Just discovered this article I wrote years ago about Fabio Viviani and Fabio’s 30-Minute Italian (St. Martin’s Press), which was new at the time, on the website “We the Italians.”
Fabio, best known for his participation in Bravo’s Top Chef seasons 5 and 8 – earning the “Fan Favorite” title -both his on-screen appearances and off-screen successes have propelled him to become one of the most influential culinary and hospitality names in the country.
A recurring guest on national television shows such as Good Morning America, The Rachael Ray Show, and numerous Food Network Shows, such as Cutthroat Kitchen: All-Star Tournament, which he won, off-screen Fabio is a regular headliner at global food events, and he has authored four successful cookbooks: Café Firenze Cookbook, New York Times Best-Seller Fabio’s Italian Kitchen, and Fabio’s American Home Kitchen.
Fabio’s online presence draws millions of viewers yearly with his own cooking show, Fabio’s Kitchen, now in Season 5.
He also has numerous restaurants throughout the United States.
“If hot fudge wanted to be a cake, this would be it,” writes Fabio in the introduction to this recipe which is both sinfully delicious and sinfully easy to make. “Yes, it’s a classic sponge cake, but a classic that is rich and chocolaty with hints of cinnamon, rum and espresso that bring home the indulgent chocolaty-ness of it all. I sometimes call this Butterscotch Chocolate Cake because after it’s baked it’s drizzled with a thick caramel sauce that’s lightly salted. Sinful.”
For the cake:
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons baking soda
¾ cup cocoa powder 2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup canola oil 2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla, extracted from pod
2 teaspoons rum 1 cup hot water
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
For the caramel:
Splash of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon fleur de sel
¼ cup butter
½ cup heavy cream, plus 2 tablespoons
1 cup sugar
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8-inch round baking pans. Set aside.
In a large stand mixer, combine the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, sugar and flour. Once combined, add buttermilk, heavy cream, oil, eggs, vanilla and rum; mix until smooth. Stir together the hot water and espresso powder. Pour slowly into the cake batter and stir until completely incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, until baked through and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool down completely.
While cakes are cooking, combine the vanilla extract, fleur de sel, butter, ½ cup of heavy cream and sugar in a sauce pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5–6 minutes. Cook until caramel in color, then add the final 2 tablespoons of heavy cream. Stir for 20 seconds and let cool before glazing cake.
Have a question, story idea, or just want to chat, reach me at janeammeson@gmail.com
It’s personal for Katie Parla, award winning cookbook author, travel guide and food blogger who now has turned her passion for all things Italian to the off-the-beaten paths of Southern Italy, with its small villages, endless coastline, vast pastures and rolling hills. “Three of my grandmother’s four grandparents are from Spinoso, deep in a remote center of Basilicata,” says Parla, the author of the just releasedFood of the Italian South: Recipes for Classic, Disappearing Lost Dishes (Clarkson Potter 2019; $30).
Katie Parla in Southern Italy. Photo credit Ed Anderson.
Parla is a journalist but she’s also a culinary sleuth, eager to learn all about foodways as well as to chronicle and save dishes that are quickly disappearing from modern Italian tables. She’s lived in Rome since graduating with a degree from Yale in art history and her first cookbook was the IACP award winning Tasting Rome. She’s also so immersed herself in Italian cuisine that after moving to Rome, she earned a master’s degree in Italian Gastronomic Culture from the Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”, a sommelier certificate from the Federazione Italiana Sommelier Albergatori Ristoratori, and an archeological speleology certification from the city of Rome.
In tiny Spinoso, Parla and her mother checked into one of the few available rooms for rent and went to office of vital statistics to find out more about family history. “We made the mistake of getting there before lunch,” she says. “You could tell they really want to go home and eat. They told us there were only four or five last names in the village and since ours wasn’t one of them, then we couldn’t be there.”
But Parla found that sharing wine with the officers soon produced friendlier results (“wine and food always does that in Italy,” she says) and after leafing through dusty, oversized ledgers written in fading, neat cursive they were able to locate the tiny house where her grandfather had lived as well as other extensive family history. “Thank goodness for Napoleon, who was really into record keeping, no matter his other faults” says Parla.
Katie Parla. Photo credit Ed Anderson.
Many of her ancestors were sheepherders, tending sheep, staying with a flock for a week in exchange for a loaf of bread. This poverty was one reason so many Southern Italians left for America. But it also is the basis for their pasta and bread heavy cuisine says Parla. To capture the flavors of this pastoral area, Parla visited restaurants and kitchens, asking questions and writing down recipes which had evolved over the centuries from oral traditions. Describing Rome, Venice and Florence as “insanely packed,” Parla believes that those looking for a less traveled road will love Southern Italy, an ultra-authentic region to the extent that in Cilento, for example, there are more cars than people on the road.
“There’s all this amazing food,” she says. “But also, there’s all this unspoiled beauty such as the interior of Basilicata. And the emptiness, because so many people are gone, creates this sense of haunted mystery. It’s so special, I want people to understand the food and to visit if they can.”
’U Pan’ Cuott’ Baked Bread and Provolone Casserole
Serves 4 to 6
1 pound day-old durum wheat bread (I like Matera-style; see page 198), torn into bite-size pieces
3 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
7 ounces provolone cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 teaspoon peperoni cruschi powder or sweet paprika
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon peperoncino or red pepper flakes
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Overview:
In Bernalda, a town in Basilicata best known as the ancestral village of Francis Ford Coppola, there are many ancient bread traditions. The town isn’t far from the durum wheat fields of the Murgia plateau and the famous bread towns Matera and Altamura. One of the town’s classic dishes is ’u pan’ cuott’ (Bernaldese dialect for pane cotto, “cooked bread”). Families would bake stale slices of Bernalda’s enormous 3-kilogram loaves with whatever food scraps they could find, resulting in a savory, delicious bread casserole bound by gooey bits of melted provolone. Use the crustiest durum bread you can find or bake.
Method:
Preheat the oven to 475°F with a rack in the center position.
Place the bread in a colander, rinse with warm water, and set aside to soften. The bread should be moistened but not sopping wet.
In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, provolone, peperoni cruschi, garlic, oregano, peperoncino, and ¼ cup of the olive oil. Season with salt.
When the bread crusts have softened, squeeze out any excess liquid and add the bread to the bowl with the tomato mixture. Stir to combine.
Grease a baking dish with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, pour in the tomato mixture, and drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil on top. Bake until the top is heavily browned, and the provolone has melted, about 20 minutes. Serve warm.
Spezzatino all’Uva Pork Cooked with Grapes
Serves 6 to 8
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, salted and cut into 2-inch cubes
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 cup dry red wine (I like Aglianico del Vulture)
2 bay leaves
4 cups pork stock or water
1 bunch of red grapes (I like Tintilia grapes), halved and seeded
Overview: The foothills east of the Apennines in Molise grow Tintilia, an indigenous red grape known for its low yield and pleasant notes of red fruit and spices. Each year, the majority of the harvested grapes are pressed to make wine, with the remainder reserved for jams and even savory dishes like this pork and grape stew, which is only made at harvest time. The slight sweetness of the grapes mingles beautifully with the savory pork and herbaceous notes of the bay leaves. Salt the pork 24 hours in advance.
Method: Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the pork, working in batches as needed, and cook, turning, until it is browned on all sides, 7 to 8 minutes. Remove the pork and set aside on a plate.
Reduce the heat to low. Add the garlic and cook until just golden, about 5 minutes. Add the wine, increase the heat to medium, and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. When the alcohol aroma dissipates and the liquid has nearly evaporated, about 2 minutes, add the bay leaves. Return the pork to the pan. Add enough stock so the meat is mostly submerged and season with salt.
Cook, stirring occasionally, for 1½ hours more, until the pork is fork-tender. Add the grapes at the 1 ¼ hour mark and continue cooking until they are tender. If the sauce becomes too dry, add a bit more stock (you may not need all the stock). Serve immediately.
Years of fame from authoring best selling cookbooks, hosting TV cooking shows, opening restaurants and gourmet food stores, including the many Eataly stores including the one in Chicago that opened eight years ago, and creating her own line of pastas, sauces and readymade foods hasn’t even slightly dimmed Lidia Matticchio Bastianich’s enthusiasm for spreading the word about the glories of Italian cuisine. Indeed, if she had her way, we’d all be experts in Italian cooking.
“Italian food is very simple,” Bastianich tells me as we chat about her cookbooks including one of my favorites, Lidia’s Commonsense Italian Cooking: 150 Delicious and Simple Recipes Anyone Can Master (Knopf $35), which she co-authored with her daughter Tanya Bastianich Manuali. “It’s all about good ingredients and not fretting about the recipes.”
Passing on the traditions learned from helping her mother and grandmother cook, Bastianich revels in the email and comments she gets from fans crediting her with teaching them how to cook Italian.
“People think I don’t know how to make an artichoke or risotto or pasta,” she says, “and when they learn, they are so excited. At one of my book signings, a woman told me that when her kids get home from school and they ask what’s for dinner, if she says I’m cooking Lidia, they’re happy.”
In her book, Bastianich expounds on using our judgment when it comes to cooking.
“We all have commonsense in life, in the kitchen we all have it too, this book brings it out,” she says. “It’s straightforward. Recipes are not law. It’s okay to change a recipe according to what we have in the house. I want people to be comfortable with food.”
Intense food memories of her grandmother’s Italian kitchen mix with those of coming to America at age 11 at a time when the Italian ingredients we take for granted now—fresh ricotta, pasta and mozzarella, a wide selection of Italian charcuterie, the Arborio rice necessary for making risotto and high end canned tomatoes—were difficult if not impossible to find. Bastianich describes herself as feeling “yanked from a cocoon.” And indeed life was much different. From milking goats and helping harvest the seasonal garden bounty, she instead wanted to be American which meant eating like an American.
“I was intrigued by Jell-O and TV dinners because that’s what being Americans was— heat up a TV dinner and sit in front of the TV to eat,” she recalls. “Sometimes my mom would give me a fried zucchini sandwich for school. I was so embarrassed. In high school and college you did what your peers do. My mother was very upset.”
Fortunately, not only for her mother but for American home cooks, Bastianich, realizing she had a heritage that was rich, reconnected to her roots and became an advocate for real food versus what she calls American “utility” food.
“My father never would have eaten a TV dinner,” she says. “Food has given me so much. If I can share that it’s a great gift.”
Sidebar: Mega Italian
Partnering with her son Joe as well as several others, Bastianich opened the 50,000-square-foot Eataly in Manhattan over a decade ago, the group then brought the concept of all thing’s Italian cuisine-wise to other cities including Chicago. The two-story 60,000-square-foot store features a plethora of restaurants, cooking classes a gelateria for gelato lovers and enough retail food vendors to send even the most blasé foodie into overdrive. On October 22 & 23, Eataly is presenting their Tuscan Wine & Cheese event, a focus on artisanal cheeses, regional wines, and seasonal bites on October 22 & 23, Eataly Restaurant Fest until October 31, and How to Eataly offering tips for living and eating better as well as getting the most out of fall until November 1. As for other events, there are cooking classes, market tours, and more all the time.
The following recipes are from Lidia’s Commonsense Italian Cooking.
Chicken Breast with Orange and Gaeta Olives Pollo con Olive ed Aranci
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds thin sliced chicken cutlets
1 teaspoon kosher salt
all-purpose flour for dredging
1 large red onion, sliced
1 cup pitted Gaeta or Kalamata olives, halved
Juice and zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup white wine
1 teaspoon fennel powder
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
In a large skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil and butter. Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and lightly dredge it in flour. Lightly brown the chicken in the skillet (you want the chicken to end up with a blonde-colored crust and slowly build the color, and flavor, up) on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Cook the chicken in batches, if necessary, depending on the size of your skillet. Remove to a plate as it is colored.
Once the chicken is colored, add the onion and cook until softened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the olives, orange juice and zest, white wine and fennel powder. Add chicken back to the skillet and simmer until the chicken is just cooked through and the sauce coats the chicken, about 3 to 4 minutes. Season with remaining salt, sprinkle with the parsley, and serve.
Food Network Ina Garten Panettone Bread Pudding
Lidia’s Pear Bread Pudding
2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
6 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of 1 lemon, grated
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream, plus more to whip for garnish
4 cups day- old 1/2-inch country- bread cubes, crusts removed
2 Bosc pears, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1/3 cup blanched sliced almonds
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat the baking dish with softened butter. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add all but 2 tablespoons of the sugar, the vanilla, and lemon zest, and whisk to lighten the mixture. Whisk in the milk and heavy cream. Add the bread and pears, and pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and the almond slices.
Bake until the pudding is set and puffy and the top is golden, about 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool on a rack for 15 minutes; serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with whipped cream.
Serving Size
Makes 6 to 8 servings
Apple Cake
Serves 4
2.2 pounds golden delicious apples
2 eggs
3.5 ounces flour
3.5 ounces sugar
3.5 ounces Amaretti
3.5 ounces butter
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 pack yeast for baking
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour an -8– or -9–inch springform pan.
In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and white sugar until pale and light, about 1 minute. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until light and fluffy, another minute or two. Beat in the vanilla.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour the dry ingredients into the mixer with the lemon zest, and mix until just combined. In a medium bowl, toss together the apples, brown sugar, and walnuts. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and then sprinkle with the apple mixture.
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake, about 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool on a rack, then unmold, and cut into wedges to serve.
Elizabeth Minchilli, who has lived in Italy for a quarter of a century, has created a way for all of us to experience certain special food events that comprise the country’s heritage in much the same way as their monuments (think The Colosseum, St. Peter’s and the Leaning Tower of Pisa) are must-sees for visitors.
She shows us how, in her latest cookbook, The Italian Table: Creating Festive Meals for Family and Friends, to completely replicate such Italian food culture in such chapters as a Sunday Lunch in Email-Romagna, Farm to Sicilian Table, Panini Party in Umbria and A Table by the Sea in Positano. Because Minchilli’s background and interests are not only culinary but also envelope style and architecture, she tells us not only what to drink and eat but also how to create the tablescape as well. As an example, her Pizza by the Slice in Rome meal calls for “for the authentic pizzeria al taglia vibe, use plastic or—more sustainable—paper.”
Minchilli,
who is from St. Louis, Missouri but moved to Rome with her parents when she was
12, developed such a passion for the all things Italy (she even married an
Italian man) and in her words, had an Italian baby, an Italian house and an
Italian dog.
“That was
after I returned as a graduate student to study Renaissance garden architecture
in Florence,” says Minchilli when I talk to her using Skype as she was at her
home in Rome.
I discover, as we talk, that I already have one of her books, a luscious tome titled Villas on the Lakes: Orta, Maggiore, Como, Garda that someone had given me years ago and which I still leaf through to marvel at all the wonderful photos. Minchilli is one of those people who seems to do it all, she’s written nine books including Restoring a Home in Italy, takes all her own photos, writes an award winning website, elizabethminchilli.com, developed her Eat Italy app and offers food tours to behind the scenes culinary destinations as well as posting on You Tube and other social media.
She tells
me that her love for food began when she was given one of those easy-bake ovens
when she was a kid.
“I became
the cook of the family,” she says, though she obviously she’s moved way beyond
a toy where the oven is heated by a light bulb.
The
Italian Table is her ninth book.
“I’m
really happy about it,” says Minchilli. “This is really the book where I can
bring everything together—the food, the people who make the plates, what is
surrounding us, the whole experience.”
She was
motivated to write the book after being questioned countless about how Italian
food and dining. To showcase that, she decided on highlight 12 different
dinners and photograph and write about them in real time—as they were being
planned, cooked and served.
“I wanted
people to know how Italians really eat and I decided to do that by meals in different
areas and then narrowed it down by going deeper into how it all comes
together,” she says. “I set it up so you can go through the cookbook and decide
what you like.”
She’s
also included a time table, what to do, depending upon the dinner, two days
before, one day before, two hours before, one hour before and when your guests
arrive. And there are ways to lessen the cooking load for the more intensive
and elaborate dinners.
“Food is
about being social and sharing,” Minchilli tells me. “A lot of people are
scared to have people over and so I wanted to take fear out of the equation. That’s
why I give people a game plan by telling people when to shop, when they should
set the table and also how far ahead to do things so that there’s less to do at
the last minute. It reduces the stress and fear and makes it more
approachable.”
Elizabeth Minchilli will be at Ceres’ Table, 3124 N.
Broadway, Chicago, IL on Monday, April 22 at 8 pm (EST). The Book Cellar is handling the event. The price of the ticket includes a signed copy
of the book, five course dinner selected by Elizabeth from dishes in her book,
taxes and service. Tickets, which cost $82 per person, can be purchased by
visiting the event page at bookcellarinc.com or calling (773) 293-2665.
Rotolini di
Zucchini con Ricotta
Ricotta-Stuffed
Zucchini
4 medium
zucchini, trimmed
2
tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
1 bunch of
fresh mint, leaves only
Sea salt
11/2 cups of
fresh ricotta
1/2 cup of
poppy seeds
Fresh sage
or basil leaves, for garnish
Extra-virgin
olive oil, for drizzling (preferably your best variety)
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Using a sharp knife or mandoline, cut the zucchini
lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick ribbons. (You should end up with at least 12
full-length, unbroken ribbons.) Place the zucchini in one layer on one or two
baking sheets. Season them with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, half of the
mint, and salt to taste and bake them for about 10 minutes, until just tender.
Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
In the meantime, place the ricotta in a medium bowl with the
remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the rest of the mint, roughly chopped. Using
a fork, whip it until smooth and creamy.
Place about 2 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture on each
strip of zucchini and roll it up. Place the poppy seeds in a shallow bowl. Dip
both flat ends of the rolls in the poppy seeds, coating the ricotta.
To serve, place two or three rolls on individual plates.
Garnish each roll by placing a sage or basil leaf on top and tucking the ends
in so that it follows the curve of the roll. Drizzle with your best
extra-virgin olive oil and serve.
Radicchio with Pancetta and Parmigiano
Makes 8 servings
4 heads of radicchio di Treviso, leaves separated
30 thin slices of pancetta (about ½ pound)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
8 shelled walnuts, roughly chopped
4 ounces of Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (1 cup)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay the
radicchio leaves on top. If some of the inner leaves are very small, you can
put two together to make a larger base.
Fry half the pancetta in a nonstick skillet over medium heat
until it has released its fat a bit. Don’t let it burn. You won’t need any oil,
as the pancetta should be pretty fatty. This may need to be done in a few
batches. Each batch should take only a few minutes.
Season the radicchio with salt and pepper and drizzle with
olive oil. Distribute the cooked pancetta on top of each leaf, then add the
chopped nuts and sprinkle with the Parmigiano.
Wrap each stuffed leaf with a slice of uncooked pancetta.
Bake in preheated oven about 20 minutes, until pancetta around the outside is
cooked and beginning to sizzle. Serve immediately, while warm.
Torta di
Spinachi
Spinach Tart
About 2
pounds of spinach or other greens
1 cup fresh
ricotta
1 large egg
1 large egg
yolk
½ cup of
whole milk
4 ounces of
Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
1 tablespoon
of fresh marjoram leaves for ½ teaspoon dried
½ teaspoon
sea salt
A few grindings
of black pepper
Place the
greens in a pot with about an inch of water and cook over medium heat for about
10 minutes, until wilted. Drain and when cool enough to handle, squeeze the
greens into a ball, squeezing out every last drop of moisture. You should have
about 1 cup. Roughly chop the greens and set aside.
About an
hour before you are going to bake the tart, place the ricotta in a fine sieve
and drain it over a bowl to remove the excess whey.
Preheat the
oven to 350°
F. Line the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper.
Put the
chopped greens in a clean bowl with the drained ricotta, whole egg and yolk,
milk, 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, ¾ cup of the Parmigiano, the marjoram,
butter, salt and pepper. Mix well with a fork.
Pour the
mixture into the pan, leveling off the top with the back of a spoon. Cover with
the remaining olive oil and Parmigiano.
Bake for 50
minutes, until the tart begins to brown and is well set. Remove from the oven
and let cool for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides with a knife and, using an offset
spatula, turn it out onto a serving platter.
