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Marcella Hazan


Basilgirl

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I'm looking for just one Marcella Hazan book to add to my already overflowing collection of cookbooks. I'm especially interested in recipes for soups, pasta (including filled), pasta sauces, risotto and breads. Which are your favorites?

I have 'The Essentials of classic Italian cooking'.....everything you want is in there.

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I'm looking for just one Marcella Hazan book to add to my already overflowing collection of cookbooks. I'm especially interested in recipes for soups, pasta (including filled), pasta sauces, risotto and breads. Which are your favorites?

I have 'The Essentials of classic Italian cooking'.....everything you want is in there.

I have "Essentials Of Classic Italian Cooking" also. It's a wonderful cookbook, I've given it as a gift many times, and it is very thorough. It doesn't have photographs, but it does have helpful sketches for certain recipes.

I urge you to look at a copy of this book at your local bookstore. Not being Italian or having significant experience cooking Italian food, I refer to it often. It's a tremendous value for the money, the best and most complete of Ms. Hazan's cookbooks.

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I just got this for Christmas, and also love it! I am still learning how to cook properly, so I started simple with the Tomato with Porcini sauce and homemade pasta (I can't remember the name, but I used a thicker sheet of pasta on the small cutter to make a square shaped strands.) Her pasta-making techinque was very straightforward, and easier than other techniques I've used. (Well, expect the whole "Use the flour to hold in the eggs" thing. That has NEVER worked for me, but I suppose practice makes perfect!) Delicious! I can't wait to cook from it again. I'm glad to hear that the green lasagna is good - that may be next for me!

One question; did anyone else find the pasta portions to be small? I doubled the pasta and the sauce recipe to save for leftovers/freezer, but my wife and I ate all the pasta and 3/4 of the sauce (which should have been 6-8 servings!) I know from time to time I will over eat, but I would've guessed we each ate two servings. Are these portions for course sizes, assuming one will be eating several other courses, or am I just a hog?

At any rate, it speaks to the good taste of the recipe!

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I've had great success with this book; I'll second that the bolognese is outstanding (I made it for some Italian friends and they gave it the thumbs up). I'm also partial to her proportions for making pizza dough.

I made the fish cooked in red wine for a dinner party and it was marvelous. I did it on the fly and it came out perfectly.

Just a great cookbook.

And for the record, her portions are fine if you're serving the pasta as a primi (it pretty much assumes after pasta will come at least one, if not two, mains as well as some finishing plates. If I'm serving the pasta as a main, i almost double the portion sizes).

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Glad to hear that the pasta portions are most likely for multicourse meals. I'm still probably overeating, but its REALLY good! Anyway, the square shaped pasta we made is tonarelli (which is apparently the Roman name for spaghettini.) It was good - I would like to make it again, and realizing that such a shape can be made has opened up the possibility of home-made lo mein! Mmmmm...

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  • 9 months later...

I am glad to see a thread, even an old one, in honour of these books.

Every.Single.Thing. I've made out of this book has been delicious.

Already mentioned here is the Tomato-Butter sauce, and the Bolognese, which are now staples in my home. BRAVA. :biggrin:

“Don't kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you care about!”
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  • 4 months later...

And yet another winner from The Essentials of Italian Cooking. I made the pork loin braised in milk and it was amazing. I had to practically sit on my hands to stop myself adding garlic and rosemary and I am so glad I did not deviate one iota. It was so tender. I served it up with roasted potatoes which I'd parboiled and then tossed with a little olive oil, lemon peel, minced garlic, and rosemary, and steamed broccolini.

We were literally licking our plates.

Edited by pax (log)
“Don't kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you care about!”
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  • 4 years later...

I bought The Essentials of Italian Cooking a few weeks ago and started to cook from it.

Last night, with a pastured chicken I prepared the Fricasseed chicken with rosemary and lemon juice. The most challenging part of the recipe for me was to cut the chicken into 8 pieces. This was a first for me, but I did relatively ok. After that step, the recipe is very straightforward - brown the chicken in oil and butter, add garlic, fresh rosemary s+p, deglaze with white wine (I used leftover Californian champagne that had gone flat), cover and simmer for about an hour total. The breasts are removed and added at the end so they don't overcook. At the end, the lemon zest and juice are added. I served the chicken with white rice to soak up the juices, and sugar snap peas.

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Last week I made the Grilled fish Romagna style (from the Dinner thread). The fish - I used a large snook fillet - was seasoned and marinated for a while in olive oil and thinly sliced fresh rosemary, and coated with breadcrumbs (I used panko). Then I cooked it on the grill, adding a few bay leaves to the charcoal for the aroma, which was subtle but noticeable. We had the fish with pencil asparagus.

6995037714_0a1b3f0b7b_z.jpg

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  • 4 months later...

Lemon thyme fettucine with Marcella Hazan's pesto (the food processor version). The pesto seems to keep very well in the fridge (the leftovers were still good after close to 2 weeks). I have no idea why I don't make this more often. It is so good and takes very little time to prepare.

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Lemon thyme fettucine with Marcella Hazan's pesto (the food processor version). The pesto seems to keep very well in the fridge (the leftovers were still good after close to 2 weeks). I have no idea why I don't make this more often. It is so good and takes very little time to prepare.

The pesto freezes very well too, just leave out the cheese and add it after the pesto is defrosted. I also freeze some in an ice cube tray for those times when you just want a small amount. A spoonful in a bowl of vegetable soup during the dead of winter always cheers me up.


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  • 2 weeks later...

I bought The Essentials of Italian Cooking a few weeks ago and started to cook from it.

Last night, with a pastured chicken I prepared the Fricasseed chicken with rosemary and lemon juice. The most challenging part of the recipe for me was to cut the chicken into 8 pieces. This was a first for me, but I did relatively ok. After that step, the recipe is very straightforward - brown the chicken in oil and butter, add garlic, fresh rosemary s+p, deglaze with white wine (I used leftover Californian champagne that had gone flat), cover and simmer for about an hour total. The breasts are removed and added at the end so they don't overcook. At the end, the lemon zest and juice are added. I served the chicken with white rice to soak up the juices, and sugar snap peas.

7156361934_e47a29500d_z.jpg

Last week I made the Grilled fish Romagna style (from the Dinner thread). The fish - I used a large snook fillet - was seasoned and marinated for a while in olive oil and thinly sliced fresh rosemary, and coated with breadcrumbs (I used panko). Then I cooked it on the grill, adding a few bay leaves to the charcoal for the aroma, which was subtle but noticeable. We had the fish with pencil asparagus.

6995037714_0a1b3f0b7b_z.jpg

Everything looks fabulous! I've had the book for several years and only made the Peas, Bacon and Ricotta Sauce (which was ok)...I'm going to give try the Fricasseed Chicken With Rosemary And Lemon Juice. It looks great! Thanks!

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Everything looks fabulous! I've had the book for several years and only made the Peas, Bacon and Ricotta Sauce (which was ok)...I'm going to give try the Fricasseed Chicken With Rosemary And Lemon Juice. It looks great! Thanks!

Thanks flourgirl!

Not usually a huge fan of zucchini, but Inspired by SobaAddict70's zucchini dishes in the Dinner thread (Zucchini frico here and Pasta con le zucchine here), I decided made the fried zucchini sauce with garlic and basil from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking last night. The zucchini, which I combined with a marrow squash from my CSA, was cut into allumettes, salted and degorged. Then it was wiped dry, floured and fried in garlic-flavored oil until golden brown. The pasta (I used fresh spinach bucatini) was finished in butter with the fried zucchini, fresh basil leaves and parmesan cheese.

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I liked the texture of the dish and the zucchini was very good. A squeeze of lemon juice would not have been out of place to bring out the flavors.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I've been getting great swordfish lately from my local seafood provider so I decided to try the grilled swordfish steaks, Sicilian Salmoriglio style from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. There is nothing much to it but the result is great. You dissolve some salt in lemon juice, then emulsify with olive oil and add oregano (I used dried) . It's reminds me very much of the French "sauce vierge".

The swordfish is grilled for 1 minute or 2 on each side, then it is poked with a fork and the sauce is drizzled on top.

I love the flavor and when you have great fish, it's good to have something that highlights it. I found this interesting article about Marcella Hazan's experience with Salmoriglio.

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Creamed spinach with coconut in the back.

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  • 3 months later...

The tomato sauce with olive oil and chopped vegetables from the Essentials, served with linguine.

It was nice to have some texture in the sauce. I liked the taste too; it was a little sweet from the carrots and quite rich thanks to the liberal amount of olive oil.

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  • 3 months later...

After seeing it on SobaAddict70's eG Foodblog , I had to try the poached shrimp with olive oil and lemon juice from the Essentials. I used Arbequina olive oil and a Meyer lemon. The shrimp were rather large so I sliced them in half as instructed in the recipe.

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Love this dish. Great for a cocktail/dinner party as it can be prepared in advance. It's delicious on a little piece of bread.

I wanted to take the opportunity to thank SobaAddict for a fabulous blog. The thread has closed now so I do it here. This was a week full of inspiration for me.

Edited by FrogPrincesse (log)
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For fans, find a copy of Marcella's autobiography, "Amarcord: Marcella Remembers". It explains many things, including how she became so dictatorial about certain foods and preparations. I love her style. For example, "black truffles are something to be eaten ONLY when white truffles are not in season" seems to me to be one of the greatest food truths of all time! For those who aren't fans, what are you using for authentic Italian recipes, the Silver Spoon encyclopedia (the Italian equivalent of Joy of Cooking, not the cookbook from the New York food shop)? Surely not the phony foolishness that the likes of Troppo Mario are serving up...

Bill Klapp

bklapp@egullet.com

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