Synopses & Reviews
The essence of Italian cooking. Susan has gone to the source, where the techniques are still genuine and the recipes tied to the culture. ITALIAN FARMHOUSE COOKBOOK is a must-have for anyone seriously interested in Italian cookery.O (LIDIA BASTIANICH)
Simple as a luscious ripe tomato rubbed over rustic bread, intensely flavored as a Sunday leg of lamb smothered in fresh herbs, joyous, unexpected, vibrant farm food is the heart and soul of Italian cooking, and the prize of Susan Herrmann Loomisís years-long quest. Working side-by-side in the kitchen, walking through fields at dawn, eating, drinking, and above all listening, she discovers the secret ingredient of Italian cooks accortezza, or simply ýknowingO and weaves it into every recipes of this sensuous, sun-filled book.
ON THE FARMHOUSE MENU
Lemon-Spiced Olives
The Real Panzanella
Potato and Artichoke Soup from Campania
Garlicky Cheese Polenta
Chestnut Pasta with Wild Mushrooms
Smothered Cauliflower
Sicilian Double-Crusted Potato Pizza
Herbed Farmhouse Lamb Chops
Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings
Synopsis
They are Val d'Aosta cheese producers. Grandchildren of Sicilian sharecroppers returning to the soil. A restaurateur's family specializing in glorious peppers. They're Italian farmers, vintners, ranchers, market gardeners, olive growers. They're as passionate about cooking and eating food as they are about raising it, and they each have their own segreti--secrets--of cuisine and craft.
Now Susan Herrmann Loomis, the critically acclaimed author and farmhouse cooking authority whose previous Farmhouse Cookbook and French Farmhouse Cookbook have 238,000 copies in print, continues her series by going to the very source--the farmhouse kitchen and the cooks who practice there--to discover the heat and soul of Italian cooking. A collection of over 250 recipes that are gutsy, fresh, healthy, and easy-to-make, Italian Farmhouse Cookbook is an original, extraordinary contribution to America's love affair with Italian food. This is the real deal--earth Green Beans with Pancetta; Gorgonzola and Goat Cheese Crostini; Lemon and Pine Nut Tagliatelle; Sicilian Orange Salad; Farmhouse Herbed Lamb Chops; Francesca's Pepper Pizza; Ricotta Cheese Torte; and Corrado's Almond Cake. It's pure delizioso, spoken with a rustic accent, full of life and authenticity.
About the Author
Susan Herrmann Loomis is a European-based food writer whose work appears regularly in The New York Times; she also writes a weekly column for Conde Nast's epicurious.com. Her other books include Italian Farmhouse Cookbook, French Farmhouse Cookbook, Farmhouse Cookbook, and Clam Bakes and Fish Fries.
Table of Contents
AN INTRODUCTION TO ITALIAN FARMHOUSE COOKING......xii
APPETIZERS AND SNACKS
Tantalizing platters of salami, stuffed vegetables, and herb-redolent olives welcome you to a meal or fill the spaces in between.
A Very Happy Farmer or Is He a Baker? on Lido
The Maneras of Piedmont
The Vena Brothers of Gangi
An Agronomist, a Genius, and a Lucky Farmer
The Buffalo and Their Cheese
SALADS
From the simples mix of greens to the famous Tuscan bread salad (panzanella) and the citrus-infused salads of Sicily, Italian farmhouse insalate are as varied, and as interesting, as the regions of Italy itself.
The Real Balsamic Vinegar\
The Capers of Salina
SOUPS
Soups on the Italian farm table are hearty, satisfying paeans to the past. Steaming bowls rich with the freshest vegetables, aromatic herbs, and flavorful beans speak of ingenuity and tradition.
The Lancellottis: A Farm Family off the Farm
FIRST COURSES
At the farm table, dishes are presented like a vast patchwork, seemingly without rules and without end. However, in Italy, pastas always come first, and so they lead off this chapter as well. The second part of the chapter includes a tempting selection of other classic first courses Garlicky Cheese Polenta, Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings, Artichoke Frittata that can easily be turned into entrees.
Pasta
Two Sicilian Brothers
COST
A Look at Parmifiano-Reggiano
Mondo
First Courses
The Best of the Mountain
A Living Relic
SECOND COURSES
In the past, farmers reserved meat and gish for celbratory occasion, and in fact still treat them with infinite care. Lamb is a favorite, as is pork, and chicken as well as guinea hen and rabbit are fixtures. Plates of succulent Herb-Marinated Leg of Lam, or richly spirited Guinea Hen with Vin Santo, take their rightful place as the nourishing secondi.
Alcala
Malvarina
THE VEGETABLE GARDEN
The farmhouse table would be incomplete with the many offerings from the garden. Whether from an open-air market, a truck garden, a country field, or someone's small kitchen garden, fresh vegetables and herbs are the epicenter of Italian Farmhouse cooking.
Gorgeous Grappa: The Noninos of Friuli
The Italian Orto
On A Ligurian Slope
Fabio's Babbo The Urban Pepper Farmer
Biodynamic and Organic Farming
FROM THE BREAD OVEN
There is nothing more welcoming than the warm scent of freshly baked bread, or the golden heat that emanates from the hearth. For the Italian baker, the fruits of this labor of love are crisp-crusted loaves, fragrant pizza and focacce (flat breads), and biscotti, all of which you will find in the pages of this chapter.
Prosciutto with Love
A Mysterious Flavor
SWEET, SWEET
Desserts are one of the great pleasures of the Italian farm table. Finish a meal with fresh fruit heaped in a bowl and served alongside a richly flavored torta di nocciole (hazelnut cake), or with pastries like crostate, crisp-crusted tarts bursting with everything from ripe apricots to lemon marmalade. These simple and delicious desserts beg to be made often, and with abandon.
The Train Going 'Round the Mountain
An Afternoon with Maria Maurillo
THE PANTRY
The well-stocked pantry, with its lively array of pepper- and herb-infused oils, jars of fresh tomato sauce, and jam made with ripe figs and grapes straight off the vine, hints at the many possibilities of the Italian farmhouse kitchen.
The Italian Pantry
Dominic and terranova
Alcatraz
THE BASICS
The basics are the simple little recipes that every Italian farmhouse cook knows inherently. They are the rustic tomato sauce, the homemade pastas, the perfect dough for tender pizza all the from-scratch foods and seasonings that are elemental to the success of any dish.
Pecorino, As It Once Was
CONVERSION TABLE
INDEX