a rémoulade. Instead a mayonnaise, I use a zippy mustard vinaigrette, and serve the salad on a bed of tangy arugula topped with hazelnuts for crunch. It’s marvelous as a first course on its own. Or to make it mealworthy, grill up your favorite sausages-lamb sausages are particularly good-and serve them alongside the salad, letting the mustard from the vinaigrette sauce the sausages and the sausage grease flavor the salad.

Serves 4

Ingredients
For the mustard vinaigrette
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt plus 1 small pinch
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 1/4 pounds sausages, whatever kind you like

For the salad
1 medium celery root, trimmed and peeled (see What Else? below)
5 cups arugula or other salad green, torn into bite-size pieces
1/4 cups finely chopped toasted hazelnuts

Method
Make the mustard vinaigrette
1. With a mortar and pestle or using the flat side of a knife, smash the garlic and tiny pinch of salt to make a paste. Whisk it in a small bowl with the mustard, vinegar, and remaining salt. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in the oil until fully incorporated. Season with pepper.

2. Preheat the broiler. Prick the sausages all over with a fork, then lay them on a baking sheet. Broil them about 3 inches from the heat until browned on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side (exactly how long will depend on your oven and the thickness of your sausage).

Make the salad
1. Fit a food processor with a large grating blade; grate the celery root. You can also use a box grater, though beware your knuckles. Transfer to a large bowl and add the salad greens and hazelnuts. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss well. season with more salt, lemon juice, and/or olive oil if needed before serving.

What Else?

• This recipe calls for a medium celery root, which is about the same size as a large navel orange (4 or 5 inches in diameter). If you can only get one of the giant, grapefruit-size roots, use about three-quarters of it. Or use it all; just make a little extra vinaigrette to make sure it’s well seasoned.
• Trimming the celery root is probably the hardest and most annoying thing about this recipe. You can use a sharp vegetable peeler, but a sharp paring knife is more efficient.  Either way, be prepared to go deep. You will likely need to hack off about a quarter inch of the surface to get past the divots of dirt.
• This goes really well with mashed Yukon Gold potatoes. To make them, try this: boil the potatoes (unpeeled) in plenty of water until very soft. Drain, let cool, then slip them off the skins. In the same pot you used to boil the potatoes, heat some milk or chicken stock seasoned with salt until simmering. Add the potatoes and a lump of butter (use as much as you can bear; my tolerance is high), and mash with a potato masher or fork over very low heat until as smooth as you like it. We like lumps. Sometimes I leave the skin on the potatoes. Serve all at once.

Tags: Cook This Now, cookbook review, grilled lamb sausage, lamb, Linda Avery, Melissa Clark, recipe, salad
Posted in Book & Product Reviews, Lamb, Recipes, Salads | No Comments »

Editor’s Note: Linda Avery returns with two reviews to kickstart the new year. First up is Ancient Grains for Modern Meals by Maria Speck. Later this week, she’ll return with a look at Melissa Clark’s Cook This Now. Here’s to starting the year off with healthful — or at least mindful — inspiration.

Tis the season for resolutions, to-do lists, and various other self-rebooting nudges. For those who include “lose weight”, I suggest start by trying to eat healthier and, perhaps more importantly, everything in moderation.

To this end, I have two cookbooks worth consideration: Ancient Grains for Modern Meals and Cook This Now.

Here is the first. I’ll be back later this week with a look at the second.

Ancient Grains for Modern Meals

by Maria Speck
photos by Sara Remington

Facts: Ten Speed Press, 240 pages, $29.99 (or Amazon at $19.70)
Photos: 44
Recipes: 96
Give To: curious cooks who want to explore whole grain cooking

Ancient Grains for Modern Meals by Maria Speck was named in The Washington Post’s 2011 top ten list of cookbooks and on the New York Times 2011 notable cook books for holiday giving.

The first words of Speck’s introduction are “Whole grains have cast a spell on me…” and if she can’t cast the same spell on you, then she’ll sell the benefits and lure you with old world recipes she drew from her Greek and German heritage.

She defines each grain from barley, buckwheat and kamut to quinoa, millet and everything in between. The recipes are enticing: Barley Salad with Figs and Tarragon-Lemon Dressing, Mediterranean Mussels with Farro and White Wine, Lamb Stew with Wheat Berries in Red Wine Sauce and Wheat Berry Fools with Grand Marnier Figs!

With everyone from Mayo Clinic to the Harvard School of Public Health touting the benefits of whole grains, let’s jump on the good carbs bus. Speck makes it easy with recipes that focus first on taste, grain-goodness second.

Saffron Waffles with Orange Cream

Becoming a reasonably mature adult has not diminished the intense pleasure I get from making crisp waffles on a lazy morning. After my Iranian friend Golnaz brought me what I soon declared to be the best saffron ever, I started adding a pinch of the strands to everything, including this waffle batter. Don’t pass up the scrumptious cream topping which will kiss awake any prince out of The Thousand and One Nights. Still, it is barely sweet—so everyone can add a drizzle of maple syrup. Double the amount of topping if  you have very hungry royalty descending upon you.

These waffles have a gentle toothiness, which you can lighten if you like; for a smoother texture, use 1 cup (4 1/2 ounces) white whole wheat and 1 cup (4 ounces) whole wheat pastry flour. You will need to adjust the preheating and cooking times as well as the amount of batter needed according to manufacturer’s instructions for your waffle iron.

Makes about 4 (7-inch) Belgian-style waffles,  to serve 6

Ingredients
For the orange cream topping
1 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
1 large orange
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
1 to 2 tablespoons honey

For the waffles
2 cups whole milk
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
2 cups white whole wheat flour (8 1/2 ounces)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Maple syrup, for drizzling

Method
Make the orange cream topping
1. Beat the yogurt in a medium bowl with a wooden spoon until smooth. Finely grate the orange until you have 1 tablespoon zest. Set the zest aside.

2. Peel the fruit, cut the segments into 1/2-inch pieces, removing as much of the pith as you like, and gently stir into the yogurt. In a second medium bowl, using a hand mixer, whip the cream, honey, and zest until firm peaks form. Using a spatula, scrape the cream into the bowl with the yogurt-orange mixture, and fold until just combined. Chill, covered, until ready to use.

Make the waffles
1. Place a wire rack on a baking sheet and transfer the sheet to the center shelf of the oven. The wire rack will keep the waffles from getting soggy. Preheat the oven to 200°F.

2. Place 1/4 cup of the milk and the saffron in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until steaming. (Or combine the milk and saffron in a small microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high until steaming, 15 to 20 seconds). Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with the remaining 1 1/4 cups milk, saffron milk, and oil until blended. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and whisk together with a few swift strokes. Do not overmix; the batter should have a pebbled look, with many lumps. Allow the batter to sit for 5 minutes while preheating the waffle iron (or chill the batter for up to 1 hour).

4. Lightly grease the waffle iron with oil or coat it with cooking spray. When a drop of water sizzles and briskly evaporates on the surface, add 1 scant cup batter to the center and level with a spatula to distribute (or as specified in the manufacturer’s instructions). Close the lid and cook until the waffles are golden and can be removed easily using tongs, 3 1/2 to 4 minutes. Transfer the waffles to the baking sheet until ready to serve. Do not stack them, as the waffles will become soggy. Continue until all the batter is used, lightly greasing the waffle iron in between as necessary.

To get a head start: The orange cream topping can be prepared 1 day ahead. Chill, covered.

To light it up: You can use lowfat or nonfat Greek yogurt in the topping. Or omit the heavy cream, double the amount of yogurt, and add a bit more honey to taste. In the batter, 1 percent or 2 percent milk will work fine.

Tags: Ancient Grains for Modern Meals, cookbook review, Linda Avery, Maria Speck, waffles
Posted in Book & Product Reviews, Breakfast, Breads & Muffins, Recipes | 3 Comments »

Editor’s note: It’s no secret Pen & Fork’s book reviewer Linda Avery loves Moroccan food, so she was thrilled to get her hands on Paula Wolfert’s new 528 page cookbook, The Food of Morocco. Take a look and see what she thought, then try the delicious chicken dish with fragrant spices and tomato “magic.”

The Food of Morocco

by Paula Wolfert
photos by Quentin Bacon
drawings by Mark Marthaler

Facts: Ecco, an imprint of Harper Collins, 528 pages, $45.00 (or Amazon at $22.50)
Photos: More than the number of recipes (and that’s saying a lot!)
Recipes: 192
Give To: friends who belong to a cookbook club, anyone wanting to explore Moroccan cuisine

Decades ago I did a brief touch-and-go in Tangier. I’ve wanted to return to Morocco but never so much as now, after reading The Food of Morocco. Although a few have complained that this book has many recipes found in Paula Wolfert’s Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco (originally published in 1973 and inducted into the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame in 2008), I find this is yet another cookbook with a travelogue dimension.

Within the book’s introduction lies a fascinating map of Morocco listing notable dishes and ingredients indigenous to various areas e.g. Marrakech: rabbit tagine; Casablanca: camel meat; Tangier: Kalinté, a chickpea flan; Fes: the famous preserved lemons, etc.  Paula Wolfert has no doubt personally experienced each and every dish noted.

Wolfert then lays a foundation for the recipes by explaining the curious eathenware tagine, the Moroccan larder, the most used spices and secondary spices, and how to make basics like preserved lemons. The recipes in the ten following chapters would paint bright mental images even if there weren’t fabulous photos. Colorful salads with oranges, dates and raisins; green and red peppers complement fish, poultry, meats and vegetables. Fruits are plentiful in this diet, including dessert couscous with pomegranates and poached pears with prunes.

There is no doubt that in addition to a love of complex and unique flavors, Moroccan people don’t mind spending time achieving those results. The recipes in this book require a commitment whether in terms of time, learning or both. This is particularly true if you decide to tackle bastila (AKA pastila, bisteeya, or bestela) making your own warqa, their pastry akin to phyllo dough. It would take me most of the day and I’d only have a first course completed!

This would be a fun book for a supper club whether the club cooks all dishes together or divvies up recipes among your membership and comes together for the dinner. BTW, if you have a recipe calling for a tagine and are without one, Wolfert says a deep straight-sided large skillet with a tight fitting cover and a sheet of parchment paper placed directly on the food will give you good results. And SHE is indisputably the queen of Mediterranean food.

Chicken Smothered with Tomato Jam

photo © by Quentin Bacon

Recently I asked my daughter, Leila, to test this recipe, since she remembered it from her girlhood in Tangier. She was thrilled with the results, telling me that two of her friends liked it so much “they actually licked the bottom of the tagine pot.”

Please remember to transfer a hot tagine to a wooden surface or a folded kitchen towel on a serving tray to prevent cracking.

Serves 6

Ingredients
For the Tomato Magic
(Makes about 1 1/2 cups)
One 6- to 8-ounce jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
One 28-ounce can organic tomatoes, preferably Muir Glen fire-toasted tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
Extra virgin olive oil

For the chicken
6 large fat chicken thighs (about 3 pounds), preferably organic and air-chilled
2 large garlic cloves
Coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons saffron water (see note)
1/3 cup grated red onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon ground Ceylon cinnamon
2 1/2 pounds red-ripe tomatoes, peeled, halved, seeded, and chopped
1 tablespoon Tomato Magic or tomato paste
2 tablespoons thyme or floral honey
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

Method
Make the tomato jam
1. Combine the sun-dried tomatoes, with their packing oil from the jar; the canned tomatoes, with their juices: the salt; and 2 tablespoons water in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.

2. Scrape the puree into a wide heavy-bottomed saucepan, set over medium-low heat, and cook, stirring often, until reduced to a thick jam, about 30 minutes.

3. Scrape some of the tomato paste into a clean, dry jar for more immediate use. Cover with 1/4 inch of olive oil, close the jar, and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. For longer storage time, divide the remaining paste into 1- or 2-tablespoon balls and place them side by side on a flat tray. Set in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes, until firm, then place in a freezer bag and store in the freezer.

Make the chicken
1. The day before: Rinse the chicken thighs and pat dry; trim away excess fat. Slide your fingers under the skin to loosen it from the flesh. Crush the garlic and 2 teaspoons salt to a paste in a mortar. Mix with the pepper, ginger, olive oil, and saffron water, and rub under and over the skin of the chicken. Let stand, covered, in the refrigerator overnight.

2. The next day: Place the chicken with its marinade, in an 11- to 12-inch tagine set on a heat diffuser. Add the grated onion, cilantro, 3/4 teaspoon of the ground cinnamon, and 1/2 cup water and mix thoroughly with the chicken pieces. Cook, covered, over low heat, stirring once, for 20 minutes. Then begin to slowly raise the heat to medium and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

3. Add the tomatoes and the Tomato Magic or tomato paste to the tagine and continue to cook over medium heat, uncovered, turning the chicken pieces often in the sauce, until very tender, about 20 more minutes. Take the chicken out and wrap in foil to keep warm and moist. Allow the tomatoes to cook down until all the moisture evaporates, stirring occasionally to avoid scorching, about 1 hour. The tomatoes will begin to fry and the sauce will thicken considerably.

4. Add the honey and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon to the tomatoes and cook for several minutes to bring out their flavors. Reheat the chicken parts in the sauce, rolling them around to coat evenly.

5. Remove the cover, scatter the sesame seeds on top, and serve hot or warm.

Note: To prepare a small jar of saffron water, dry 1/2 teaspoon crumbled saffron strands in a warm (not hot) skillet. Crush again, then soak in 1 cup hot water and store in a small jar in the refrigerator. This will keep for up to a week.

Tags: chicken, cookbook review, Linda Avery, Paula Wolfert, The Food of Morroco, tomato jam
Posted in Book & Product Reviews, Chicken & Turkey, Recipes | 1 Comment »

Editor’s note: Linda Avery reviews the recently released cookbook by super chef Ferran Adrià, a collection of “family meals” prepared for his staff at the now closed El Bulli restaurant in Spain.

The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià
by Ferran Adrià
photos by Francese Guillamet

Facts: Phaidon Press Inc. 384 pages, $29.95 (or Amazon at $17.15)
Photos: Grab a calculator and do the math (see 4th paragraph below: Open the Book)
Recipes: 93 plus basic recipes
Give to: Gourmet home cooks, professional chefs, cookbook collectors

The name Ferran Adrià immediately summons thoughts of molecular gastronomy: his famous spherical olives which appear as jellied green blobs jiggling on a spoon but burst to fill the mouth with the flavor of intense olive juice. Or the frozen Gorgonzola balloon, a hollow white sphere, about eight inches across and the color of fresh ricotta, topped with a grate of nutmeg meant to be broken (with your fist?) and eaten in shards.

photo © by Francese Guillamet

Ferran Adrià is the father and inspiration of a creative culinary era of deconstructing the dish and reassembling in a way you’ve never seen. His three Michelin star restaurant El Bulli closed last July after 24 years. He will reopen as the El Bulli Foundation in two years, most likely transforming the space as he transforms food.

When I first saw The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià, I wondered if I need buy a chemistry set or cylinder of liquid nitrogen.

No, this truly is home cooking, the maestro demonstrating in detail how a dish should be done. You see, “family meals” are the repasts of his restaurant family; the menus of dinners prepared and eaten daily by his staff of 75.

He insisted on good food, easy-to-find ingredients that are mostly fresh and the aggregate couldn’t be expensive. (I think I read that the cost could not exceed €6/person but I can’t confirm).

Open the Book. There are 31 meals within. Each meal has a starter, a main, and a dessert. Recipe ingredients are listed for 2, 6, 20 or 75 and carefully calculated (not mathematically but via testing at each level) for each group. So using a bit of math, we know that 31 meals x 3 recipes equals 93 recipes.

photo © by Francese Guillamet

Each recipe has photos showing every step — about 15 photos per recipe. That’s almost 1,400 photos not counting the photo stack of appetizer, main and dessert preceding the meal, photos of utensils, types of fish and more.

It’s a blog but on paper: each step of every recipe is a photo with instructions superimposed. One almost doesn’t need to read English.

Aside: is this some sort of Bizarro world? Maybe the first caveman recipes were chiseled into a rock wall. Then the Egyptians invented paper and recipes were portable and accompanied by illustrations and later photos. Fast-forward to the internet: food blogs have photos of every step of the recipe. Is this where the world turns around? Now photos of every step put back on paper? Should we be sharpening our chisels?

Here is the entrée from Meal 24 which consists of Garbanzo Beans with Spinach & Egg, Glazed Teriyaki Pork Belly, and Sweet Potato with Honey & Cream.

Glazed Teriyaki Pork Belly

Teriyaki is a sweet Japanese sauce used for marinating before roasting or broiling. You can make the teriyaki sauce yourself or use a good-quality, store-bought sauce.

photo © by Francese Guillamet

Serves 6
Ingredients
For the teriyaki sauce
(Makes 4 1/3 cups)
1/3 cup lemongrass, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
1 3/4 cups chicken stock
3 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups soy sauce
1 3/4 honey

For the pork belly
2 1/2 pounds pork belly
10 1/2 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
12 black peppercorns
3 garlic cloves
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 1/2 cups teriyaki sauce

Method
For the teriyaki sauce
1. Using a rolling pin or other heavy utensil, crush the lemongrass and ginger.

2. Put the chicken stock, sugar, and soy sauce into a large saucepan.

3. Add the honey.

4. Add the crushed lemongrass and ginger. Put the pan over medium heat, bring to a boil, then boil for 15 minutes.

5. Strain and reserve.

Make the pork belly
1. Put the pork into a large pan with the water. The pork should be well covered, so add more (water) if necessary. Add the salt and peppercorns.

2. Coarsely chop the onions and add to the pan with the garlic.

3. Bring the water to a simmer.

4. Cook the pork covered, for 1 1/2 hours, until cooked through, adding more water if necessary to cover. Remove and place on a cutting board.

5. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

6. Cut the pork into strips about 3/4 inch thick.

7. Place the pork in a roasting pan in a single layer, then cover with the teriyaki sauce.

8. Roast the pork for 30 minutes, regularly basting with teriyaki sauce to glaze.

9. Serve the pork with spoonfuls of the teriyaki sauce.

Tags: cookbook review, El Bulli, Glazed Teriyaki Pork Belly, Linda Avery, pork, recipe, The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adria
Posted in Book & Product Reviews, Pork, Recipes | 5 Comments »

Editor’s note: Linda Avery returns with a look at Stephanie Izard’s new cookbook, The Girl in the Kitchen. If you are in Scottsdale on October 16, take a look at the Share Our Strength fundraiser with Stephanie at The Accidental Yard. It’s a chance to get up close and personal with Stephanie, support a great cause and take home a signed copy of the cookbook.

Girl in the Kitchen: How a Top Chef Cooks, Thinks, Shops, Eats, and Drinks
by Stephanie Izard with Heather Shouse
photos by Dan Goldberg

Facts: Chronicle Books, 256 pages, $29.95 (or Amazon at $19.77)
Photos: 45
Recipes: 100
Give to: food-loving home cooks; Top Chef fans; cookbook addicts

The big Chicago buzz last summer (2010) was “Have you been to the goat?” … “How’s the food at the goat?” … “Girl & the Goat? That sounds lewd!” … “Is there actually goat on the menu?” And, in short order, a reservation at Stephanie Izard’s Girl & the Goat restaurant was the hot ticket.

(BTW, the answers to those questions are yes, I’ve been a couple times; the food is creative in composition with complex flavors and delicious; not lewd but rather clever as Stephanie shares her last name, Izard, with a goat antelope which lives in the Pyrenees; and, yes, there are various choices of goat on the menu: confit, sausage on flatbread, empanadas and more).

Stephanie Izard packs 36 hours into a day. While working at “the goat” (an affectionate reference),  she completed her cookbook, The Girl in the Kitchen, and is in the development process of her second restaurant. Plus she spends a good deal of time doing demos for good causes. How does this self-proclaimed party hearty gal find time to throw back a few?

About the cookbook: The recipes in The Girl in the Kitchen are unique and yet Izard states the book is intended to be a guide where sauces and sides can be mixed and matched as you prefer. It only takes an understanding of the “flavor profile of ingredients and their effect on the overall dish” which she successfully explains in each of her headnotes. At heart she is an educator – she wants you to be able to “use visual clues rather than watch the clock” by knowing your kitchen, your equipment and tools, so she tells you what to watch for as you’re cooking.

Appearing every few pages is the feature Ingredient Spotlight (think ramps, miso paste, tomatillos, Wondra flour, et al) explaining again flavor profile, plus how she uses the ingredient and what to look for when purchasing.

There were a lot of mental “ohs” and “ahs” as I read through the recipe list: Sweet-and-Sour Eggplant with Tomatillos, Grilled Lamb-Stuffed Calamari with Crispy Shallots, Pear-Pistachio-Parsnip Soup, Apple-Pork Ragu with Pappardelle, and how about a side of Roasted Radishes with Blue Cheese, Peanuts, and Cilantro? Even the recipe names convey the dimension and balance of tart, sweet, spicy, salty, crispy, creamy, etc.

JUST A MINUTE! I went through the recipes another time. Where is the infamous Wood Oven Roasted Pig Face? Hmmm, I guess that one is reserved for the restaurant but even so, there is no shortage of inventive recipes in this book. If you want to know Stephanie a bit better, watch the Girl in the Kitchen Book trailer on youtube.

Pan-Roasted New York Steaks with Sautéed Cucumbers and Salted Goat Milk Caramel

photo © by Dan Goldberg

Serves 4

While working on some “goat” ideas for my new restaurant, Girl & the Goat, I played around with goat meat, as well as goat’s milk. My old pastry chef from Scylla, Jessie Oloroso, makes an awesome ice cream with goat’s milk caramel, known as cajeta in Mexico. She added cashews for crunch and a bit of salt, convincing me that salted caramel is the only way to go; otherwise, the caramel is just too sweet. Inspired by Jessie’s ice cream (which she now sells at her shop Black Dog Gelato in Chicago), I decided to try a salted goat’s milk caramel as a sauce for a savory dish. The interesting thing with cajeta is that it’s not a classic caramel sauce, as the sugar is not actually what caramelizes. The liquid never reaches a high enough temperature for the added sugar to caramelize; instead, the fats of the milk caramelize with the help of the added baking soda, which neutralizes the natural acids and also helps the milk solids to turn a rich brown color.

So now that you know everything you’d ever want to know about caramelizing goat’s milk, let me explain why I added fish sauce to it. It might seem strange, but that’s the salty element, with just enough earthy funk to pair perfectly with the equally earthy “browned” flavor of the caramel. Sounds weird, but trust me, you’ll love it.

And finally, because the beef and the sauce are so rich, we need to cut through it a bit with some lightly sautéed cucumbers. I realize it also sounds strange to cook cucumbers, but doing so releases some of their natural juices and allows them to quickly soak up the salt, taking on a great flavor and texture while keeping things perfectly refreshing.

Plan of Attack
Up to 3 days ahead: Make the goat milk caramel. Refrigerate.
The night before: Marinate the steaks.
Cook time: Prepare the steaks. While the meat is resting, sauté the cucumbers and reheat the caramel over low heat in a saucepan.

Ingredients
For the Salted Goat Milk Caramel
1 quart goat milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoons sambal paste
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

For the Pan-Roasted New York Strip Steak
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons sambal
4 New York strip steaks (about 12 ounces each)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon butter

For the Sautéed Cucumbers
2 tablespoons olive oil
One 12-inch English cucumber, sliced into 1/8-inch rounds
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh basil

Method
Make the caramel
1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the milk and sugar and slowly bring them to a boil over medium-high heat. Dissolve the baking soda in 1/2 teaspoon warm water. Whisk it into the milk mixture, reduce the heat to medium, and let it simmer. Stir often with a whisk until the mixture reduces and begins to thicken and turn a light caramel color, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. As the caramel begins to darken, reduce the heat and continue to stir constantly with a whisk, making sure the caramel doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot and burn. Continue to cook and whisk constantly, until the caramel darkens and is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 20 minutes more. It will have reduced to about 1/2 cup when finished. Strain the caramel through a fine-mesh sieve into a small pot. Add the fish sauce, sambal, vinegar, soy sauce, and mustard and season with salt and pepper. Cover and keep warm.

Make the steak
1. Whisk together the olive oil, garlic, mustard, and sambal for the marinade, then rub it into the steaks and refrigerate, preferably overnight but for at least 3 hours. Take the steaks out of the fridge about 30 minutes before getting started so they cook more evenly.

2. Salt and pepper both sides of the steaks. Heat a large skillet or sauté pan over high heat until it’s almost smoking. Add the canola oil, then the steaks. (Don’t overcrowd the pan; cook in two batches if you must.) Once the steaks brown on one side, flip them over, then add the butter to the pan. Tilt the pan and spoon the melted butter over the steaks to baste. Once the edges of the steak are nice and brown, make a small slit to the center of the steak to check for doneness.

3. You’re aiming for medium-rare, so the very center should still be red because the meat will continue to “carry-over cook” as it rests. Remove the steaks from the pan and let them rest on a plate for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the steak to retain its juices and to even out the doneness.

Make the Sautéed Cucumbers
1. While the meat rests, heat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the oil, then the cucumbers, and cook until the cucumbers just begins to soften, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. When ready to serve, toss with the basil.

2. To serve, spoon a couple tablespoons of the caramel onto each plate, top with a steak, and place the sautéed cucumbers alongside.

Tags: beef, Girl & The Goat, Linda Avery, recipe, Stephanie Izard, The Girl in The Kitchen
Posted in Beef, Book & Product Reviews, Recipes | No Comments »

Editor’s note: Linda Avery, who has been reviewing cookbooks for Pen & Fork for almost two years, filed this review while on vacation. Please do not feel too sorry for her — she was in Umbria, Italy — not a bad place to test recipes from a new regional Italian cookbook.

Cucina Povera: Tuscan Peasant Cooking
by Pamela Sheldon Johns
photos by Andrea Wyner

Facts: Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC,   pages, $21.99 (or Amazon at $14.50)
Photos: Over 140
Recipes: 69
Give to: Italian lovers, suitable for beginner cooks

I got my first look at Pamela Sheldon Johns’ Cucina Povera:Tuscan Peasant Cooking just days before leaving for Italy. We were renting a house in Todi, Umbria, and, as is my M.O., I was planning to cook at least a few meals with the locally available products. Granted, Cucina Povera is humble Tuscan cooking, but we were just a hop, skip and a jump as Umbria borders Tuscany on its northwestern border and Lazio on the southwestern border.

I had no intention of schlepping the book, so I decided to scan ten recipes to bring. I had to make sure each recipe was seasonally correct, e.g., my husband loves cinghiale (wild boar) but hunting season doesn’t begin until November; while boar it’s probably available, that gave me pause. Braised Pork Shanks had to be included as a nod to my Nonna who made us giggle as children when she announced she was making “Stinco di Maiale” (stinco actually translates to “shin”). And, since fig season begins in September in Umbria, Fichi allo Virio (stuffed figs) was a must.

I pored over each recipe for odd ingredients that I might bring, such as the 5 dried juniper berries called for in Coniglio con i Funghi (rabbit with mushrooms). Although I was intimately involved with this book, I knew that trattorias and osterias would be calling to me, so ultimately I reduced the number of recipes to five.

Cucina Povera, literally “poor kitchen”, opens with stories about good food in hard times. Her “introduction” runs to page 41 — and I was sorry when it ended. These are warm, interesting, heartfelt memories related by older friends of Sheldon Johns who perhaps lived through WWII when food was scarce.

One gentleman relates grabbing a handful of chestnut flour from a bag at a neighborhood grocery on his way to school: “the owner would look the other way… that bit of flour was my breakfast, so sweet and satisfying.” Chestnuts and corn were staples for bread, polenta and cakes. Salt was heavily taxed, so it was used sparingly to cure meat, make cheese… but not bread, and still today Tuscan bread is unsalted.

This book is summarized in a quote from Chef Carlo Cioni from Artimino, Tuscany: “Today’s choice of simple foods is not out of necessity as it was in the past. Now, in addition to considering economy, we are seeking quality and purity of flavor.” Sheldon Johns achieves this with her recipes, from Appetizers to Breads & Sweets, they are uncomplicated with most having about seven ingredients, many only five.

In the end I wasn’t able to try the coniglio, not because rabbits weren’t available, but because we were sharing the house with our friends, the Hares, and they refused to eat rabbit, but I did try the braised pork shanks. The long, slow cooking time (with only six ingredients including salt and pepper) was worth every minute as the meat practically fell from the bone; the ripe figs simply stuffed with walnuts and Gorgonzola were divine, but my gnudi (spinach and ricotta dumplings) fell apart — my bad – I’ve never gotten those to work for me.

I was introduced to farro, the nutty flavored Etruscan grain many years ago in zuppa di farro (soup) while in Lucca. It’s also known as spelt or emmer. Farro is debuting on more American menus and, thanks to Trader Joe’s, home cooks are embracing it (as spelt). I will admit taking a liberty with this recipe,  substituting prosciutto of Norcia (Umbria) for the salame, but this is a salad that allows you to do that. Try it and twist it as you wish!

Insalata di Farro (Farro Salad)

Serves 6

photo © by Andrea Wyner

Farro is an ancient strain of wheat with a high protein content and a nutty flavor. It can be found in natural foods and gourmet foods stores whole, cracked, or ground into flour. This dish can be served warm as a winter side dish, or chilled for a summer salad.

Ingredients
2 cups whole-grain farro
3 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 green onions, including 1 inch of green parts, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 zucchini, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded, deveined, and diced
2 cups chicken stock, heated
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 ounces spicy salame, diced
Grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Romaine lettuce leaved for serving

Method
1. Soak the farro in water to cover for at least 1 hour or overnight.

2. In a large, heavy saucepan, heat the 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the green onions, garlic, zucchini, and bell pepper and sauté until softened, about 2 minutes.

3. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Drain the farro and add to the pan, cover and decrease the heat to a simmer. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the farro is tender and the stock has been absorbed. Stir in the chickpeas and salame. Cover and set aside to keep warm.

4. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon zest, lemon juice, and the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil together. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Fluff the farro with a fork. Stir in the dressing. Serve warm or chilled, on lettuce leaves.

Tags: cookbook review, Cucina Povera cookbook, farro salad, Linda Avery, Pamela Sheldon Johns, Tuscan Peasant Cooking
Posted in Book & Product Reviews, Recipes, Salads | No Comments »

Editor’s note: Linda Avery returns with a review of Tessa Kiros’s new Greek cookbook. See what she thought of the book and the get the recipe for papoutsakia, a dish meaning “small shoes” — eggplants stuffed with a savory beef filling.

Food from Many Greek Kitchens
by Tessa Kiros
photos by Manos Chatzikonstantis

Facts: Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC, 336 pages, $35.00 (or Amazon at $23.10)
Photos: About 150
Recipes: 121
Give to: Greekophiles, cooks who love Greek flavors

When I saw Food from Many Greek Kitchens by Tessa Kiros, it quickly brought to mind Kiros’ 2009 book Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes. From my first glance at that book, I was totally enamored with its beauty and I fantasized about the experiences of this author. What was it like to be born in London to a Finnish mother and a Greek-Cypriot father? Moving to South Africa, Australia and Mexico before marrying and settling in Tuscany? Ugh. I felt so plain, so inadequate, so my-youth-was-spent-in-a-closet. But my spirits were buoyed when I could share in her experience through tasting her Ricotta Tart with a Chocolate Crust recipe. All was forgiven.

Where “Cloudberries” captured recipes from her heritage and world travels, Food from Many Greek Kitchens focuses on the land of her father. When I pick up a cookbook, I go to contents and get a lay of the land before moving through the book, but not with this one. Photos abound!  There are as many mesmerizing slice of life/travelogue photographs as recipe photos. Even the food shots have wonderfully distracting backgrounds or objects accompanying them.

The structure is interesting. Recipes are divided into traditional foods, fasting foods, Easter foods, shared foods, and so on. Her headnotes are warmly personal whether educational, instructive, or speaking of the friend from whom she received the recipe. There is a mouthwatering photo of a pan of baklava cut ready for serving with a clove in the center of each baklava diamond. Kiros’ headnote begins “I love this Chanel bag-looking thing.” OMG – now I’ll never look at a Chanel bag without craving dessert (as opposed to the money it would take to buy one).

Some recipes require time and others are as simple as watermelon with feta. Moussaka is a favorite of mine but making a recipe for 12 doesn’t work for me. This individual serving recipe was very appealing (I even cut it in half).  So go to the farmers market and grab eggplant, red onion and Italian parsley. Kefalotiri is a rather salty sheep’s milk (hard) cheese. If you can’t find it, Pecorino is a reasonable substitute.

Papoutsakia (Small Shoes)

Serves 8

These are basically the same ingredients as moussaka, but prepared differently and served in individual “shoe servings.”

photo © by Manos Chatzikonstantis

Ingredients

4 long eggplants (about 9 ounces each), all of the same dimensions
About 1/2 cup olive oil

1 large red onion, chopped
14 ounces ground beef
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 cup red wine
2 14-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the béchamel
3 tablespoons butter
7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
10 1/2 ounces milk, heated
A large pinch of nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons shredded Kefalotiri cheese

Method
1. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise, sprinkle the cut sides with salt and leave them upside-down in a colander for half an hour or so to drain away any bitter juices.

2. Drizzle some oil into a large non-stick skillet over medium heat and when hot, add half the eggplant halves. Fry until deep golden and soft on both sides and when you prick the thickest part with a fork there is no resistance.

3. Remove to a platter and fry the remaining eggplant halves. When cooled, scoop out the flesh using a sharp spoon, leaving a 1/4- to 3/8- inch border. Chop the flesh and put aside. Wipe out the skillet. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to it and sauté the onion until golden. Add the beef and fry until browned. Add the garlic, cook for a moment more until it smells good, then add the wine and let it simmer for a minute or two. Add 1 can of tomatoes and the parsley, and season with salt and pepper.

4. Cook, stirring a couple of times, for about 20 minutes, or until thickened. Add the chopped eggplant and simmer for another 10 or 12 minutes, or until most of the liquid has gone.

5. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Make the béchamel
1. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat and stir in the flour. Whisk the milk in gradually to ensure no lumps. Add the nutmeg and season with salt and a little pepper. Whisk until thick.

Finish the dish
1. Empty the remaining can of tomatoes over the bottom of a 10 1/2 x 13 1/2-inch roasting dish and add a little salt. Line up the eggplant shells on top, cut side up, and sprinkle with salt.

2. Divide the meat mixture among them. Dollop 2 to 3 tablespoons of béchamel on each, scatter some kefalotiri over and pour 1/2 cup of water around them. Bake until roasty (sic) and golden on top, about 30 minutes.

Tags: beef, cookbook review, eggplant, Food from Many Greek Kitchens, Linda Avery, papoutsakia, recipe, Tessa Kiros
Posted in Beef, Book & Product Reviews, Recipes | 1 Comment »

Editor’s note: Linda Avery waxes on Jonathan Waxman’s new Italian, My Way cookbook, and includes his purist version of the classic Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Read on to see what she thought of the book.

Italian, My Way
by Jonathan Waxman
photos by Christopher Hirsheimer

Facts: Simon & Schuster, 304 pages, $32.00 (or Amazon at $18.84)
Photos: 37 black and white; some finished dishes but mostly ingredient photos
Recipes: Over 150
Give to: Italian food lovers

Not long ago, when reviewing David Tanis’ book Heart of the Artichoke, I mentioned Chez Panisse and now, following the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon concept, here is another successful chef who worked in Alice Waters’ kitchen, Jonathan Waxman, with a book I could cook from every day,  Italian, My Way.

His “keep it simple” philosophy dovetails perfectly with my everyday kitchen. Most of his recipes fit on one page – and double spaced at that! How many can create relatively short recipes with satisfying flavor?

Waxman is an interesting (Renaissance?) man who evolved from a professional trombonist to a Top Chef master (forgive me, but as a nod to his successes I just thought I’d mention how well he must be able to toot his own horn).

And, he has wide appeal. I mean I’ve come to expect chefs to endorse other chef’s books, but when I saw a quote from Charlie Rose – whoa – I had to investigate. Evidently Rose is a fan.  On April 15^th Charlie had Waxman on his show (see video) with Gabrielle Hamilton (Blood, Bones & Butter) and world renown icon Ferran Adria (El Bulli).

Back to the guts of the book: I liked this book at first blush. When I saw numerous references to Giuliano Bugialli, whose Tuscan cooking school I attended,  it all came together: the simplicity of the recipes, using a mezzaluna, Waxman’s technique in making pasta… If he isn’t friends with Bugialli or hasn’t cooked with him on occasion, I’ll eat my bucatini.

His recipes are followed by a kitchen tools section where he tells all: his likes and dislikes, what’s silly, how he uses what he likes, etc. He speaks to everything from the aforementioned mezzalune to pepper mills, knives, stoves and welders’ gloves  (to prevent burns when baking and grilling).

What’s better than learning about tools? Shopping! There are 10 pages listing sources. Most, of course, are located in New York, but each has a website to peruse.

My only disappointment after seeing a lovely image of grissini (thank you Christopher Hirsheimer) — there was no recipe. But that’s okay, I’ll continue to use Bugialli’s. By the way, Hirsheimer did a fabulous job with black and white photography.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

I have made this classic dish the same way for years: with olive oil, guanciale (cured jowl of pork), egg yolks and Parmesan. The tried and true is perfection, please believe me. I had cooks add garlic and onions, peas and mushrooms. Blasphemy!

I have heard a couple different stories for the source of the name. Some people say it refers to miners (carbonari) because of the flecks of black pepper, but I like the story of Giuseppe Mazzini, the revolutionary from Genoa who was a member of a secret group called carbonari, who attempted for years to unify Italy. Regardless, this pasta dish is the world’s richest and most decadent. A wonderfully gifted actress frequents Barbuto and always orders a double carbonara; God bless her!

Serves 4

Ingredients
1/4 pound guanciale, diced
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound spaghetti
1/4 cup Parmesan
4 egg yolks
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Method
1. Cook the guanciale in the olive oil slowly for 10 minutes, or until cooked through. Keep warm.

2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta for 8 minutes and drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water.

3. Add the pasta and water to the guanciale pan and bring to a boil. Add the cheese, turn off the heat. Add the yolks all at once and beat furiously for 1 minute. The eggs should not scramble but turn into a smooth sauce. Season with sea salt and black pepper and serve immediately.

Tags: Christopher Hirsheimer, cookbook review, Italian My Way cookbook, Jonathan Waxman, Linda Avery, spaghetti alla carbonara
Posted in Book & Product Reviews, Pasta, Recipes | 3 Comments »

The Great Ranch Cookbook

Spirited Recipes & Rhetoric from America's Best Guest Ranches

Par Fork! The Golf Resort Cookbook

Culinary Expedition Through World Class Golf Resort Kitchens

The Cool Mountain Cookbook

A Gourmet Guide to Winter Retreats