Posted by Mario Batali, December 14, 2007 at 10:00 AM
Most purists in Italy consider any sauce for any fish to be nearly heretical, but in Liguria, the herbacious bath of pesto has the weight of barely floral scented spring and early summer breezes so, the odd exception is often made.
In this case the particularly briny shrimp from the Mare Tirreno marry well with a pesto with less cheese than normal and a slight increase in the pine nut content. The first time I tried this was at a seriously relaxed place on the high end in Portofino callled Il Splendido. There is a pool terrace and then a casual restaurant in the garden where they serve lunch only to high-roller Euro types and American heiresses who missed the boat to Clooney's house over on Lago di Como and where, despite the often kiss-kiss-mwah crowd, the food is actually killer.
They serve these marinated shrimp on the salad buffet (I know what you're thinking, and it is not that way here; it is truly exquisite), but they also do a piatto del giorno with a fresh puffy pillow of focaccia genovese, piled with shrimp, pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, and giant, nearly bitter arugula leaves. Two glasses of local vermentino and a plate of green melon and the nap by the pool puts you into the dreams of Gian Vincenzo Imperiale.
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Posted by Mario Batali, December 6, 2007 at 3:45 PM
Editor's note: Mario Batali had never participated in any Hanukkah rituals until he came to New York and met his wife, who loves making a big deal about Hanukkah for their kids. But just because he was a Hanukkah neophyte doesn't mean he didn't have a strong point of view about latkes and apple sauce, as you can tell from this. —Ed
We love to celebrate all holidays—especially the ones that have a specific food item. In the case of the first night of Hanukkah in our house, we make latkes and apple sauce. We celebrate alone with no guests and keep it very simple. We peel spuds and apples like devils and then make the stuff. Then we light the candles and say the prayers in our limited ability and then eat happily. It's a tradition.
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Posted by Mario Batali, October 5, 2007 at 11:00 AM
My take on marinara sauce (actually the sauce of the seafarers) is a basic tomato sauce. In some places it just means garlic oil and parsley, and in others it is as elaborate as tomatoes, peppers, and lots of herbs.
I use it as a building block in lots of dishes as well as just a simple quick pasta sauce that can be transformed in a thousand ways. If you add chile flakes, you have arrabbiata; if you add anchovies, chile flakes, olives, and capers, you have puttanesca—both only for pasta and so on and so forth.
I have seen places in the States serve fish or meat with the preceding two Italian phrases and am embarrassed for the chefs who have not traveled to Italy. Anyway, this is my recipe, and it is as simple as opening a can. The key here is San Marzano tomatoes from Italy—not from Chile and not from California.
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Posted by Mario Batali, September 11, 2007 at 12:00 PM
Editor's note: We're thrilled to introduce our bureau chief of all things Italian on Serious Eats, Mario Batali. Mario will be weighing in regularly on, well, anything he cares to weigh in on. We're excited to have Mario on the site, mostly because he loves to eat and cook as much as we do, and because he adheres to the Serious Eats bywords—Passionate, Inclusive, Discerning—in all of his far-flung endeavors. —Ed Levine
Nothing, nothing, sounds better than a plate of spaghetti al pomodoro in the month of September.
Did I say nothing? I meant nothing!
The myth of summer tomatoes will continue, but real cooks know that the maximum flavor raver for the golden love apples' peak of perfection is in fact September and even October. A walk through nearly any farmers' market in the northern hemisphere will prove me correct, as one jaunt this last weekend through the Union Square Greenmarket did. There are literally three dozen different types of magnificent tomatoes available in assorted hues, with fantasy names from Green Zebras and Brandywines to Black Russians, Wrinkly Ligurians, Ox Hearts and Cherokee Purples.
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