Yesterday’s cookbook review and today’s are both Italian. They cover past centuries and project into the future. Yesterday’s Gastronomy of Italy is an encyclopedia of Italian cuisine. Gastronomy surveys the soul of classical Italian food enabling us to understand the full spectrum of Italian dishes, including of course pasta.
We can look to that enjoyable past, but at the same time consider our edible future. Pasta Modern by Francine Segan is a tour offering the most current ideas for pasta, and a most suggestive picture of where pasta is trending.
This a book filled with unique new recipe concepts plus some twists on classics that lie hidden from us, hidden in remote mountain villages or seaside towns. Francine researched this book by touring Italy from every perspective: city and village, au currant chefs and grandmothers tweaking the regional specialties their own grandmothers give them. She has toured markets and food festivals, exchanged knowledge with other writers and journalists.
We may think we know pasta and all its twists and turns and fillings. But Francine has discovered pasta dishes that, well, that startle. For example, in Cremona there is a pasta dish with a stuffing of cow brains, a dish that she mentions but gracefully does not include in this book. She does know enough recipes now to fill a dozen volumes. In Pasta Modern, we get the cream.
Pasta Modern presents recipes in chapters that surely have titles you would not expect. And those chapters have recipes that are either excitingly new or anciently wonderful. The ideas here are presented in a beautiful volume, one with a modern page layout and photographs to match the very modern [plus those hidden classical] recipes. Here are the chapters and the tantalizing ideas inside:
Fruit: Pasta with Artichokes, Prunes and Sage; Pasta with Caramelized Oranges; Spaghetti with Oranges, dates, and Anchovies
Nuts: Spaghetti with Chestnuts; Silky Escarole and Pine Nut Pappandelle; Radiatore with Radicchio, Beer, and Hazelnuts
Vegetarian: Farro Pasta with Jerusalem Artichokes; Risotto-Style Spaghetti with Potatoes
Fish: Tagliatelle with Smoked Trout and Licorice; Lemon-Avocado Spaghetti with Shrimp
Meat: Duck Venetian Style with Bigoli; Meat and Pear Open Ravioli
Savory Chocolate and Coffee: Pork Ragu with Hints of Chocolate; Spaghetti with Onions, Anise and Espresso
Fresh Pasta: Sweet Lemon-Marjoram Ravioli; Little Chestnut Gnocchi
Holidays: Fruit and Nut Christmas Eve Lasagna; Everything but the Kitchen Sink Christmas Tortelli
Pasta for Dessert: Chocolate-Stuffed Shells, Chocolate Gnocchi; Chickpea-Mocha Ravioli
The ideas in Pasta Modern can seem riveting. Spaghetti with potatoes? I like the idea of doubling down on starch. And I think testing the Chocolate Gnocchi is something that will be in my future very soon.
In exploring the recipes, Suzen noticed a vegetarian offering, “Strings” & String Beans, where spaghetti and green beans are fashioned in a new combination created by Chef Fabio Picchi of Cibreo in Florence. The beans are cooked with tomatoes, onion, garlic and pepper flakes — cooked until the beans almost falling apart. This vegetarian combination is immensely satisfying with a bounty of flavor and textures. It’s the perfect dish for a Meatless Monday. [For the recipe and a picture, look for tomorrow’s post.]
Reading Pasta Modern can be a thoughtful process. Can you really combine those things, you will ask yourself. Why didn’t I think of that? Or, how did anyone ever think of that? There are surprises and mystery in Pasta Modern. And marvelous food, marvelously modern inspired by the grand tradition of Italian cuisine.
Go ahead. Beat me to it. Make the Chocolate Gnocchi.