Trattoria Gargani's Recipes for Osso Buco & Saffron Risotto for Christmas

The winter holidays are prime eating cooking and eating season. For the Christmas entrée, my father and I prepared osso buco and saffron risotto. We followed recipes from the cookbook, Once Upon a Tuscan Table. The cookbook is about and from the beautiful Trattoria Gargani (formerly called “Garga”) in Florence, Italy. I have tasty memories of many meals surrounded by the murals on the walls there. 

I chose to make the dish because my husband brought home saffron this fall from a trip to Madrid and we wanted to share it with our family visiting for the holidays. I also wanted to serve something that would be primarily prepared and finished before our guests arrived to avoid last minute kitchen fuss.

Most of the ingredients, from the Arborio rice to the vegetable base for the osso buco were easy to find at any supermarket. I also saw fairly inexpensive saffron at a local Trader Joe's. I ordered the bone-in veal shanks from Whole Foods (there’s a general dearth of butchers in our neighborhood and the District in general, as Kojo Nnamdi discusses in a fall episode.)

I’m afraid that I failed to take any food pictures over the holidays. Too busy cooking and eating, as, perhaps, it should be. What were some of your favorite holiday dishes this year?

Writing Residencies in Italy

Lake Garda region

Firenze

Firenze

This is a cross-over post that pulls together my love of Italy and writing. While I'm recently back from the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, I'm always plotting of ways to return to Italy, particularly
to write. In fact, Bread Loaf has a program in Sicily.

To search for writers' residencies abroad, you might start with a search on the Alliance of Artists Communities. For other useful resources, see the links under "Conferences, Residencies & More" on my writing coach blog.

Here (and listed below on the right side of the blog) are some amazing looking programs in Italy:

Civitella Ranieri

American Academy in Rome

The Bellagio Center

MIRA

Have you attended a program (writing or otherwise) in Italy? What did you think of it? I'd love to hear from you in the comments section below.

Domori Chocolate

Domori chocolate is amazing.

I'm not just saying that because my friend's lovely husband, Gianluca Franzoni, started the company. I'm saying that because every time I have some, I both hoard the chocolate and try to eat it quickly so it doesn't have time to get old/hot/cold or otherwise less than perfect. That's not easy to do.

With little sugar and high percentage of cocoa, the taste is truly chocolate, not additives. Many of the chocolates are single blend, which means you can taste the subtle differences between them.

Since I probably won't share my stash with you, you can buy your own through Chocosphere, Amazon and many local specialty shops, like Zingerman's in Ann Arbor.

Read more about the company and the founder's historic and current connections to Venezuela, the origin of most of the chocolate.

Andiamo!: Preparing For Your Trip to Italia! (Politics & Prose Bookstore)

I’m looking forward to teaching Andiamo!: Preparing For Your Trip to Italia! at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., on May 21^st.  Register and purchase the books through the bookstore.

Andiamo!: Preparing For Your Trip to Italia!

In this class, we will cover everything you need to plan your trip to Italy: travel tips, restaurant / market etiquette, basic phrases, and more. Come with questions and a notepad. A resource list with suggested books, websites and more will be shared---as well some Italian cookies and coffee.

Monday, May 21

1 – 3 PM

Price: $40/35 members

Recommended (but not required) books:

Italy for the Gourmet Traveler, Fred Plotkin

Italianissimo: The Quintessential Guide to What Italians Do Best, Louise Fili and Lise Apatoff

Books are discounted 20% for class participants.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Chloe Yelena Miller fell in love with Italy and the Italian language after spending her junior year abroad in Florence through Smith College. She later returned to Florence for three years to work for New York University’s campus abroad. Bilingual, she teaches Italian language and cooking. Her family emigrated from the town of Sala Consilina (SA) to New Jersey in the 1800’s and now she happily returns to Italy as often as she can. She blogs regularly about Italian language and cooking here: http://farelascarpetta.blogspot.com/

Please let me know if you have any questions (chloemiller(at)gmail(dot)com.)

Buon San Valentino!: A salute to love

Bridge in Florence where my husband-to-be proposed, 

in Italian, in 2008

Today is a day for love, romance, friendship and kindness. While the Italian holiday focuses primarily on romantic couples, in the U.S., we open up the meaning of the word “love” to include a greater variety of relationships. Sure, it can be quite the commercial holiday, but we can still have fun regardless of our relationship status (For some chocolate-centered-commercial-ness for today’s holiday, you might enjoy this year’s Baci Perugina ad).

What will you be doing today? You might want to give someone a bacio (kiss) and tell them ti amo (I love you). If you love a non-romantic friend or family member, tell them you love them like this: Ti voglio bene. (It is best never to confuse these two phrases…)

Read more about the history of Valentine’s Day that started in ancient Rome.

And on a more serious note, I support Newark, New Jersey, mayor Cory Booker’s take on marriage for all. Booker said during a recent news conference: "Dear God, we should not be putting civil rights issues to a popular vote, to be subject to the sentiments, the passions of the day. No minority should have their rights subject to the passions and the sentiments of the majority. This is the fundamental bedrock of what our nation stands for." 

Tuscany in Photographs: Photographer Melabee Miller's new book, "Tuscany June 2011"

Congratulations to my mother, photographer Melabee Miller, on her new book Tuscany June 2011!

This book is a collection of what she saw through her camera’s lens this summer in Tuscany. She took a watercolor class in the countryside and traveled around the region.  In total, she documents four towns: Radda in Chianti, San Gimignano, Siena and Florence. (Yes, I'm as jealous as you are.)

Preview the book to see a sample of the pages. There are classic images, like those of the Florentine duomo’s dome, and more intimate, original views that you’ve likely never seen before, such as  carved, architectural details.

This book is the next best thing to traveling to Tuscany yourself. That is, traveling with a curious guide who reveals beauty even in the texture of the cobblestones.

Purchase the book here. 

Italian Easter Traditions

Easter wouldn’t be complete without a Colomba, a cake (loosely) in the shape of a dove, or a giant chocolate egg with surprises inside. 

I’ve always purchased both in Italian stores, but there are recipes available online for the Colomba.

Looking for more? Last year I wrote about preparing an Easter Pie and hard boiling eggs - perfectly.

Buona Pasqua! Onto preparing the shopping list for this weekend…

Web Find: Moving to Italy?

If you've thought about moving to Italy, you'll enjoy this article by Karen Mills in The Wall Street Journal: Moving to Italy: How a Tennessee native - after toiling in piles of paperwork - found a new life in the city of Florence. She kindly shares details, from her visa application process to some specific costs in her new city. I think you'll find it quite insightful!

If you are are a writer currently living abroad, in Florence or elsewhere, you might be interested in the editor's note:

Thinking about living—or just traveling— abroad? This is part of a series of travel stories in which we ask Americans living overseas, full time or part time, to profile their adopted locales and guide would-be visitors through the best the areas have to offer. Send us your suggestions at next@wsj.com.

Italy's 150th Anniversary of Unification

Not only is today St. Patrick’s day, but it also marks the 150^th anniversary of Italy’s unification. Here, in Italian, is the official site of the holiday.

To celebrate, read about and participate in a conversation from an Italian-American perspective by i-Italy (Italian/American Digital Project). You can also link to (in Italian), an episode of Porta a Porta, “Italy Re-launches with Garibaldi.”

Of course, the history, as well as Italy’s current political and cultural state, is not as unified as the holiday might suggest. Slate’s reprint of Tony Barber’s Financial Times article, “Unified Italy Reaches Its 150^th Anniversary, but Italians still lack a national identity” helps to put the current state into perspective.

What will you do today to celebrate? 

Crespelle alla Fiorentina

Crespelle alla fiorentina are essentially spinach crepes baked with a bechamelle sauce. Like lasagna or other baked dishes that you can prepare in advance, they’d make a great dinner party entrée. Or, you can eat the entire platter with your husband, like I did. (Over the course of a few meals, of course.)

I followed the recipe in the cookbook Classic Italian Jewish Cooking: Traditional Recipes and Menus (which you can find in my Amazon store), but you can also find similar recipes online. This one, from Tuscanycious, looks great. The only difference seems to be that it calls for ricotta, whereas the recipe I used didn’t.

My crepes didn’t all fit in the pan and I was too lazy to get another, smaller pan out. That was a mistake because the ones squished on top of each other didn’t cook as evenly as the others.

While the recipe took longer than I expected (making the individual crepes, the sauce, the filling and then baking it), it was worth the wait and effort. 

Enjoy!

Markets in Florence, Italy

When you visit Florence, Italy, don’t miss the markets. Stray beyond the heart of the city for a truly Italian (less touristy) experience. Here are some photographs from the Mercato delle Cure.

Mangia, mangia!

Godó in Florence, Italy

Godó is a lovely neighborhood restaurant in Florence, Italy. It is in Piazza Edison at the bottom of the hill that goes up towards the town of Fiesole. There is a bus stop across the street, which makes it an easy location to get to.

I decided to order the pear and pecorino ravioli that were served with a zucchini flower pesto. My mother has many zucchini flowers in her garden and usually fries them in a light flower and cheese batter. I rarely see them on menus and was curious about a new manner in which they could be prepared. This pesto sauce was creamy and was a nice addition to the pecorino and pear flavors. Was it too heavy of a dish for a sweaty, July afternoon? Probably, but it was worth it.

We started with the very Tuscan sliced, cured meats with crostini (bread with liver and polenta with mushrooms) and ended with a cool cheesecake topped with a raspberry sauce. Overall, a great meal with both traditional and modern dishes on the menu. Buon appetito!

Beach Reading: Eat Pray Love

Ok, I bought “Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert in Milan, not on the beach of a Greek island. I’d finished everything I’d brought and needed something for the flight home back to Detroit.

The book is divided into three parts, as the title suggests, and moves from Italy to India to Bali. (I’m sure you can guess which section was my favorite.) It was a quick, enjoyable read that integrated the author’s personal story with what she learned about each culture, cuisine and the religious practices.

Food is the focus of the first third of the book. One of my favorite scenes was when she is given advice about where to eat pizza in Naples:

But he is Neapolitan, no question about it, because before I left Rome he gave me the name of a pizzeria Naples that I had to try, because, Giovanni informed me, it sold the best pizza in Naples. I found this a wildly exciting prospect, given that the best pizza in Italy is from Naples, and the best pizza in the world is from Italy, which means that this pizzeria must offer … I’m almost too supersticious to say it … the best pizza in the world? Giovanni passed along the name of the place with such seriousness and intensity, I almost felt I was being inducted into a secret society. He pressed the address into the palm of my hand and said, in gravest confidence, “Please go to this pizzeria. Order the margherita pizza with double mozzarella. If you do not eat this pizza when you are in Naples, please lie to me later and tell me that you did.”


I’ve been teaching memoir and writing memoir recently, so I was interested in reading a more popular book that will soon be a movie. (Watch the trailer.) Its success lies in the very personable narrative, the author herself, and the foreign experiences she shares frankly with the reader. The tone is conversational and entertaining.

If you are interested in writing memoir, food related or not, or are a beginning poet, you might be interested in my upcoming online creative writing workshops this summer.

Osteria I'Tozzo di Pane's Recipes

I have many wonderful memories of eating at wooden tables in Osteria I’ Tozzo di Pane’s garden in Florence, Italy. My favorite entrée salad to have on a summer day was the Toscana: lettuce, fresh tomatoes, white beans, sliced wild boar salami and onion dressed with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. It was the first place I tried pecorino (sheep milk’s cheese) with sunflower honey. I think of their Tuscan approach to cooking – simple and fresh ingredients that highlight each other’s flavors – while cooking in my own kitchen.

Looking for a special recipe to prepare for my husband returning from a business trip, I discovered the restaurant’s online recipes. I chose the risotto with clams, asparagus, leeks and saffron. I knew it would be a proper “welcome home.”

The recipe requires a little creativity since they don't offer all of their secrets: there are no specifc measurements. Saffron can be expensive, but you only need a pinch.  Serving grated cheese on fish dishes is never allowed in Italy; we did sprinkle a few red hot pepper flakes on top.

With a glass of white wine, we ate slowly and enjoyed the dish. I don’t remember tasting this particular risotto at the restaurant, but the flavors brought back the country that I still call home.

The recipes on the website are written in Italian. This is a perfect opportunity to practice your language skills without paying for a plane ticket. When you do find yourself traveling to Florence, you can salutare the owners who are always there, Andrea and Antonio.

The name of their restaurant means, “crust of bread,” which is not to be missed dipped in their dark green olive oil. Be sure to serve some on the side in your own home.

Pallotte Cacio e Uovo by Guest Blogger Rebecca Galante

Thank you to Rebecca Galante from Vasto, Italy, in the Abruzzo region, for today’s Italian recipe. Rebecca offers guided tours and visits to the Abruzzo region to tourists interested in the culinary and cultural history. Famous for its chefs and coastline, Abruzzo is beautiful and less crowded than Tuscany or other well-traveled areas in Italy. I hope you’ll visit her website to learn more about what she offers.

Cheese and egg balls cooked in tomato and capsicum (chili) sauce

“Pallotte cacio e uovo” is the original name of a genuine and tasty recipe typical of Abruzzo, an Italian middle south region located on the Adriatic coast. Because this is a typical dish, is possible to find many version of it. Mine is referred to my town called Vasto. Cacio e Uovo represents a good main course and usually three balls each are enough considering that you can’t start eating Cacio e Uovo without a couple of fresh bread’s slices on the table.

Ingredients (serves four)

Cheese and egg balls

4 eggs

Pecorino/Parmigiano cheese ca. 150 gr

Bread Crumbs on request

Crumb (the inside of the bread) on request

Ricotta cheese 100 gr

Sauce:

500 gr fresh tomatoes cut into small pieces

1 sliced capsicum (chili)

1 onion

Olive oil: 2 spoon for each person
Take a large base medium to high pan (a clay pan is the best choice) and add the olive oil, the onion and the capsicum. Once the onion starts to yellow, please add your tomato. Over a medium to low fire, let it cooked slowly. Once the tomato will be cooked, add one and a half glass of water and wait until water boils.

In the meanwhile, put the eggs, the pecorino cheese (starting with 100 gr), the bread crumbs, the crumb and the ricotta into a terrine. You need to mix all these ingredients together with a fork until they will be compact and ready to make balls. It will take a little bit, so don’t give up. You should add bread crumbs, crumbs and the rest of the cheese as it is required. In this way they will be more and more dry and sticky and they will be ready to make balls.

We left the tomato with the water. Soon it will start boiling. This is the moment to put on it our egg and cheese balls. Before to make mistakes please make one ball (medium size) and put it on the sauce. Only now you will see if the ball is compact enough: wait 5 min. Is the ball still one piece? Or it is melted? In the first case you know that you can go on, please finish all of them and put them in the pan with the tomato. Cover it and let them cook 20 minutes. After this term please turn them in the other side and let them finish cook another 20 min. Remember Medium Low fire

If the ball will melt means that you need to add in the terrine more breadcrumbs and crumb or cheese!! And go on like before.

Sweet Fusion by Guest Blogger Mauro Feletti

Thank you to Mauro Feletti for his wonderful recipe from Romagna, Italy. You are welcome to contact him at mauro(dot)feletti(at)gmail(dot)com. Here, he describes how to cook shrimp wrapped in Italian lardo.

What is lardo? Lardo is cured fat. Yes, it essentially means lard in English, but it is a much more delicious version. Think about the white streaks in proscuitto. That’s lardo.

Sweet Fusion

This recipe comes from my homeland of Romagna. It is located along the coast of the Adriatic Sea in the Emilia-Romagna Region of Italy. While it is notorious as a land of sins and sinners, is also the homeland to a number of tasty and curious food delicatessens like Tagliatelle al ragu, Passatelli in brodo, Strozzapreti, Piadina, Brodetto di pesce. Romagna is a land of mixed food traditions as it has access to the sea, country and hills.

Below, I offer a sweet fusion of these different souls. My grandfather was a sailor and with his trabaccolo (trabaccalo is a type of Adriatic Sea sailing coaster) he carried wood and the precious white marble out from Istria. My father was a fisherman, but sailing is not the only passion he gave me; I learned to cook very early at home. The first recipe for the friends of “fare la scarpetta” is as simple as it is flavorful. I named it Sweet Fusion because when the lardo dissolves in the heat, the shrimp and lardo embrace each other in a sweet melt of flavors. I love this recipe also because it is easy and quick. The result is so unexpected that it will be a real discovery for who dislike complicated recipes.

Ingredients
• shrimp - 450 gr./1 lb

• Lardo (an alternative you can use is unsmoked streaky bacon), 100 gr./0,25 lb about 15 sliced paper thin.

How to make the Sweet Fusion

Clean the shrimps and remove the shell cover each shrimp with a slice of lardo (unsmoked streaky bacon.)

Preheat oven to 180°/400 degrees F.

Set the shrimps on a baking tin and bake for 10 minutes, no more.

Stay close to the oven, the cooking takes few minutes, when the lardo starts dissolving and embrace the shrimp it’s time to take it out.

Remove the shrimp from the oven, place on a platter and serve warm. Serves two.

Buona scarpetta a tutti!

Francesca Calloni’s Sausage Pasta Sauce

Thank you to Francesca Calloni for this wonderful pasta sauce recipe from Emilia Romagna. Her mother learned to prepare it while she was living there as a young woman. According to Francesca, it is a part of the Italian “poor man’s cooking” that has become quite fashionable. It is filling and delicious, but not necessarily fancy. You’ll see how easy it is to cook! Francesca adds, “it's usually a winter meal or a summer meal with siesta included ;)”

Sausage Pasta Sauce

1 small onion

2 crushed, dried chili peppers (Francesca’s addition; not a part of the original recipe)

Extra virgin olive oil or good quality olive oil

500 grams of fresh Italian sausage (Francesca includes this link to show what the pork sausage should look like.)

1 can (4 oz or 425 ml) of crushed tomato (Francesca usually puts it in a blender first, but you can put it also just as it is)

pinch of salt

1/2 glass of white wine



To prepare the sausage, remove the casing and chop the meat.

Finely chop a small onion and sauté it in extra virgin olive oil (4-5 teaspoons should be enough). It should become quite golden. Be careful not to burn it.

Add the sausage and stir constantly. When it's almost cooked, add the wine and let the alcohol steam off.

Add the crushed tomato and 1/2 cup of water. Francesca usually rinses the tomato can with a bit more water and adds that to the pot. Let everything cook on a light heat for at least an hour. Don’t let the sauce boil.

It should be ready when you start to see the oil and grease separate from the tomato. At this point, the sauce should be fairly reduced. Francesca recommends to loosely cover the saucepan with a lid or your stove will quickly became a CSI scene because the tomato sauce will splatter. Be sure to allow some of the steam out or it will never properly reduce.

Optional: Add some heavy cream to the sauce at the end.

Serve with tagliatelle cooked al dente (egg pasta) with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Thanks again, Francesca!

Food Gifts

If you love to cook, why not make edible gifts for friends?

This holiday season (which happily lasted deep into January!), my husband and I made limoncello, salarom and chocolates for our friends. With some labels from Staples, we were able to dress them up a little, too. In an effort to be green, we used recycled bottles that we collected the last few months.

Limoncello is an Italian lemon-flavored vodka. We actually made two batches. The first one, with a recipe from Giada de Laurentiis, had entirely too much water and tasted terrible. I salvaged it by boiling it down and making a lemon syrup for cakes, teas, etc. The second batch called for less water and less sugar. Limoncello should be served cold and after dinner.

When you make limoncello, you inevitably have batches of lemon left since the recipe only calls for the rinds (sans pith.) I squeezed the lemons and saved the lemon juice. I froze some in small batches and made lemon pasta and lemon muffins with the rest.

Bolognese salarom is an Italian salt mixed with dried rosemary and garlic. I didn’t follow a particular recipe, but instead looked at the jar I had and mixed the ingredients until it looked right. This salt is great for an olive oil dipping plate, meats or really anywhere else you use salt.

To make the chocolates, I crushed candy canes and flavored the lollypops. The ducks were decorated with yellow colored sugar. It was very easy to melt and mold the chocolates. Wilton has an easy guide on their website. I purchased the lollypop sticks, plastic covers and decorating tools at Michael’s.

Chef Interview: Dan Richer from Arturo’s in Maplewood, NJ

I’m always jealous when my parents tell me that they’ve had chef Dan Richer’s tasting menu from Arturo’s Osteria and Pizzeria in Maplewood, New Jersey.

Recently, my mother, photographer Melabee Miller, documented a few of the courses that made me want to book a flight from Michigan. Here are some details on the pictures above:

Salad: vegetables from Zone 7 (all NJ sustainable farms). Butterhead lettuce, curly cress, red oak lettuce. It is dressed only with black sea salt from Cyprus, organic extra virgin olive oil from Puglia that my friends from Equus Foods import, and 25 year old balsamic (tradizionale) from Modena (Dan brought it back on his November trip).

Pasta: handmade pappardelle with Pennsylvania grown mixed mushrooms and parmigiano reggiano.

Rabbit: Braised over farro.




Dan, who you can find not only cooking in the restaurant, but blogging and on Arturo’s TV, very kindly agreed to an interview about his experiences, local New Jersey produce and his dream meal.
Thanks for your time, Dan! I look forward to my next visit to your restaurant.


The first time I came to your restaurant, it was for an amazing tasting menu. You write on your blog that the tasting menus “are determined by market availability.” How do you craft such authentically Italian dishes from an American market?

The tasting menus are determined strictly by market availability. As I'm sure you know, the ingredients are the most important part of any great dish. The techniques used to prepare the food are always secondary in importance. It is the quality of ingredients that matter the most. Most of my job as a chef is searching for the best ingredients. The rest of my job is to make sure that I don't ruin the integrity of such perfect raw materials by trying too hard to create a perfect dish. Technique often gets in the way of a great dish. As a cook, I try to back off as much as possible and let the ingredients shine. Maybe I'm lazy, but I think the ingredients should do all of the work! Any authentic Italian cook would tell you this same story. Find the best ingredients, treat them with respect. It doesn't really matter where your physical location is (Italy, NJ, etc) as long as you spend the time in finding the best ingredients, your food will be great. Obviously, it's much easier to find great ingredients in Italy!! They are everywhere!. The great thing about being in NJ is that we are so close to NY and there is a quickly growing demand for great products. So, it’s becoming easier to find great ingredients. And, I suspect in the near future, it will become even easier.

What markets/farms do you primarily rely on?

Let's talk about produce...

99.9% of restaurants use a produce distributor that delivers 6 days per week. This company takes orders from the restaurant at night, then early the next morning travels to the nearest produce market (hunt's point, NY or PA). They buy the produce from another intermediary (definitely not from the farmer who lives in CA, FL, or Mexico) and then he delivers to the restaurant. Meanwhile, the produce has just made a 2000 mile journey over days and days time. Not to mention that the specific seed varietals that the farmer chose were to ensure its transportability, not its flavor. Also, the vegetables usually are harvested well before they are fully mature, leaving them lacking in flavor but ready for their long journey ahead. The restaurant receives their sub-par vegetables after very little effort on their part. This mentality is unacceptable and I'm really trying to not be a part of any of this.

So, I've worked directly with farmers in trying to bring their sustainably grown heirloom vegetables to our dishes, but it's a lot of work! Between trying to run a restaurant and the farmer trying to farm, it was so hard to physically get the produce from the fields to our kitchen. This summer I worked with a local woman who started an urban farm in downtown Newark. This is such a revolutionary method of bringing fresh produce to the areas that really need it. The city of Newark lent her an abandoned plot of land to farm on. She used Earthboxes (self-watering planter boxes) which enabled her to grow sustainably and to employ people who are not trained farmers. It was a really great idea and I can’t wait to start working with her again when the growing season starts. You can read more about her on her website.

After that, I started working with an amazing company called Zone 7. They are that missing link between farmer and restaurant. The owner, Mikey, has relationships with sustainable farmers throughout NJ. He emails me Monday with a list of products that are available and delivers them on Thursday. It has been really amazing so far. We are actually getting great vegetables in Dec. Obviously we are not getting tomatoes or zucchini but the beets, radishes, potatoes, lettuces, carrots, etc are amazing!! We are one of 35 restaurants in NJ using this great company.

The tasting menus change from week to week depending on what products we can find. The format is usually standard: antipasti (cured meats/veges of some sort), salad (market driven), soup (market driven), pasta (always handmade), secondo (fall/winter=braised meat while spring/summer=fish or fast cooking meat), then a simple dessert.

What are some of your favorite dishes to prepare?

I love making pasta. I am a freak about fresh, handmade pasta. When I travel through Italy, it’s all about the pasta. Nothing else really. I am obsessed. I also love preparing/marinating/pickling vegetables that I have sourced from great farmers. It’s very rewarding in many ways.
 
Your menu includes house-cured pancetta and duck prosciutto, you blog, create regular tasting menus and continue to grow your business. How do you do it all?

Time management is such an important thing in my life/business. I delegate as much as I possibly can, this is easy for me because I hire the best people I can find. My staff takes care of 100% of the day to day business. They do payroll, ordering, scheduling, cooking, among everything else. I focus on keeping the business on its proper course. We are in a great place right now.

How did you first become interested in cooking Italian food?

I started working in an Italian restaurant when I was 15 as a busboy. After that, I worked as a waiter and manager at other restaurants. I skipped my graduation ceremony from Rutgers in 2002 and flew to Italy. I traveled with my cousin, who had an apartment in Trastevere (Rome), for two weeks from Lugano, Switzerland to Salerno, Campagna covering much of the in between. I came back with a passion that has rapidly grown into what it is now. I have no formal training as a chef, just the constant desire to be the best at what I do.

I started my personal culinary education with Molto Mario. Mario Batali is an incredible teacher (even though I have never met him).

What main advice do you have for the home chef who wants to learn more about cooking authentic Italian food (particular book, tv show, class, etc.)?

Practice is the best. I used to cook 6 course meals for my friends and I learned so much from that.

If you could eat anything and anywhere right now, what would it be and where? (Your dream meal!)

This is a hard question. My dream meal? I love cooking for myself and for family/friends but I'd say that my dream meal would be in Tokyo. No specific restaurant, but a multiple course meal where you can expect to be completely surprised and blown away by just about everything. I spent several weeks in Japan just before I bought Arturo's. The Japanese have such integrity, tradition, and ingenuity. I love the culture.

For more information, visit the restaurant’s website or just stop by and eat:

Arturos
180 Maplewood Ave.,
Maplewood, NJ 07040

Silver Spoon Cookbook X2

The Silver Spoon Cookbook advertises itself as the “Bible of Authentic Italian Cooking.” While that’s a lofty goal, I don’t think anyone could complain with the outcome.

My husband gave me the English version as a gift a few years ago and I received the Italian version as a wedding present. I love having both copies depending on my mood, company and measurement tools.

The Italian one comes in a great orange plastic case. Both copies are heavy and carrying it around could be a substitute for going to the gym. They are worth it – for good cooking and keeping your Italian skills up to par.

You can browse some of the recipes online. I’ve enjoyed looking up an item – like pork chops – and discovering a new way to make them. From the cookbook, I made a perfect Pappa Al Pomodoro (Tuscan Bread Soup with Tomato) and a few calazoni with ricotta, mozzarella and ham.

Why have cookbooks if you can look things up online? As a writer, I love the feel of the paper. As a chef, I like sitting with a cup of coffee and browsing through the book for inspiration as I make my grocery list for the week.

I’ve mulled over the idea of slowly making everything in the cookbook like Julie did in Julie & Julia, but I’m pretty sure I’ll never be cooking “Pig’s Liver in a Net” or a few other “exotic” sounding dishes, so I think I’ll still to what interests me.

What’s your favorite cookbook?