This is a preview of today’s post for my paid subscribers. For unlimited recipe access and weekly newsletters, go paid and save with my April Anniversary Special!
White Zucchini Parmigiana from Vegetables the Italian Way: Turning Simple and Fresh into Extraordinary (Artisan), by Giulia Scarpaleggia. Photo: Tommaso Galli.
A TRIP TO ITALY MAY NOT be on your calendar this year, but two new cookbooks with distinct and refreshingly different Italian recipes just might take you there.
One is called Italian Cookies and written by Domenica Marchetti of Buona Domenica on Substack, and the other is Vegetables the Italian Way from Giulia Scarpaleggia, of Letters from Tuscany on Substack. These books couldn’t be more well timed as I am always looking for fresh recipe ideas for potlucks, dinners with friends, and just new things to bake. And let’s face it, everyone loves Italian.
Let’s start with the sweet stuff.
Domenica Marchetti is a Virginia-based writer, with a masters in newspaper journalism from Columbia who writes about her family’s U.S. and Italian kitchens. Her recipes and articles on Italian home cooking have been published in a variety of publications including Better Homes and Gardens, Cooking Light, Elle Décor, Fine Cooking, Food and Wine, the Chicago Tribune, and The Washington Post.
Domenica’s mother was a native of Chieti, Abruzzo, and her father’s parents were from Molise and Lazio. By the time Domenica and her sister Maria could reach the kitchen counter, their mother had them shaping gnocchi and ravioli. The family spent their summers traveling around Italy, and Domenica returns to Italy each year for work and pleasure, teaching cooking classes and leading culinary tours.
“A few years ago, my husband and I bought a small house in a hill town in Abruzzo. It’s halfway between the seaside and the Apennine mountains. We try to spend as much time as we can there, and our son and daughter join us when they can.”
I asked Domenica some questions about her new cookie book:
Anne: Why Italian cookies?
Domenica: The idea for the book struck me after I had had an especially memorable butter cookie from Liguria called the Canestrelletto di Torriglia. This was back in 2017 or 2018. It was so good that it prompted me to get in my car and visit Torriglia, the town in the hills outside of Genoa, where the cookie originated. I learned that it dates to the 15th century, and that it is extremely important to the identity of the town and even to its economy. I started broadening my research and discovered that there are many cookies in towns across Italy with incredible histories and lore behind them. I began to see Italy in a “new” way: through the lens of cookies.
Anne: What is your favorite cookie and why?
Domenica: In terms of what I crave most, it depends on the day. I could go with the canestrelletto because it’s the cookie that inspired the book. Or, I could go with my mother’s hazelnut crescents, which she made every year at Christmastime and which I have a strong sentimental attachment to.
Anne: Do you think cookie memories last longer if they begin in childhood?
Domenica: My mom, my sister Maria, and I turned out dozens and dozens of cookies every year for Christmas. I have the fondest memories of those days, even though my mom used to make Maria and me shell piles of walnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds for her holiday bakes—I now realize she knew the importance of fresh nuts! On the other hand, I now find myself attached to many of the cookies in Italian Cookies because I know the stories behind them, I’ve been to the towns where they originated, I’ve spoken with the bakers who make them—many of whom are carrying on traditions that begun generations ago. I think you can fall in love with cookies at any age.
Anne: What is the least understood aspect of Italian baking?
Domenica: Like Italian cooking, baking is very much regional and seasonal. Hazelnuts and butter in the north, olive oil and wine in the south, almonds everywhere but especially in Sicily and Sardinia, as well as Puglia. And, also, just as with Italian cooking, the quality of the ingredients is everything, from the butter or olive oil in your dough to the freshness of the nuts.
Anne: Are Italian cookies mostly tied to holidays?
Domenica: It’s true that many cookies are tied to specific holidays or rituals or important occasions—Easter, Christmas, Day of the Dead, weddings and baptisms, feast days, and so on. However, some of these cookies have become so popular that they are now available year-round. Ricciarelli di Siena is one example. This is a lovely medieval cookie from Siena that is made with finely ground almonds, sugar, and egg whites. It’s oval or diamond-shaped and generously covered in powdered sugar. When you bite into it, it crackles a bit and reveals a tender center. Although this was originally a Christmas cookie, you can find it in every bakery in Siena at any time of year.
I baked the Sicilian Pistachio Butter Cookies (Frollini al Pistacchio) from Domenica’s book and loved them! I did not have pistachio flour, but I did have raw pistachios in the freezer, which I thawed and then pulsed in the food processor until fine like flour. The whole recipe is made in the processor, which makes assembly a snap.
Even though Giulia Scarpaleggia has an entire chapter on desserts featuring vegetables and she’s crazy about a white chocolate cake made with radicchio, I honed in on a zucchini and potato parmigiana that’s just become our new vegetarian dinner favorite.
Selecting just one recipe to try from Giulia’s gorgeous book was tough, and the photography from her husband Tommaso Galli is tantalizing. I especially like how the chapters are organized—Tossed & Stirred; Braised, Boiled & Stewed; Twice-Cooked; Sauced; Fried & Grilled; Baked & Roasting; Stuffed; Preserved; and Sweetened.
Giulia learned to cook from her grandmother Marcella and mother Anna in the countryside near Colle Val d’Elsa, a medieval town about one hour from Florence and half an hour from Siena. She still lives in the same house where her father was born and her grandmother was born, and next door to her parents. “So I’ve been living for all my life in the same spot!” Like Domenica, she teaches cooking classes.
In 2019 Giulia launched a blog called Juls’ Kitchen and through the years she has written about food, leaning into milestone moments like meeting her husband, their wedding, the birth of her daughter Livia, and what it’s like being a mom. In 2023 she moved that blog to Substack, which is where she revealed she’s a fan of the crime series and ‘80s music, so of course, that was the first question in our q&a:
Anne: Which crime series and which ‘80s music?
Giulia: My favorite series recently have been Bosch and The Lincoln Lawyer, but also Slow Horses. As for the music, I usually play mixed compilations, but I love Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Bon Jovi, Cindy Lauper, Kate Bush, Spandau Ballet, and Italian artists, too, like Gianna Nannini, Giuni Russo, Antonello Venditti.
Anne: What is most misunderstood about Tuscan cooking?
Giulia: Speaking of Italian food in general, I’d say the amount of garlic used. It is far less than you might expect. Speaking of Tuscan food more specifically, one might imagine that meat is a big part of Tuscan cuisine, but beans and vegetables play a more relevant role, along with our staple ingredient: stale bread. These ingredients are the foundation of many classic recipes like ribollita, or zuppa frantoiana (which is in the book).
Anne: What is your favorite vegetable and why?
Giulia: This is tricky. I might have at least a favorite vegetable for every season, but if I have to select just one I would say eggplants. I love them grilled and fried, and they are the main ingredient of a dish I would eat on repeat, eggplant parmigiana.
Anne: Were you destined to write about the food of Tuscany or is everyone in Tuscany just naturally inclined to talk food because the food is so wonderful?
Giulia: If you look back to my very first posts on my blog, from 17 years ago, they are about cupcakes, muffins, spring rolls, and fried rice... I was interested in everything that was NOT my everyday food. It took me about a year to shift my focus to Tuscan food, and this happened because I started blogging also in English, and everyone was curious about my food! So I can say I’ve always loved Tuscan food, the food I grew up with, but I had to look at it with fresh eyes to understand how fascinating, genuine, and delicious it actually is.
Anne: What was your greatest cooking discovery from this book?
Giulia: The radicchio and white chocolate cake from Chioggia, from the Sweetened chapter. I already knew torta d’erbi, the Tuscan swiss chard tart, but this very unusual cake from Veneto made with radicchio and carrots stole my heart.
I chose to make Giulia’s White Zucchini Parmigiana, and it is solidly Italian, but feels fresh and new, like everything in this book. Yes, the recipe makes enough for eight, but we’ve already proved that leftovers reheat well in a low oven. Pair it with a green salad with tomatoes, and drizzle the salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Something about the balsamic really pairs with the parmigiana...
Continue reading this post for free in the Substack app
0 comments:
Post a Comment