Waxman - Italian, My Way: More Than 150 Simple and Inspired Recipes That Breathe New Life into Italian Classics

A LSO BY J ONATHAN W AXMAN

A Great American Cook: Recipes from the Home Kitchen
of One of Our Most Influential Chefs

Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright 2011 by Jonathan Waxman
Foreword copyright 2011 by Tom Colicchio
Photographs copyright 2011 by Christopher Hirsheimer

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or
portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address
Simon & Schuster Subsidiary Rights Department,
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition April 2011

SIMON & SCHUSTER and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to
your live event. For more information or to book an event contact
the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or
visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com .

Designed by Kyoko Watanabe

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010039637

ISBN 978-1-4165-9431-4
ISBN 978-1-4516-1108-3 (ebook)

To my brother Richard Waxman, who tirelessly watches over me
With great love and affection

Tom Colicchio

The definition of Italian food has come a long way in this country in the past half century. When I was a kid growing up in New Jersey in the sixties, Italian meant macaroni and Sunday gravy, sausage and peppers, and baccal. By way of Italian culinary icons we had the big-bellied pizzeria owner, the Sicilian nonna making meatballs in her kitchen, and oh yeah, Chef Boyardee.

By the 1970s, the seeds of change were already being sown out West. Chefs like Alice Waters, Jeremiah Tower and Jonathan Waxman were experimenting with a new style of cooking, one that shined a spotlight on ingredients. Thanks to a large Italian immigrant population and a climate conducive to growing things like tomatoes, olives, figs and basil almost year round, spectacular raw materials were in ready supply. Nobody called the food they were making Italian, of coursedishes like heirloom tomato salad, wild nettle frittata and salmon in fig leaves were New American. But their DNA was pure Italia: ingredient-driven food cooked simply and served without fanfare.

Jonathan was born and raised in the Bay Area, so it comes as no surprise that he was drawn to cooking with the ingredients that he grew up on. First as the cook at Chez Panisse and then as a chef/owner at Michaels in Santa Monica, Jonathan made a reputation early on as a chef who really understood how to make his ingredients stand out. In this way Jonathan has always been, without talking about it and maybe without realizing it himself, an Italian chef.

Already an innovator in California, Jonathan was the first person to bring this new style of cooking and eating to the Big Apple. When he opened Jams in 1984, it changed the way that people dined in New York City. Up until that point good food had been formal, and formal dining was always French. Then came Jonathan, like a cool California breeze washing over Manhattan. For the first time New Yorkers ate serious food in a casual environment. Jams had that Italian sex appeal too: celebrities and socialites dining on flattened chicken and frites, a chef who drove fast cars and was one of the first to own restaurants scattered around the globe.

I was a young chef, just on the cusp of getting my first New York City cooking job, when Jonathan opened Jams. It wasnt long after meeting him that I discovered another aspect about Jonathan that has always struck me as very Italian: his warmth and generosity of spirit. Jonathan was very supportive of me at an early point in my career, and that meant a lot to a kid from the burbs trying to make a name for himself in the big city. He was always someone that I looked up to; one of the good guys, with a trademark big grin and an easy way with people.

It was only when Jonathan opened Barbuto in 2003 that his foodfood that was so very Italian in its soulfinally began to be called Italian by name. Barbuto is located a block away from my apartment, and I go there more than any other restaurant in New York. Im always surprised to see how much Jonathan is there. His constant presence and his limitless caring shows in the food; hes cooking the best food of his life these days. It also shows in the familiar faces that I see there night after nightJonathan treats first-time guests like regulars, and regulars like family.

In this book, Jonathan sets down the dishes that we have all come to love at Barbuto. It is well worth the wait. Gnocchi with spring vegetables and basil; stewed chicken with Meyer lemon, garlic, and white wine; asparagus and poached eggs; this is food that is meant to be made in your home. Cook it according to the seasons, with the utmost attention to your raw materials. Cook it with love and for your family and friends. Thats Italian, Jonathans way.

Barbuto is located in the corner of an old garage in Manhattans West Village, built to sell Rolls-Royce automobiles in 1939. We have about two thousand square feet, which makes for a smallish restaurant. The old garage doors were replaced a few years back, and the three new doors roll up anytime the weather allows. This gives us the air of a vacation spot, despite the grittiness of the city. We are close to the Hudson River and the breezes off the water are magnificent. The kitchen, with its huge pizza oven and grill, is wide open to the dining room. It also has a big kitchen table that is the setting for many a festive occasion.

The chairs are mismatched, the wine list mainly Italian, the tables unadorned mahogany, the napkins are kitchen towels. The waiters shirts are etched with a caricature of our Barbuto dog. The clientele encompasses a wide demographic: locals, models (from my partners fashion studio upstairs), tourists from all over the world, business types, families with raucous children, single diners, young, old and in between.

The mix lends itself to a rather casual atmosphere, albeit louddefinitely not intimatejust the way I like it. The food is a bit brash and is served on simple white or off-white Barbuto plates. The coffee is Italian; the bread is breadsticks or ciabatta; and good olives and olive oil garnish the table. The bar can get pretty hectic, especially in summer, but everyone loves eating and drinking at the bar.

The kitchen table is my favorite spot. It was built with two-hundred-year-old oak planks from a Pennsylvania barn and was tailor-made for the kitchen, and seats up to fourteen. Here is where Barbuto really exudes its charm. I cook whatever is seasonally available and good. The food is presented either on long platters or on big hunks of rough-hewn butcher block, and the guests serve themselves. This kitchen table is a perfect example of my cooking style at Barbuto: huge mounds of fritto misto, simply adorned insalata mista, steaming heaps of pasta carbonara