That’s Italian? That’s Italian!

Clara Sturak
Associate editor

La Bella Cucina
Viana La Place

Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen
Lidia Matticchio Bastianich

   Viana La Place has written nine Italian cookbooks. Actually, they could more appropriately be called books on cooking like the Italians do. To quote from her latest, La Bella Cucina, “The more I see, experience, and taste, the more I grow convinced that Italy represents an ideal paradigm for living la bella vita here at home...I strongly believe that this is because Italian cooking, more than any other ethnic cuisine I’m familiar with, allows the food to speak in a pure, simple way…” The book, not content to offer the reader pure, simple dishes, also covers “Ordering gelato Like an Italian,” “How Italians Make Coffee at Home,” and three quarters of a page on “Pane, Burro e Marmellata,” (Bread, Butter and Jam), for which “no recipe is required, but a brief explanation is in order.” Did you know that Italians only eat butter at the breakfast meal? Evidently, they “would find it unthinkable to butter their bread with lunch or dinner.” Well, so would I, but no one asked me.
   La Place, for all her talent in creating clean, striking recipes, is annoyingly obsessed with the foods, drinks and kitchenware of Italy. Needless to say, the actual Italians can do no wrong. Maybe it’s just me, but when I sit down to read one of La Place’s nicely designed cookbooks, I always end up feeling bugged, and a more than a little put off by her endless waxing on the virtues of all things Etruscan. If you love Italy so much, I mutter to myself, why don’t you marry it?
   On the other side of the Lira is Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen, a companion book to the public television series of the same name. The jacket features Lidia Matticchio Bastianich’s smiling face and round figure – the book itself, over 400 pages of recipes for everything from Artichoke and Bread Frittata to Braised Oxtail with Rigatoni, to “Ugly but Good” Nut Cookies.
   La Place is an unrelenting elitist disguised as a “back to the land” slow-fooder– her recipes include ingredients like “bread preferably made from durum wheat flower,” “tender dandelion greens, preferably no longer than 6 inches or so,” and “wild or cultivated garlic.” Oh yeah, I’ll be picking up that wild garlic right after I finish my artisanal durum wheat loaf. (Or feel like second-rate human as I purchase my cultivated bulb at the Ralph’s.)
   Bastianich’s recipes appeal to those of us who love good food, but are just planning on making dinner. She, like La Place, emphasizes the simple, fresh tastes that make Italian food so good, but she’s got nothing to prove. “Egg-Battered Scallopine with Lemon Sauce” may not change your life, but it sure is tasty. (Interestingly, Bastianich includes a sidebar on “The Ritual of Coffee,” with much of the same information as in La Place’s book. But, somehow, it comes across as charming instead of oppressive.)
   Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen includes photos, both of finished dishes and of cooking techniques, something I consider a necessity in a cookbook, whether it’s being used or just browsed through. La Bella Cucina has no photos, but is a lovlier book than Lidia’s – with tiny drawings of lemons, tomatoes and herbs scattered through it.
   And Bastianich could definitely be accused of going for quantity over quality. But it’s an interesting irony that La Place, born in the US, feels the need to “rediscover” the Italy of her dreams, while Bastianich, an Italian, chooses to teach us a hyphenate cuisine. It’s both American and Italian, and it’s authentic.
   Here’s a taste test. Recipes for meat sauce from the two books follow. Both are basic, and very good. You decide which is best.

   Sunday Meat Sauce (from La Bella Cucina)
   Serves 4 to 6
   “This excellent meat sauce has a depth and richness of flavor that offers profound satisfaction”
   3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
   1 large onion, finely diced
   1 1/2 pounds assorted boneless veal, pork, beef and lamb, not ground but cut with scissors or a sharp knife into small pieces or dice (ask your butcher to do this, most will happily oblige.)
   Sea salt and grinding of black pepper
   Pinch of hot red pepper flakes
   1 fresh bay leaf
   1/2 cup red wine
   1 pound very ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced
   Spring or filtered water, as needed
   1 pound imported artisanal pasta (almost any shape works with this sauce except very delicate ones, but ruffled lasagnette pasta is a particularly fine match)
   Freshly grated pecorino or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, or a mixture of the two.
   Heat the olive oil and onion in a braising pan or soup pot. Cook over low heat until the onion is golden and tender. Add the salt and pepper to taste, hot pepper flakes, bay leaf torn in half, and red wine. Let the wine bubble until it evaporates.
   Add the tomatoes, stir, and cook, covered, over low heat for 1 1/2 hours, stirring regularly, until the flavors develop fully. Check often and add water as needed to prevent scorching.
   Cook the pasta of your choice in abundant salted boiling water. When al dente, drain well and toss with the sauce. Generously sprinkle with a handful of cheese and toss again before serving. Serve with extra cheese at the table.

   Italian-American Meat Sauce (from Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen)
   Makes about 8 cups, enough to dress about two pounds of pasta
   “If you have trouble finding ground pork, or if you prefer to grind your own, it’s really very easy. (And if you buy a piece of bone-in pork to grind, you’ll have the bones you need for the sauce.”
   Two 35-ounce cans Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)
   1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
   2 medium yellow onions, diced (about 2 cups)
   6 to 8 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine
   5 to 6 meaty pork neck bones (about 3/4 pound)
   1 pound ground beef
   1 pound ground pork
   Salt
   4 bay leaves
   1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, preferably the Sicilian or Greek type dried on the branch, crumbled
   3/4 cup dry white wine
   1/3 cup tomato paste
   3 to 4 cups hot water
   Pass the tomatoes and their liquid through a food mill fitted with the fine disc. Set aside.
   Heat the olive oil in a heavy 4 to 5 quart pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 8 minutes. Make a little room in the center of the pot, dump in the garlic, and cook, stirring, until the garlic is lightly browned, about two minutes. Add the pork bones and cook, turning, until lightly browned on all sides, about five minutes. Add the ground beef and pork and season lightly with salt. Cook, stirring to break up the meat, until the meat changes color and the water it gives off is boiled away, about ten minutes. Continue cooking until the meat is browned, about five minutes. Add the bay leaves and oregano, then pour in the wine. Bring to a boil and cook, scraping up the brown bits that cling to the pot, until the wine is almost completely evaporated. Pour in the tomatoes, then stir in the tomato paste until it is dissolved. Season lightly with salt. Bring to a boil, adjust the heat to a lively simmer, and cook, uncovered stirring often, until the sauce takes on a deep, brick-red color, 2 to 3 hours. Add the hot water, about 1/2 cup at a time, as necessary to maintain the level of liquid for the length of time the sauce cooks.
   Skim off any fat floating on top and adjust the seasoning as necessary. The sauce can be prepared entirely in advance and refrigerated for up to 5 days.