125 Best Italian Recipes

Kathleen Sloan-Mcintosh is a cookbook writer and recipe developer. She lives in Bayfield, Ontario, where she and her husband run the Black Dog Village Pub and Bistro.

Introduction

Open my heart, and you will see Graved inside of it, "Italy." -- Robert Browning

FOR ME, THE FOOD of Italy is all-consuming in its appeal. It speaks directly to everyone of my senses in a way no other cuisine does. Ultimately, this is food the way I think it is meant to be -- natural, colorful and sensual, with layers of flavor and texture.

Splashing a little extra virgin olive oil into a warm skillet, chopping a fat, cream-colored clove of garlic, slicing through a brilliant red pepper or watching fresh chopped tomatoes turn themselves into a brilliant sauce in minutes -- all these things make me feel part of the wonderful tradition of home-style Italian cooking which is such an integral part of that beautiful country.

Growing up in an Anglo-Irish household in Toronto did not precisely prepare me for writing this book. However well I was fed (and indeed I was), dishes such as roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and potato bread did not feed an appetite for rustic Italian food.

Or perhaps they did.

Whether or not she recognized it, my Mum -- the most natural and instinctive of cooks -- had much in common with the mothers and grandmothers of Italy and their finest cooking. As passionately and ritualistically as they produced their warming soups, slow-braised meats, handmade breads and pastas, so did she make her beef stew, shepherd's pie, blackcurrant jam and the flawless pastries for which she was especially renowned. It matters little that she cooked with butter and not olive oil, or that she chose to make pastry and bread dough instead of pasta; her reverence for working quickly, respectfully and simply with only the very best, freshest, seasonal foods absolutely mimics la cucina casalinga -- the home cooking ofItaly I so admire.

The passion for the food itself, the inspiration to feed a family well and to never, never waste anything -- "the economy of your grandmother" as Ruskin described it -- such are the characteristics shared by good cooks everywhere, no matter what the ingredients with which they work.

I wrote this book because I want to contribute in some small way to reinforcing a way of cooking that I think of as simply the best. It is an opinion that, happily, is shared by the family and friends for whom I have prepared the dishes in this book.

As a food writer I have become increasingly weary of the globe-trotting dinner plates too often placed before me in restaurants. When properly wrought by talented chefs who have a strong grounding in the classics, fusion cuisine is marvelous, inspiring, thrilling.

In the wrong, impatient hands, it's simply con-fusion.

Little wonder then, that I often find myself yearning for the clarity and uncontrived simplicity of the foods I so enjoyed in Italy. There, as in much of the Old World, cooking styles are not driven by trends. Not so here -- perhaps because in the New World we feel the ongoing need to reinvent or reinterpret the classics.

What countries like Italy have to teach us (again and again, it would appear) is the art of culinary relaxation -- how to enjoy the simplicity and clarity of rusticity, how to anticipate seasonal foods and, once they are here, respect them by allowing their "realness" to shine. This is food on a plate or in a bowl to be eaten with pleasure -- no worries, no over-think.

So, this is the inspiration for 125 Best Italian Recipes, a book that features my favorite regional Italian dishes. Here you'll discover food from the haute cities of the North to the humble villages of the South and from coast to coast. This is Italian cooking at its simplest and finest: unpretentious, unchanged by time, uninfluenced by trend and, ultimately, the most satisfying -- to prepare, to serve and to enjoy, again and again.

While every region in Italy has indigenous classics -- each with distinct characteristics -- there is an uncontrived quality that is common to food throughout the country, so preparing it successfully is a fully attainable goal. This is the sustainable cuisine that has fed Italians well for generations. It is the essence of good food -- rustic, real, relevant and deeply satisfying to prepare.

I hope these recipes inspire you to cook with the same passion and excitement I feel when I cook cucina rustica.

Buon gusto!

Kathleen Sloan-McIntosh
Toronto 2008

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Necessities of the Italian Pantry

Appetizers - Antipasti
Soups - Zuppe
Pasta and Polenta - Pasta e Polente
Rice - Risotto
Meat - Carne
Chicken - Pollo
Fish and Seafood - Pesci e Frutti di Mare
Vegetables - Verdure
Sweet Things - Dolci

Index