Schaeffer Lucy - Pasta modern: new & inspired recipes from Italy

Published in 2013 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang
An imprint of ABRAMS

Text copyright 2013 Francine Segan
Photographs copyright 2013 Lucy Schaeffer, with the following exceptions:

: Francine Segan
: Francesca DOrazio Buonerba
: Emanuele Lombardo of Eco del Gusto
: Maurizio Maurizi of La Cucina di Calythanus
: Giuseppe Perrone of Studio Due
: Sara Bardelli of Qualcosa di Rosso
: Loriana Ponti of La Mercante di Spezie
: Sonia Piscicelli of Il Pasto Nudo
: Agostina Battaglia of My Pan e Burro e Marmellata

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013935989

ISBN: 978-1-61769-062-4

EDITOR: Elinor Hutton
DESIGNER: Laura Palese
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Tina Cameron
FOOD STYLIST: Simon Andrews
PROP STYLIST: Amy Wilson

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Table of
Contents

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Introduction

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It will be macaroni, I swear to it, that will unify Italy.

GENERAL GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI, 1860

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Here in the States, we imagine an Italy populated by black-clad grandmas, patiently stirring enormous pots of tomato sauce for Sundays family dinner. But todays Italy is a different scene: vibrant, ever-changing, and moving forward.

This goes for food too, as chefs, bloggers, home cooks, and, yes, even grandmas not only tweak classic dishes but also create entirely new ones with nontraditional ingredients and unusual pairings. In this book youll find many of those delightful recipes. Yet one thing remains unchangedno matter how modern, cutting-edge, or innovativeItalians universally have the almost inborn cultural sense to know when enough is enough. Their recipes tend to focus on just a few quality ingredients, so the palate is never overwhelmed.

I have a fierce, profound, and zealous reverence for Italian pasta, one of that countrys most important culinary patrimonies. So, to find authentic dishes, I explored the far reaches of Italy, visiting all twenty regions and almost all of its more than one hundred provinces. I went to dozens of food festivals, which Italians hold to celebrate every ingredient imaginable, from artichokes to zucchini. I attended food shows like Cibus, which features the latest products, innovations, and trends; Identit Golose, which hosts events with Italys top chefs to highlight the best of contemporary Italian cuisine; and I Primi dItalia, a yearly event dedicated exclusively to Italian first courses.

I traveled to locales so remote they didnt have internet access, to taste local grandmothers homemade specialties, and met with young bloggers for what was new and cutting edge. I called on some of Italys top chefs, cookbook authors, journalists, cooking school instructors, and leading pasta makers. I dove into the available pool of recipes, and sifted through those lesser-known outside of Italy to find the most delicious and unique.

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I found entire recipe categories that may surprise you: Ive filled a chapter with savory pasta accented with chocolate and coffee, another one with fruit sauces, and a third entirely vegetarian, with recipes so delectable that even meat lovers crave seconds. There are also many vegan recipes, like . Theres a chapter on holiday specialties and even one on pasta for dessert. Despite these unusual pairings and new techniques, most of the recipes in this book are quite simple and quick to prepare. The vast majority use dried, ready-made pasta.

While I wanted to focus on recipes that were truly unusual, some were too out there, even for me. I was fine withand loved! giblet rag, which is the perfect dish for the rising numbers of offal fanatics, but no dormouse-and-thrush macaronimaccarruni con ragu di ghiro e tordifrom Calabria and no rag di carne di cavallo, a horse-meat sauce from Puglia.

Ive also showcased dozens of unique pasta shapes in order to entice you to try new ones. Most of the shapes I mention in the ingredient lists are shown in the photo glossary at the end of the book. There are fifty-two different dried pasta shapes featuredone per week, if you likeall of which I recommend you try!

How to Cook Pasta Like an Italian

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MY WAY

Frank Sinatra isnt the only one to croon that line. Every single Italian I interviewed told me their recipe was a modo mio.

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In a tiny town near Salerno in Campania, one nonna told me that her version of was vastly different from the one her neighbor two courtyards over had taught me the day before. When I pointed out that they seemed exactly the same, she huffed, Pfff, she uses two cloves of garlic.

I encourage you throughout the book to do it my way meaning YOUR way! Feel free to add more or less of any ingredient. The amounts listed are just a rough suggestion, and in fact it is almost impossible to give exact quantities in many cases. This is especially true for foods that can vary widely in taste depending on quality or freshness, like grated cheese, garlic cloves, and minced herbs. For example, if you buy farmers-marketfresh basil in July, it will taste stronger, and therefore youll need less, than supermarket basil you buy in January. Aged, good-quality, imported Parmesan cheese will taste both less salty and more cheesy than pre-grated supermarket cheese, so youll need to use less, but perhaps add a pinch more salt to the recipe. The only way through this is to do as the Italians do: Taste as you cook, and adjust seasonings accordingly. I cannot stress this point strongly enough. For raw foods, like the ground-meat mixture for meatballs, pinch off a tiny portion and either pan fry or microwave it and then taste.