What's On My Plate » mario batali

Ribollita Soup (Tuscan Bean Soup)

Tonya — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 15:41:13 +0000

I’m looking out the window and watching the snow and thinking that this would be the perfect time to talk soup. Soup is one of my favourite things to eat when the thermometer starts to head south. Soup is easy to make and rarely requires crazy ingredients. A bonus is that depending on the type of soup you can use it as an excuse to clean out your fridge.

For whatever reason the other day I had a crazy craving for Tuscan Bean Soup. I don’t even remember what prompted that craving but I just had to have the soup. My best memories of Tuscan Bean Soup are from when I interned at NBC. For almost two years I spent about 3 days at NBC during school semesters. This of course meant that I became intimate with the various lunch options in and around Rockefeller Centre.

One of my favourite lunch spots was Cucina & Co. in the basement of 30 Rock. Cucina is a sort of Mediterranean marketplace where you can grab lunch or sit down. I’d often go there for soup and these really good white chocolate and cherry cookies. I could be making up the white chocolate part but these cookies definitely had sour cherries in them. SO GOOD.

I don’t really have a flavour memory for the Cucina & Co. bean soup but I have a warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart about it. So I decided to try to make some Tuscan bean soup that would recreate that warm and fuzzy feeling. I started scouring my cookbooks looking for a recipe and settled on Mario Batali’s Ribollita recipe on the Food Network site and also in his book Molto Italiano.

The soup was easy enough to make although there was a fair amount of chopping involved. I used kale instead of black cabbage. The results were okay to good. I found the flavours a bit flat and the soup a bit thinner than I would’ve liked. This was easily remedied by finishing each bowl of soup with a splash of olive oil. Next time I’d probably start the soup with some sauteed bacon to add another layer of flavours. While generally good I think I’ll continue on my search for the perfect Tuscan Bean Soup.

This soup is definitely vegetarian and can be vegan if you omit the sprinkling of cheese.

Ribollita

Ingredients

* 3/4 cup dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight and drained
* 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 Spanish onion, thinly sliced
* 1 leek, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
* 1 carrot, cut into 1/4-inch dice
* 1 celery stalk, cut into 1/4-inch dice
* 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced, plus 1 whole garlic clove
* 2 sprigs fresh thyme
* 1 bay leaf
* 1 pound chopped cavolo nero (black cabbage), roughly chopped
* 1/2 pound chopped white cabbage, roughly chopped
* 2 scant tablespoons tomato paste
* 3 cups water
* 4 (1/2-inch) slices Italian peasant bread
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions

Place the presoaked cannellini beans in a medium stockpot. Add water to just cover the beans and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and let the beans simmer until tender, about 1 hour.

In a 12-inch saute pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the onion, leek, carrot, celery, sliced garlic, and herbs. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the black and white cabbages and cook until the cabbage has softened and the flavors have blended, about 10 minutes. Salt and pepper, to taste. Remove the sprigs of rosemary and thyme and the bay leaf. Add the tomato paste, and stir until the tomato paste is well distributed throughout the vegetable mixture.

Preheat the grill or broiler.

Add the vegetable mixture to the pot with beans and water and let simmer until the flavors are well blended, about 30 minutes more. When the soup is close to being done, toast or grill the bread until both sides are browned. Cut the remaining garlic clove in half, and rub the toasted bread with the cut end of the garlic. Discard the garlic.

Serve the soup hot in 4 warmed bowls with the garlic bruschetta on the side. Garnish with a sprinkling of Parmigiano, to taste.

(Recipe via Food Network)

On The Town: Babbo (New York)

Tonya — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:00:32 +0000

Babbo
110 Waverly Place
New York, NY 10011
1.212.777.0303

(Photo via Babbo)

So it’s no secret that I have a food crush on Mario Batali (chronicled here). I’ve been to many of his restaurants including Otto, Lupa, Esca, Del Posto and Pizzeria Mozza. Babbo has been on my list for years but has never managed to happen. Part of it is the advanced planning required (reservations are taken starting a month to the date that you want to go if you call anytime after you’ll be eating at 11pm) and the fact that when I lived in NYC it didn’t really fit within a student’s budget (and later didn’t fit into a budding TV producer’s budget either). These days I have more cash (sweet!) but my NYC trips aren’t usually planned far in advance. This time around however we were planning around my mom’s birthday so the trip was booked 2 months in advance! I figured Babbo would be a great choice for my mom’s birthday because she loves Italian food and has enjoyed Mario’s restaurants in the past.

Once I settled on Babbo I became kind of obsessed with the whole reservation policy. I read countless blog entries and Chowhound posts to figure out how to navigate the system. I even did test call runs on the days leading up to the big day. I was obsessed. Finally June 3 rolled along and I made the call. I started calling at 10AM and finally managed to get through at around 11AM. At this point they offered me 5:45 or 10:30. The average person would’ve been disappointed but alas I had tickets to see Fences at 8PM so 5:45 was perfect!

From the outside Babbo looks like nothing fancy but inside it’s lovely. The first thing I noticed when I entered was a woman sitting at the bar with a wide-brimmed hat. How strange I thought to myself. Not so strange if the woman happened to be food journalist Gael Greene, which it was! So I was totally pumped. If it’s good enough for Gael Greene…

My mom and I were seated in what could only be described as a lover’s table. We were on the first floor at the end of the room at the table with the banquette. It was pretty hilarious but also probably one of the best tables.

On to the food…

It all started with an amuse bouche. I’m a sucker for an amuse bouche because frankly I never see them coming. I’m always DELIGHTED that I’ve been granted the pleasure of a little treat before my meal. It’s the little things really. This amuse bouche consisted of a chickpea bruschetta concoction. From that taste I knew the meal would be fantastic.

Grilled Market Verdure - to start we split one of the day’s specials, grilled vegetables from the market. The vegetables were of the squash and pepper variety which worked for me. They were really simple and fresh with a bit of oil and a hint of cheese. A nice way to start.

Gnocchi with Braised Oxtail – I’m a sucker for some oxtail and for gnocchi so when I saw the two combined I knew I had to go for that. This was honestly one of those dishes where I wanted to hold the bowl to my face and just lick it. The gnocchi were pillowy and the oxtail was plentiful and flavourful. There wasn’t one particular flavour that was overwhelming, it was just pure goodness. Initially going into Babbo I figured the pastas wouldn’t be main course sized since in Italy pasta is kind of like an appetizer (you have it before a meat dish). However our waiter told us up front that the pastas were main course sized OR that we could split it as an appetizer, which is what we did. Great choice.

Brasato al Barolo (Braised Beef with Porcini Mushrooms) – I’m really into braised meats these days. It’s typically something that I’d crave in the wintertime but for some reason this summer my stomach wants me to fire up the oven and keep it going for 3+ hours to braise some meat. Luckily there was braised meat on the menu to keep my craving at bay. As the title says the meat was braised in Barolo with porcini mushrooms and was served on top of polenta. Pretty much one of my fave types of meals. I loved this and left my plate embarrassingly clean at the end.

Swordfish with Sweet Potato Passato and Chorizo Vinaigrette – This was my mom’s pick. We had no clue what a “passato” was and oddly did not even ask. Turns out it’s a puree and it went well with the swordfish. It was more on the runnier side than I would have liked but it was still lovely. The Chorizo Vinaigrette was my favourite. Vinaigrette isn’t quite the word to describe it as the fish ends up with a ton of chorizo strips on top of it. No complaints.

Blueberry Almond Cake “Sottosopra” with Toasted Coconut Gelato – When dessert time came we played the whole “we’re not having dessert game”. But then a few things happened: 1.) remembered it was my mom’s birthday, 2.) heard Adjoa’s voice in my head, she would not tolerate no dessert and 3.) I saw the menu. My eyes immediately gravitated towards the Blueberry Almond Cake and the Chocolate Hazelnut Cake, both sounded amazing. When they brought out the cake I thought I was going to pass out. What the description DOESN’T tell you is that it’s more of a blueberry upside down cake! AND it was a bit warm (I could be making that part up, it could have been my heart warming up to dessert). It came with the coconut ice cream and was garnished with coconut curls. I love coconut. So basically it tasted like heaven and wish I had gotten one all for myself. Since returning I’ve been OBSESSED with finding the recipe for this or at least something similar. I may have to plead with the Babbo gods to help a sister out.

I don’t do fine dining all that often but when I do I love it. The level of service was exceptional. Our waiter was lovely, attentive and really helpful at guiding us through ways to approach the menu. The Maitre d’ (at least I believe he was the Maitre d’) was really engaging (and from Buffalo, we’re like neighbours). And I have to admit it cracked me up every time our cutlery was replaced. It also cracked me up that the soundtrack was Bob Marley. Yes, in an Italian restaurant. Mario is just gangsta like that. I was seriously grooving the entire time and trying (sometimes unsuccessfully) to not sing along.

After the meal the verdict was that we pretty much have to come here on every one of our trips. It was that good. I also found the prices to be reasonable and the portions to be comfortable. If anything I think if I’d ordered the gnocchi for my main I would have been stuffed. Next time I would love to try one of the tasting menus. The table next to ours did the pasta tasting menu and I was way into watching what they were eating.

Needless to say I think Babbo has earned it’s reputation over the past 12 years. It’s worth fighting the phone lines and gaining 12 lbs because you decided to order 10 of the Blueberry Almond Cakes (that will be me next time).

On The Town: New York Eats – Part 2

Tonya — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:00:52 +0000

(Photo borrowed from here)

For Canada Day weekend I decided to head down to New York for a bit of shopping, eating and theatre-watching. Of course after combing some of my favourite NYC resources I came up with a list of places to try and list of places to re-visit. Detailed posts to come on some of the restaurants over the next week or so.

Here’s where I ate…

Motorino (full review to come) – I can’t go to NYC without having some pizza. This place in the East Village (and Brooklyn) has a great $12 lunch special.

Luke’s Lobster (full review to come) – This place has been getting a lot of buzz for their lobster rolls. It didn’t disappoint.

A Taste of Seafood – My go-to fried fish spot in Harlem. Their sides are also amazing. Gotta have the mac n cheese and the fried okra.

Locanda Verde (full review to come) – Andrew Carmellini’s new spot in Tribeca. Went for brunch. Gorgeous space. Would like to move in.

Babbo (full review to come) – No words. Okay, maybe a few. Mario Batali’s Washington Square gem that’s been around for a while. AMAZING meal and fantastic service. Might have to revisit during every trip.

Dos Caminos Soho – A throwback brunch pick! Recent visits have disappointed but they’ve changed the brunch menu a bit and I had a really great meal.

Empanada Mama (full review to come) – this place brings back memories of babysitting. I branched out from my usual picks and had some good eats!

Tortilla Espanola (Spanish Omelette)

Tonya — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:37:46 +0000

A few weeks ago in my cooking class it was egg day. The teacher demonstrated how to make hollandaise, how to poach an egg, how to make various omelettes and then we made quiche. Now as you may or may not know from reading the blog, eggs freak me out. You can’t just get me to eat an egg. It has to be cooked a certain way (and this certain can change from day to day), I have to be in the right mood, the wind has to be blowing in a certain direction – you get the picture. Oddly enough quiche is one of my fave foods so egg day didn’t stress me out. After watching the teacher make omelettes and talk about frittatas all I could think of were Spanish omelettes or tortilla espanola.

Tortilla espanola is like a frittata but is made with potatoes and onions. I was first introduced to the idea while studying in NYC and then ate a ton of the stuff while vacationing in Spain a few years ago. I’ve made tortilla espanola in the past but tend to avoid making it because you have to use a lot of oil to make it good. This used to bother me because a.) olive oil is expensive and b.) using a cup or more of oil for an omelette hurt my heart a bit. But given that I’m experimenting with excess these days it’s full steam ahead.

Recipes for tortilla espanola are generally the same. The ingredients are eggs, potatoes, onions, oil, salt and pepper. It’s just the proportions that change. I decided to use this recipe from Food & Wine by Mario Batali. I figured Batali has some street cred when it comes to Spanish food because he has a tapas bar in NYC and he did the whole traveling across Spain thing for PBS.

This recipe actually calls for a lot less oil than most recipes I’ve seen. I ended up adding a bit more oil. I like that this recipe doesn’t force me to flip the tortilla to get even browning. Instead the tortilla has a stint under the broiler to brown it. So much easier!

This is the kind of light meal that’s perfect for summer. Leftovers are great and don’t even have to be served warm. I’m also partial to putting a wedge of tortilla espanola on some bread and eating it like a sandwich. But eating it the way I pictured above works too – some toast and some salad. I contemplated making an aioli but got a bit lazy.

I think I could use another Spanish holiday…

Tortilla Espanola
Ingredients
1. 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2. 1 1/4 pounds red bliss potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
3. 1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
4. Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
5. 8 large eggs

Directions
1. Preheat the broiler. Heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet. Add the potato and onion slices, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until the potatoes and onion are tender but not browned, about 15 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Scrape the potato mixture into the bowl, being sure not to leave any in the skillet.
3. Return the skillet to the heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the egg mixture, spreading it out in an even layer. Cover and cook over low heat until the tortilla is set on the bottom and the edges, about 10 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven and broil 8 inches from the heat just until the top is set, about 1 minute longer. Set a large plate over the skillet and carefully invert the tortilla onto the plate. Let stand for 5 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.

(From Food & Wine)

The Perfect Pizza #3

Tonya — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:12:54 +0000

My quest for the perfect pizza continues. I was not happy to let my previous endeavour be my authoritative post on the Mario Batalie Otto pizza dough recipe. I had to give it another shot especially since I”m pretty sure the problem was my yeast.

This time my dough rose properly and actually looked like pizza dough… very promising! However, when I baked it I didn’t love it. The dough was pretty dense and didn’t have the air pockets that my first attempt showed. There also wasn’t a lot of “chew” to it, the crust could have been a bit softer.

I will be removing this dough recipe from my pizza making repertoire for sure. Please give send along suggestions of other great dough recipes!

For the toppings I decided to get a bit fancier. I did potatoes, rosemary, sausage and mushrooms. Sadly, I overcooked my potato slices when I pre-cooked them but the pizza still turned out okay.

PIZZA CRUST

• 1/4 cup white wine
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1 package yeast
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 1/2 cups double zero flour and 1/2 cup AP flour, sifted together

DIRECTIONS
Combine the wine, water, and yeast in a large bowl and stir until dissolved. Add the honey, salt, and the olive oil and mix thoroughly. Add 1 cup of the flour and mix with a wooden spoon to make a loose batter. Add 2 more cups of the flour and stir with the spoon for 2-3 minutes to incorporate as much flour as possible.

Bring the dough together by hand and turn out onto a floured board or marble surface. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes, until you have made a smooth, firm dough. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Set aside to rise in the warmest part of the kitchen for 45 minutes.

Cut the risen dough into 4 equal pieces and knead each portion into a round. Cover again and let rest 15 minutes.

To make the pizzas: Dust a clean work surface lightly with flour. Working one dough round at a time, use your fingers and palms to flatten the dough into a 10 to 12-inch circle, each about 1/8-inch thick.

The Perfect Pizza #2

Tonya — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:02:36 +0000

My quest for the perfect pizza continues. This time the crust recipe came via Everybody Loves Pizza by Penny Pollack and Jeff Ruby. I can’t remember exactly how I acquired this book but it was likely during my stint interning in network news or when I worked in the TV production world. Either way I love this book. It’s filled with information about pizza across the U.S. and tons of anecdotes about pizza. At the back of the book are a number of pizza recipes from recognized chefs and restaurants. Of course when I saw a recipe for Mario Batali’s pizza at Otto I knew I had to give it a try.

I’ve made this before and in retrospect I think I always found this recipe too yeasty. Incidentally this time around my yeast was wonky and my dough barely rose causing me to have a pizza cracker! Not stellar and far from perfect. I might try this again with fresher yeast to see how this dough reacts with the pizza stone and the higher cooking temps.

Topping wise the pizza was pretty great! I used mozzarella, goat cheese, mushrooms, spinach and roasted red peppers. It reminds me of the 90s!

So the quest for the perfect pizza continues. As Jay-Z would say… “on to the next one”.

PIZZA CRUST

Cut the risen dough into 4 equal pieces and knead each portion into a round. Cover again and let rest 15 minutes.

Tagliatelle with Sausage, Basil, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Tonya — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 01:01:52 +0000

This is the follow-up to my pasta-making experience. All I have to say is oy!

I figured I’d use my fresh pasta in a recipe designed specifically for fresh pasta. Of course my buddy/food crush Mario Batali divides his pasta recipes between dried and fresh. Easy enough. After skimming through Molto Italiano I decided on Tagliatelle with Sausage, Basil, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. I liked the idea because it seemed really simple and used things that I mostly had on hand. In the end it was maybe too simple.

I followed the recipe to a “T” and dare I say, I didn’t love it? There was enough flavour! It was bland and dry and overall not scrumptious! I was disappointed. The worst part was that I used ALL of my fresh pasta for this recipe. ALL of it. Go figure. I wish I could say there were some redeeming parts of the recipe but there really weren’t. Of course I made a lot of pasta and had to take it to work for lunch over a few days. I didn’t love it.

Rating: ** (out of 5)

Check out what others had to say…
Eat. Drink. Think.

Tagliatelle with Sausage, Basil, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

ingredients:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
8 ounces sweet Italian sausage, casings removed and crumbled
6 sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
5 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 to 1-1/4 pounds fresh tagliatelle
12 fresh basil leaves
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano for serving with pasta.

method:
1.Bring large pot of water to boil, add 2 tablespoons salt

2.Meanwhile, in a large 10″ or 12″ sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat until hot. Add the garlic and cook until lightly golden brown, about 2 minutes. Add the sausage and sun-dried tomatoes and cook, stirring, until the sausage is cooked through, 5-7 minutes. Drain the fat from the pan, leaving about 2 tablespoons, then stir in the tomato paste and wine and cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

3.Drop the tagliatelle into the boiling water and cook until tender (with fresh pasta, this usually takes 2-3 minutes). Drain the pasta and add to the pan with the sun-dried tomatoes. Return to the heat, toss in the basil, stir gently for about 30 seconds. Serve immediately with grated Parmagiano.

Mario Batali’s Basic Pasta Dough

Tonya — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:24:43 +0000

Every once in a while I get inspired by the idea of a large cooking project. On this particular day I felt like making pasta from scratch. A few years ago I commandeered my sister’s pasta maker for my own use and have had success making pasta (the two or three times I actually made it). Then a few months ago I was at the big Italian grocery store and I bought the 00 type flour thinking that I would make some pasta in the near future. The near future ended up being maybe six months later… but those are just details.

My go-to pasta recipe tends to be Mario Batali’s Basic Pasta Dough from his Molto Italiano cookbook. In the past I’ve adapted in and done the spinach version and have loved it.

The thing about making pasta from scratch is that it’s SOOOOOOO time consuming. There is a lot of rolling and flattening and running the dough through the machine multiple times. Don’t even get me started on the dough tearing, drying out etc. And the yield is never that much. One recipe makes about 1 1/4 lb of pasta! It can be pretty frustrating. Let’s not forget that pasta isn’t that expensive to begin with.

Why do I do it? Part of it is kind of relaxing. And I tend to like the craft involved in food and the feeling of seeing dozens of strands drying. But to be honest, after my last experience I may just use my machine to make ravioli or something!

So I had my pasta drying on the rack but my mom was going to make curry for dinner. I didn’t want my pasta to taste like curry so I moved the rack to my bedroom. I left and went to yoga and when I came back about half of the pasta was on the floor and on my side table! As the pasta dried it began to snap at the tension point where it made contact with the bar. I kid you not. I was able to rescue some of it but I almost lost it when I saw my precious pasta strewn across the floor!

Then when I cooked the pasta a few days later the recipe I chose was NOT delish. I’ll post about that one next.

Here’s what others have to say on the matter…
Murray Hill 5 : In My Kitchen

Mario Batali’s Basic Pasta Dough

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading

5 large eggs

Directions

Mound the flour in the center of a large wooden board. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the eggs. Using a fork, beat the eggs together and then begin to incorporate the flour, starting with the inner rim of the well. As you expand the well, keep pushing the flour up to retain the well shape (do not worry if it looks messy). When half of the flour is incorporated, the dough will begin to come together. Start kneading the dough, using primarily the palms of your hands. Once the dough is a cohesive mass, set the dough aside and scrape up and discard any dried bits of dough.

Lightly flour the board and continue kneading for 10 minutes, dusting the board with additional flour as necessary. The dough should be elastic and a little sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature before using. Makes about 1 1/4 lbs.

Risotto with Mushrooms and Vin Santo

Tonya — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 01:56:59 +0000

In my last post a went on about the joy that is my Mario Batali cookbook. And now here’s some evidence.

A few weeks ago I bought a bag of Arborio-style rice and kept on meaning to make me some risotto. Then I realized that I had some leftover chicken broth in the fridge… a perfect reason to make risotto. I wasn’t sure what kind of risotto I wanted so I started going through my entire cookbook collection until something struck my fancy. As usual Mario struck my fancy with his Risotto with Mushrooms and Vin Santo.

Of course I wasn’t too sure about what Vin Santo even was. Luckily Mario suggests substituting Dry Sherry which was an easy one because I’ve been experimenting with Chinese food a lot recently and have a good bottle of Dry Sherry that I’m working on. So that was easy. I ended up doing a lot of substituting in this recipe. I couldn’t find porcini mushrooms. I’m sure if I went to Whole Foods or something I would have found them but I had a case of the lazies and didn’t feel like travelling to spend an exorbitant amount on fungus. Instead I used a mix of cremini and portobello mushrooms. The butter I used was salted. This frustrates me. Actually the whole pricing and presentation of butter in Toronto frustrates me. But that is a story for another post. Long story short, I only have salted butter in my fridge right now.

Some people think that risotto making is time-consuming and labour intensive, I beg to differ. Sure you have to stir risotto fairly constantly but it’s not a particularly stressful process. Grab the wooden spoon, maybe a glass of vino and stir away. You can even step away for a minute or two to fast forward through the commercials on your TiVo. Just a suggestion.

This turned out OK. My one complaint is that the dish was, dare I say, too boozy. I know, I didn’t think that could be possible. I’m thinking that maybe something gets lost in the vin santo to dry sherry translation – I’d definitely reduce the amount next time. Actually, I’d like to try vin santo but I just searched the LCBO site and the cheapest bottle is $20+. I also wish that I had a more intense mushroom taste. It wasn’t bad at all, it just wasn’t my favourite Mario recipe, but I don’t blame it on him yet because I did make a ton of changes.

Rating: *** (out of 5)

Risotto With Mushrooms And Vin Santo

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
8 ounces porcini, sliced
8 ounces shittake mushrooms, stems removed, caps sliced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
8 cups chicken stock, heated until hot
1 cup vin santo *
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1) In a 10 to 12 inch saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat until almost smoking. Add the onion and cook until softened and translucent but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes.

2) Add the mushrooms and saute until lightly browned. Add the rice and stir until thoroughly coated and opaque, about 3 minutes.

3) Add a 4 to 6 ounce ladeful of the stock and cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed. Continue stirring and adding the stock a ladleful at a time, waiting until the liquid is absorbed each time before adding more, until the rice is tender and creamy but still al dente, about 18 minutes.

4) Add the vin santo and cook until the alcohol smell is gone, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the butter and Parmigiano, and stir vigorously for 25 seconds. Season with salt and pepper, divide the risotto among four warmed plates, and serve.

*If you can’t find vin santo, Mario Batali recommends using dry sherry.

From Molto Italiano by Mario Batali

New Feature: Cookbook Reviews – Molto Italiano by Mario Batali

Tonya — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:44:06 +0000

I have a pretty solid cook book collection with approximately 50 cookbooks sitting on my shelves. I have a core rotation of about 10 that I use regularly but every once in a while I will crack open a new one just for fun. I’m always on the lookout for a new cookbook, although I need a new cookbook like I need a hole in my head, and I know other people are too so why not spread my knowledge.
First Up…

Molto Italiano by Mario Batali

I figured why not start with my food crush Mario? I’m not sure where my love for Mario began. I’ve never been an Iron Chef chef fan and only started watching his show on the Food Network when I got TiVo a few years ago. I think my interest probably began by going to his restaurants. Otto was often in my rotation of restaurants when I lived in NYC and then discovered my love for Lupa, Esca, Del Posto and Pizzeria Mozza (yum!).

Molto Italiano is the only Batali cookbook that I own and has left me pretty fulfilled. It gives a good mix of recipes that are too ambitious for me (read: recipes that require me to source super specific things that my regular Italian market doesn’t carry OR things that are cost prohibitive) and recipes that are simple and delicious. One of my favourite things about this cookbook is that Mario is pretty good about substitutions. He often has very specific types of alcohol that he cooks with (say, Vin Santo) but then he’ll tell you that you can substitute something more accessible like Dry Sherry. I love tips like this because I don’t want to buy a new bottle of alcohol every time I cook and if I have something like Dry Sherry around already I’d much rather just use that.

This cookbook is more Italian rather than Italian-American so the alfredo sauce isn’t a thick and creamy mess and the lasagne isn’t a bajillion layers of cheeses and meats – it’s a lot more simple. This could be frustrating for some people who are out to find a recipe for lasagne like you’d find at Olive Garden or Maggiano’s or something – this is definitely not the place for that.

Batali does a great job of categorizing the recipes and organizing the various sections of the cookbook. In the table of contents there is a heading for Antipasto, however once you get to the section you see that it’s broken down by vegetable, seafood and meat antipasto. Similarly, the pasta section is broken down into dried and fresh pasta dishes.

I tend to draw from the starchy areas of this cookbook. I’ve made great risottos, pastas, and polentas. I don’t tend to cook a lot of meat or poultry so I haven’t really touched on those areas although there are a bunch of recipes that sound delicious.

Interestingly enough I haven’t really blogged on here about any Batali recipes but there are many that are near and dear to my heart. Such as…

Risotto with Mushrooms and Vin Santo

Polenta with Salt Cod

Baked Ziti

Baked Penne with Eggplant

Tagliatelle with Mushroom Ragu

Definitely a great addition to my collection!