I was sad to learn about Marcella Hazan’s passing last week.
Kim Severson wrote a wonderful piece
about her in the NY Times. I hadn’t known that much about her background,
except that, like Julia, she didn’t embark on a culinary career until
(moderately) late in life. In fact, she was often called the Julia Child of
Italian Cooking and she dedicated More
Classic Italian Cooking to Julia…and James
Beard.)
When I discovered Marcella Hazan decades ago, she was
already the most authoritative voice of Italian cooking in the states. Her
recipes still stand today as fine examples of classic Italian dishes,
hence the names of two of her most famous books - The
Classic Italian Cook Book and More
Classic Italian Cooking.
Everything is made by hand. There are no mixes or powders. Hazan
did use canned tomatoes, for sure, because those are often better than fresh
ones out of season. And she did allow the occasional canned broth. But most
recipes begin with olive oil and garlic and many require only a few
ingredients.
My favorite Marcella Hazan recipe is a simple one of Pasta with
Peas and Peppers - Maccheroncini
coi piselli e i peperoni.
Each ingredient is handled perfectly. You blister
the skin of the red peppers over a gas burner or under a broiler and place them
in a paper bag to steam just a bit and then peel off the skin. They aren’t flabby
like jarred roasted red peppers; they still have a bit of crunch. And all the
better if you leave a bit of the roasted skin on. It reveals to the diner this extra
step you took. (Plus the taste of the charred skin is a nice accent.)
Then diced prosciutto is cooked in butter, the peas are added
and so are the chopped peppers. Finally a good cup of cream is poured in with
salt and pepper. That mixture is tossed with freshly cooked baby macaroni and
freshly grated Parmesan cheese. How easy is that? And how good? Very…although
these days I might substitute a ¼ cup of that cream with stock or pasta water.
1 comment:
A very nice tribute to the most famous cook that most people have never heard of. These days there is a lot of regional Italian food in the U.S., but that wasn't always the case. The more experience I have with cooking, the more I appreciate the no-nonsense approach Mrs. Hazan brought to her books. When I first read through them, I was a little put-off by the "you must make it this way" tone of the recipes. But now I value having her books as a reference, and know enough to make the dishes work for me, like you did in your suggestion for adding some pasta water for part of the cream.
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