Italian Comfort Food

125 Recipes to Satisfy Your Soul
Julia Della Croce
Kyle Cathie - Hardback - $59.99

Italian food is always a firm favourite but there are certain dishes that really stand out and hit the spot when a deeply comforting, home-cooked treat is in order. Whether its Sphagetti Alla Carbonara  or a baked pasta dish with a bubbling, melted cheesy top, the 125 recipes in this outstanding collection bring together everything that is mouth-watering and enticing about good and simple food that can be cooked fairly easily at home.

Julia della Croce is one of the leading cognoscenti of Italian food and cookery and brings her expertise to every chapter, from Welcoming Dishes and Bowlfuls of Soup to Pasta by Heart and Everyday Sauces. Including Meat, Fish, and Seafood Main Courses, as well as Vegetable Accompaniments, Sunday Treats and Baby’s First Meals – Italian Comfort Food is an indispensable winter treat for family and friends.

About the author

Julia della Croce has been broadcast extensively on British, American and Canadian radio, and has made many appearances on television, including The Today Show and Food Network. She is the author of 13 cookbooks, which include, The Classic Italian Cookbook and Ultimate Pasta (Dorling Kindersley) that received widespread international recognition. Her work has appeared in newspapers and magazines including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The New York Times Magazine, Food & Wine, and Cook’s Illustrated. 

The publishers have kindly agreed to let me reproduce two recipes from the book, both if which I can warmly recommend:

Simmered White Beans

with Sausage and Tomato

A si∂e dish for 4

When I was growing up, my mother often reminisced about the things she missed from her

native Italy. The flavour of Italian beans was one of them. I have friends who carry beans back

from Tuscany – the home of true bean lovers – when they go there because Tuscan beans are

so flavourful. In this dish, the sauce and succulent fennel sausages give great flavour to the

beans, which become saturated with their juices.

1. In a frying pan over medium-low heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onion and

garlic and sauteÅL gently until totally softened but not browned, about 5 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the onion and garlic from the pan and transfer

to a bowl.

2. H eat the oil that remains in the pan and add the sausage meat to it, breaking it up

with a wooden spoon. SauteÅL until browned, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

Return the onion and garlic to the pan. Add the tomato pureÅLe, sage, stock or water,

salt and pepper to taste and bring to the boil. Add the beans, bring to the boil again

and immediately reduce to a simmer. Partially cover and cook gently for 10 to

15 minutes. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve hot or warm.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 sweet Italian fenn el sausages

(about 225g total weight), casings

removed

1 tablespoon tomato purée

3 chopped fresh sage leaves or

1/2 teaspoon dried sage

125ml Tasty Meat stock (page 213),

or water

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

freshly ground black pepper

90g cooked, drained cann ellini

beans (page 84)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flatleaf

parsley

The Authentic

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Serves 4

Most versions of spaghetti alla carbonara outside of Italy include cream, but there is no

cream in the genuine recipe, which dates from World War Two. By some accounts, Italian

women invented the new sauce for pasta when presented with bacon and egg rations by their

American GI lovers. In any case, the sauce ingredients and method here are considered

by Italian culinary historians to be the original and authentic version. While carbonara sauce

was designed for spaghetti, I find fusilli are also a pleasant cut to use because the sauce collects

nicely in its grooves.

1. In a bowl, combine the beaten eggs with the grated cheese and season with salt

and pepper.

2. Select a serving bowl for the pasta and keep it warm.

3. Fill a saucepan with 4.7 litres water and bring it to a rapid boil over high heat.

Add the spaghetti or fusilli and the kosher salt together and stir. Check the packet

instructions for cooking time. Cook, stirring frequently, until the pasta is 2 minutes

away from being al dente.

4. Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, warm the olive oil. Add the pancetta or guanciale

and sauteÅL over medium heat until nicely coloured and crispy. Set aside.

5. When the pasta is ready, drain it, reserving about 250ml of the cooking water.

Transfer it to the frying pan with the pancetta and toss over low heat. Add 125ml or

so of the cooking water to moisten. Simmer until the water is nearly evaporated.

6. Remove the frying pan from the heat, transfer the pasta to the serving bowl and

immediately add the egg and cheese mixture, tossing vigorously to distribute the

sauce while making sure it does not coagulate into scrambled egg. It should not

exceed 70.C. If the pasta seems dry, add more of the reserved cooking water.

Serve at once, passing the pepper mill and the grated cheese at the table.

5 eggs, beaten

75g freshly grated Grana Padano

or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese,

plus extra to serve

sea salt and freshly ground

black pepper

450g imported Italian spaghetti

or fusilli

2 tablespoons kosher salt

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

225g panc etta or guanc iale (cheek

bacon), thick ly sliced and diced

From:

Italian Comfort Food

125 Recipes to Satisfy Your Soul

Julia Della Croce

Kyle Cathie - Hardback - $59.99 (distributed in NZ by New Holland)