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Every once in a while a cookbook comes along that uncannily coincides with what you've been dreaming about eating… The beauty of Roman home cooking is that it's easy, and in many instances, fast. In the time that it takes to boil water and cook spaghetti, you can have a satisfying Roman meal on your table. Downie's mouthwatering, rigorously tested recipes open the door to Roman culinary fulfillment… The result is a literate cookbook, filled with stories and classic recipes collected from authentic sources. Harris' real photographs, vibrant color snapshots of the people who contributed recipes, places and dishes, illustrate the text… I read "Cooking the Roman Way" from cover to cover in a couple of hours and learned not only how to make some of my very favorite dishes in the world, but a culinary history of Rome, too… every recipe I tried was easy to follow and brought stunning results… The pasta section of this book alone is worth the price. |
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Patricia Unterman
San Francisco Examiner, Wednesday, November 6, 2002
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RECIPES
Many of the classics of Italian cooking come from Rome, including the panino (sandwich) and toasted Bruschetta garlic bread, plus popular pasta recipes such as Bucatini all’Amatriciana with spicy tomato sauce, luscious, buttery Fettuccine Alfredo and Spaghetti alla Carbonara with pecorino romano, bacon and egg.
Rome is also home to Saltimbocca veal rolls with sage and prosciutto, coda alla vaccinara oxtail stew, lamb roasted with rosemary and garlic...
Cooking the Roman Way brings you these great Italian recipes plus dozens of lesser-known but equally delicious dishes such as Pizza Bianca flatbread, Jewish-style fried artichokes, bacon-wrapped pork roast with fennel, Puntarella chicory salad with garlicky anchovy dressing, Peperonata bell-pepper stew, Crostata jam tart, Ricotta Cheesecake and Tartufo chocolate ice cream...
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Adapted from Cooking the Roman Way: Authentic Recipes from the Home Cooks and Trattorias of Rome
Bruschetta classica (Bruschetta Toast Rubbed with Garlic and Drizzled with Olive Oil)
Bruschetta is one of the simplest yet most addictively mouthwatering Roman recipes I know. In its most basic form it’s a rough slice of bread charred and rubbed with raw garlic, dribbled with lots of olive oil and sprinkled with salt. You can top it with just about anything you want, from chopped tomatoes with basil, to crushed boiled eggs, anchovies, pureed fava beans with dill, artichoke hearts, sweet peppers or eggplant preserved in olive oil.
Serves 4
8 thick slices fresh country bread
4 cloves garlic, peeled
8-10 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt or coarse sea salt
1. Slice the bread and broil or toast it until medium-dark. Put 2 slices on each of 4 plates.
2. Rub the hot toast vigorously with the whole garlic cloves, pour at least 1 tablespoon of oil over each slice and sprinkle with salt. Eat immediately, mopping up any spilled oil off the plate and licking your fingers.
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Fettuccine Alfredo al triplo burro (Fresh Fettuccine with Parmigiano-Reggiano and a Triple Dose of Butter)
Fettuccine Alfredo crops up in various guises on countless restaurant menus nationwide. But few diners know where the recipe comes from, who Alfredo was and how this incredibly simple dish is actually made. In Rome, where Fettuccine Alfredo was born almost 100 years ago, only four ingredients go into the recipe: fettuccine, butter, Parmigiano-Reggiano and a pinch of salt. No cream, no pepper, no parsley, no chives - nothing but massive doses of extravagantly egg-rich pasta, sweet butter and tender, young cheese. The trick to making the recipe work, as Alfredo Di Lelio III showed me, is to use top-quality ingredients and to follow the steps laid down by his grandfather Alfredo Di Lelio I, the recipe’s inventor. For the complete story of Fettuccine Alfredo, and instructions on how to make Fettuccine at home, buy Cooking the Roman Way!
Serves 4
Coarse sea salt or kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds fresh homemade or top-quality store-bought fettuccine
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 pound (about 1 1/2 cups) freshly grated tender, young Parmigiano-Reggiano
1. Bring 5 quarts or more of water to a rolling boil in a large pot.
2. Bring 2-3 quarts of water to just under a boil in a wide, shallow pan. Immerse a large serving platter in the water to heat it.
3. Add salt to the boiling water in the pot, stir vigorously and gently drop in the nested fresh or store-bought fettuccine while the water is still turning.
4. With kitchen gloves or mitts carefully remove the serving platter from the boiling pan, dry it off with a dishcloth, and place it on a cutting board. Slice the butter into slabs and put them on the hot platter to melt.
5. Reserve 3 tablespoons of the pasta water in a small bowl.
6. Drain the pasta while very al dente and transfer it still dripping to the platter with the melted butter.
7. Quickly sprinkle the grated cheese on top of the fettuccine and pour the reserved pasta water over it.
8. With gloves or mitts carry the platter to the dinner table and set it on a hot pad. Toss, flip, stir and sweep the fettuccine in the butter-and-cheese dressing with a large fork and spoon for up to 2 minutes to fully amalgamate the ingredients. Serve immediately.
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Tiramisu alla Velardi (Eugenio Velardi’s Ultra-Light Roman Tiramisu)
Chef Eugenio Velardi of Rome’s celebrated La Matricianella trattoria may be known for his Amatriciana sauce but he’s equally passionate about desserts, especially Tiramisu. He won a national Tiramisu competition for this rendition of the famous dessert. Velardi and countless other Romans believe - right or wrong - that Tiramisu is their city’s own, derived from other, older local spoon sweets such as Zabaglione and Zuppa inglese trifle. This is the airiest version of Tiramisu I know: it has no liqueur and very few cookies.
Serves 8-10
3-4 shots (about 1/2 cup or 3 fluid ounces) freshly brewed strong Italian espresso
6 large egg yolks at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 pound (2 cups) Mascarpone
2 cups whipping cream
10 Savoiardi ladyfingers
1-2 heaping tablespoons powdered semi-sweet chocolate
1. Prepare 3-4 shots of strong Italian espresso coffee, pour into a shallow bowl and let cool.
2. Put the egg yolks and sugar into a large mixing bowl and mix for 30-60 seconds at low speed. Add the Mascarpone, mixing until homogenous, 30-60 seconds.
3. Separately, in a medium-sized mixing bowl whip the cream at medium speed until fluffy, peaky and about doubled in volume, 5-7 minutes. With a rubber spatula fold the whipped cream into the Mascarpone mixture until thoroughly blended.
4. Set out 10 glass goblets. Pour or ladle about 1 inch of the mixture into each.
5. Break each cookie into three sections. Rapidly dip each section 1 at a time into the coffee, turning twice with a spoon to moisten without soaking through. Drop 3 cookie sections into each goblet. Cover with 1 to 1 1/2 inches of the tiramisu mixture.
6. With a tea strainer or small sieve and a coffee spoon, dust the surface of each goblet with powdered chocolate. Cover the goblets with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
7. Remove the plastic wrap before serving.
Note: If you don’t have individual glass goblets, you can make this tiramisu in a deep-dish 11 x 13 inch casserole or Pyrex.
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