Email
PrintA Culinary Love Letter
Throughout her latest cookbook, Lidia Matticchio Bastianich shares the story of Italian food in the country that her family adopted when she was 12 years old. Lidia’s Italy in America celebrates the Italian culinary experience across this nation. Bastianich explored Italian American communities from coast to coast with her daughter, Tanya Bastianich Manuali, who has a Ph.D. in Renaissance art history from Oxford University and a travel company, Experienze Italiane.
Early in this beautiful book, Bastianich says, “I was blessed to be born Italian, and then I was blessed again when I was adopted by America.”
She calls food ‘the blueprint of who we are,’ and says the book project began with one simple question: ‘How did immigrants put food on the table for their families?’
Across 335 pages, nine chapters, and more than 175 recipes, Bastianich shares dishes that range from antipasti and zuppe (soup) to meats and dessert. Instructions are complete and concise. In the Lemon Sole recipe, she describes how to fit fish in the skillet, says capers should be in brine, and recommends putting the fish on a warmed platter, while making sauce. Color recipe photos entice readers to the kitchen, as Bastianich provides culinary historical notes. For instance:
- (Mussels in Spicy Tomato Sauce)
“The Mediterranean is rich in mussels, in particular in the rocky coastal regions. They are also abundant in the coastal regions of the United States … Mussels are not an expensive seafood and deliver a lot of flavor if fresh and still briny from the sea”
- (Stuffed Artichokes)
“Italians love their artichokes in a thousand ways, and stuffed with seasoned bread crumbs is a favorite …”
- (Seafood Soup - cioppino)
“Cioppino is a delicious Ligurian fish stew, and since many emigrants from Liguria settled in San Francisco, some of the best renditions of the dish on this side of the ocean are found [there]”
- (Prickly Pear Granita)
“Prickly pears—or fichi d’India, as they are called in Italy—grow wild and abundant in Sicily and are eaten simply as a fruit, as a salad, or churned into a dessert, as in this recipe …”
The book also offers glimpses of life amid America’s “Little Italys” through photographs taken by Bastianich. She stands with Guido and Tony Pezzini at Pezzini Farms in Southern California, home to nine different sizes of artichokes, and captures the preparation of enormous crab cakes at Faidley Seafood in Baltimore’s Lexington Market. She also portrays Luigi Carchia as he serenades her, beside a fountain in Providence’s Federal Hill.
Bastianich says more than two million descendants of Italian immigrants still live in New Jersey—where her family established American roots in 1958. We learn that Gloucester, Massachusetts offers this nation’s oldest fishing port, including many fishermen with Italian lineage; and that Bastianich considers the North End of Boston and Arthur Avenue in New York City among the most vibrant remaining “Little Italy” neighborhoods.
Familiar local names appear as Bastianich describes Kansas City’s Italian heritage, from Columbus Park to Scimeca’s Italian Sausage Co., La Sala’s Deli, La Rocca Grocery and her travels with the Mirabile family, founders of Jasper’s Restaurant.
This book is a delightful combination of recipe treasure trove, photographic diary, and history book. You’ll never view Italian American cuisine in the same way after reading it.
When Lidia Matticchio Bastianich opened her first restaurant, in 1971, Italian American food was most popular, which differed from what her family prepared. As the family’s restaurant group grew, Bastianich incorporated more regional Italian cuisine and products. Offering fine dining, Felidia opened in New York City, in 1981. Bastianich and her son, Joseph, opened the casual Beco in 1993. Lidia’s Kansas City opened 11 years ago and Lidia’s Pittsburgh opened three years later.
Q & A WITH LIDIA MATTICCHIO BASTIANICH
435 South: Why did you choose this book focus?
Lidia Matticchio Bastianich: There’s this vibrant other cuisine that is Italian American cuisine. It is still much loved, much cooked and appreciated.
435: What do you hope readers learn as they read this book?
LMB: It’s a story of people and an immigration story and I really related because I am an immigrant. I think it’s the story, in a way, of Americans.
435: Your book subtitle mentions “lovely, lusty recipes.” Define a “lusty” recipe.
LMB: [It’s] an inviting recipe that almost makes your mouth water and beckons you to the table. It’s food of family and cooked and loved by generations of Italian families.
435: What is your favorite quick meal at home?
LMB: Spaghetti, garlic and oil. Pasta is real comfort food and you can pull it together in no time.
435: What makes Kansas City a great restaurant town?
LMB: Even when we first came [here] 12 years ago, we met with local farmers. The real estate [for the restaurant location] was important and we were in the middle of the country and people love to eat in Kansas City. And now with all of the cultural elements, it’s so fantastic.
Lidia’s Italy in America is available through www.lidiasitaly.com, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.
