Customer Reviews

Mario Batali Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Two Villages

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I find it hard to be entirely objective about this book, as Mario Batali is my number one culinary hero. Through his show `Molto Mario' on the Food Network, he exposed me for the first time to Italian regional and microregional cuisines and the `if it grows together, it goes together' doctrine. This is called `terroir by the fans of cooking from `the F country', which Mario loves to hate. This also brought into full light the doctrine of `buy the very best of what is fresh today and that will determine what you cook tonight.' Mario does not give you the cerebral approach of someone like Paul Bertolli or Tom Colicchio or, ultimately, like Thomas Keller, but Mario gets all the important stuff right, in a way we can appreciate and use.

I love the way Mario quite honestly confesses to having lifted most of his recipes from Italian grandmothers, as he believes that the best Italian cooking is done in the home and not in the Restaurante. In spite of his heart being with Italian cuisine, he is never disrespectful of American food and produce, especially when the American product is superior to the Italian.

This book is comprised of recipes primarily from the extended three-year stage he served in a little trattoria in Emilia-Romagna, a stones throw from the border with Toscana. But, it does contain several recipes from other parts of Emilia-Romagna, Toscana, Lazio (Rome) and even Sicily. His two `villages' are Porretta Terme in Italy and Greenwich Village in Manhattan.

The book has six chapters of recipes, these being:

Antipasti, 43 recipes including crostini, bruschetta, polenta, pickled vegetables, mushrooms, and cured fish.
Primi (pasta or rice), 49 recipes including recipes for fresh pastas, gnocchi, couscous, and risottos.
Seconde (main dish)
Pesce (fish), 27 recipes including scallops, calamari, prawns, crabs, lobster, snapper, and even frogs' legs.
Carne (meat), 32 recipes including rabbit, pheasant, lamb, veal, beef, sausage, liver, and sweetmeats.
Contorni (side dishes) 26 recipes including polenta, many vegetable dishes, grilled, fried, and pickled.
Formaggi & Dolce (cheese and sweets) 27 recipes including fruit and confections with funny names.

Each section includes pantry recipes for sauces and dressings not included in this count.

I would recommend this book primarily for the reading of Mario's unvarnished enthusiasm for food and the Italian dedication to (relative) simplicity of method and freshness of your `prima materia'. I would also highly recommend his basic tomato sauce (I make it all the time) and his recipes using fresh pasta. As he points out, there is a big difference between the fresh pasta of the north and the dry pasta of the south both in the way they are made, in the types of flour used, and in the sauces appropriate to each. Mario's recommendations on making and dressing pasta are worth the price of admission.

The black and white or sepia photographs of Mario and his colleagues at the trattoria lend a warm `gemutlichkeit' (sorry, I don't know the Italian word) to the proceedings. The color photos are better than average, in that the photographer succeeds in getting the entire dish in focus.

I highly recommend the book for the authenticity of the recipes and his introduction into a deeper appreciation of Italian food. It is not a complete presentation of Italian dishes, but it is a great partner to a broader treatment done by Marcella Hazan, Lydia Bastianich, Giuliano Bugialli, or the Cooks Illustrated volume on Classic Italian recipes. I agree with those who warn that the book is not for novices, but is the sort of book which can show the way from innocence to experience.

This book is enjoyable to read, but not as useful as I had anticipated. Many of the recipes just don't use ingredients that I can easily find or even care to use like rabbit, squab, pheasant, frogs' legs etc... That said there are some good, practical recipes-just not as many as I hoped for. I'm Italian and grew up around delicious homemade Italian food, just not the type of dishes Batali creates. Batali's recipes are indeed authentic, but not necessarily tempting. There aren't enough pasta recipes, but plenty of meat and seafood recipes in the book. Unfortunately this book spends more time on my bookshelf than in my kitchen. Try to look at a copy before purchasing this one.

Far too many people look at the title "Simple Italian Food" and think that the book is going to include tons of 30 minute recipes for everyday Italian cooking.

Wrong.

Anyone who has watched Batali's show, or anyone who reads the introduction to this book will find out that what he is referring to is the use of a few, excellent ingredients in each dish, as opposed to a long list of ingredients that will require one whole cart at the grocery store to carry. Most of the recipes require 6 or 7 ingredients, tops. Some are exotic (most have easy substitutes), yet one of Batali's primary but often-missed points is that the kind of ingredient isn't important, but its quality. I'm surprised by how few a number of people took this concept away from the book.

The recipes turn out delicious. They can be intensive at times, particularly the pasta dishes. Most of the meat dishes also require long periods of braising. Few of the dishes are quick-prepares. THAT'S FINE IF THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.

So look through the book a little bit before buying and determine if this is what you are expecting. If so, you'll likely enjoy it.

Being a fan of Mario Batali on the Food Network, I had high expectations for this book. His shows always made Italian cooking look simple. As a beginner cook, the title sent visions of me making Italian dishes for everyday meals. Unfortunately, many of the dishes use hard-to-find or rather expensive ingredients. Some of the ingredients used: rabbit, venison, saffron, etc. I have tried several of the dishes (mostly pasta) and they turned out quite well. The recipes I tried are mostly strong-flavored and tasty. If you love pasta, I think you'll like this book.

If the Carne section (which is where most of the meat dishes reside) used more of the common meats like beef, chicken, or pork I think I would have rated this cookbook much higher.

A small gripe: the recipes do not show which page the photos are or that they have photos at all. That makes the photos harder to find and in fact, it's quite easy to assume that the recipe has no photo at all! That's too bad considering that photos often help in deciding which of the dishes to try.

"Mario Batalia's Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Two Villages" is the quintessential Italian cook book for anyone who wants to create their own Italian culinary masterpieces in the familiar surroundings of their own kitchens. This book is beautifully illustrated, very easy to read and provides the reader with the necessary basic's concerning the use of ingredients. Mario encourages us to use fresh ingredients from our own "villages" and not to be afraid to subsitute freely if a particular ingredient is not locally available. Follow the receipes, be creative when necessary and success will not be far behind. Bravo Mario.

I'm a bit of a loss to read the less than stellar reviews of this book by Mario Batali. Yes, Mario uses some not-so-common ingredients... but if you want not-so-common food, you try your best to find those ingredients (hint: you can find hard-to-find ingredients pretty damn easy over the Web)... besides, there's
a common alternative to practically every ingredient that Mario uses.

So far I've tried about a dozen recipes... *all* with stellar results. The artichoke/pasta and the calamari recipes are particular favorites. And while I was skeptical about the quick tomato sauce that he describes early on (hey... its *so* different than Marcella's quick sauce), when I tried it, it was amazingly good, especially for a 30-minute sauce.

And... yeah... it does take a little practice to make your own fresh pasta. Overkneading/overrolling can make fresh pasta pretty tough. If you can't... you can always stick to Sicilian dishes. Sicilians prefer dried pasta. :)

This is a good book (unlike other junk like Emeril's book... Emeril is a circus clown not a cook). Besides the simple (they *are* simple) recipes, you really learn quite a bit about simple Italian cooking that you can leverage in your other dishes.

Mario is fabulously eloquent, not only on his TV shows, but also in his book. And the recipes are great - everyone we have tried is a winner - great bruschettas, pasta, meat and more. Hooray to Mario for including fresh, unexpected (for Americans) ways to use artichoke too. Thank goodness for Mario, who has some integrity in this new world of TV chefs who sensationalize food preparation for ratings! -- Not Mario -- he sticks to food that is wonderful, joyous, simple, and wholly enjoyable. And, he is a great teacher. This is the book we pull out when we want a great pasta dish for a weeknight, as well when planning a three or four course meal for guests. Very versatile.

p.s. The information about fresh vs. dried pasta was ENLIGHTENING! i.e. with which sauces dried is best, and when fresh is best.

I bought this on a whim. I do not have cable television so I had never heard of Mario Batali's cooking show. I like the way this book is laid out and all of the recipes sounded wonderful! But I am not in the position to make my own pasta - I don't own a machine. I did make a chicken recipe that was stuffed with cheese, pine-nuts and nutmeg and it was great. I would like to try more in this book but I know I will not be able to find some of the ingredients; thus my question of its practicality for those of us that don't live near food-savvy locales (ie. NYC, LA, etc.)

Some of the recipes call for ingredients which are a little hard to find, even in metropolitan Seattle where I live, but the results are outstanding. It also helps to watch Mario on the FoodTV network. The way he cooks makes so much sense to me, a retired guy who only took up cooking a few years ago. Well worth the price, even if only a few recipes are used.

There is no doubt that Batali is an excellent cook. There is no doubt that these are excellent recipes. However, the title would lead one to believe this a compilation of rustic, simple country recipes. I think that is a tad misleading. Batali includes many difficult-to-find ingredients, such as crawfish, boar and pomegranate molasses (?) in some unusual combinations.

Lots of lovely color pictures, which are essential for any cookbook. Recipes ARE good. However, I would rename this book "Italian-Global-Fusion Haute Cuisine."