As if it’s not enough for some of us to cook in summer, we are likely to spend additional hard-earned leisure moments reading about food. Well, prepare yourselves, bibliophiles, for four new, attention-grabbing volumes on food. All have recipes, but two are best when perused between meals.
For those who wish to begin at the stove, and don’t mind searching out some esoteric ingredients en route, I recommend two beautifully illustrated books from important chefs.
Let’s start with the latest effort of Mario Batali, a veteran of the Food Network who is among the most talented and hardest-working chefs in New York City. He is co-owner of three Manhattan restaurants, Esca, Lupa Osteria Romana and Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca, his flagship and the source of the recipes in “The Babbo Cookbook” (Clarkson Potter).
The book is a riot of bright Renaissance colors in quirky patterns and the solid and beautiful shades of brown and gold that color foods that have been skillfully sauteed or broiled. It also contains a riot of ideas from the very first recipes: a trio of bruschetta, one featuring red beets, the next tomato and sheep’s-milk cheese, and the third garbanzo beans.
Directions are concise and the chef’s menu is multi-seasonal. He serves a wonderful array of pastas. There’s a short but mouthwatering section on vegetables, monkfish piccata in the fish section, barbecued skirt steak among the meats and, to end the feast, a selection of cookies.
Guy Martin, the brilliant young French chef who revived the venerable Grand Vefour in Paris and propelled it to three Guide Michelin stars, has gathered many of his cutting-edge ideas about vegetables in a book titled, with characteristic directness, “Vegetables” (Ici La Press). The recipe from his book that follows, mild garlic bouillon, mint and coffee, reveals much about the chef. He takes simple, largely accessible products, prepares them very carefully (the garlic is blanched six times) to provide novel, provocative and ultimately very satisfying taste combinations.
Martin’s 100-plus vegetable preparations are divided by the seasons, with starters, main dishes and desserts for each, and soups and preserves for most. His recipe directions are admirably uncomplicated.
Now, it’s time to repair to the hammock and read until our eyes insist on closing.
For those curious about America’s food history, I recommend “From Hardtack to Home Fries: An Uncommon History of American Cooks and Meals” by Barbara Haber (The Free Press). Longtime curator of books at the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University, she tells nine riveting tales. She begins with a report on the Irish famine and its effect on America, then jumps from Civil War nurses to the survival of POWs during World War II. Along the way, she introduces us to the Harvey Girls, who served travelers in the West from the 1880s to the 1950s.
What weaves together her nine vignettes is that the leading characters in each are women. These women represent all the females who have determined the American diet by the foods they purchase, prepare and present to hungry families, friends and customers. “Food was my way of discovering unforeseen but revealing aspects of otherwise well-documented events,” writes Haber. You’ll enjoy these aspects.
For a male approach, open “Between Bites: Memoirs of a Hungry Hedonist” by James Villas (Wiley). It could be subtitled, “Or how a Fulbright scholar from North Carolina became a captain at Le Perroquet in Chicago” because during a life in food that continues to this day, Villas did both.
A gifted writer and instinctual reporter, Villas has moved in charmed circles. His work for Town & Country and other publications brought him in contact with the greatest of French chefs, the playwright Tennessee Williams and, very briefly, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. He wrote of eating too much, then checked into a spa and wrote about taking the cure. He truly called the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth II his home away from home. But let Villas speak for himself and judge whether you want to know him better.
“Between Bites” offers about 25 uncomplicated recipes ranging from coq au vin with blood sauce to milk toast.
MARIO BATALI’S MONKFISH PICCATA
Four servings
This is a good way to introduce fish to people who might otherwise prefer chicken.
1 1/2 pounds monkfish, bone removed and cut into 8
medallions
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup flour
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup dry white wine
Pinch turmeric
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
4 ounces caperberries*
1 lemon, cut into pithless segments
2 preserved lemon quarters, sliced paper thin**
1 bunch parsley, finely shredded
*Substitute 2 tablespoons capers for the caperberries.
**Preserved lemons are sold in Mediterranean and Indian markets and some specialty food stores.
1. Season the fish slices well with salt and pepper. Season the flour with salt and pepper and place it in a shallow bowl or on a plate. Dredge each piece of fish in the flour, patting off the excess.
2. In a 12- to 14-inch saute pan, heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil over high heat until smoking. Working in batches, if necessary to avoid overcrowding the pan, cook the fish in hot oil, turning once to brown both sides evenly and cook through, about 4 minutes per side. Remove the fish to a plate lined with paper towels. When all the fish is done, keep warm and add the wine, the turmeric, lemon juice and caperberries to the pan. Swirl over high heat for 2 minutes. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and add the lemon segments, preserved lemons and parsley and swirl them over high heat for 1 minute. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil and swirl again.
3. Divide the fish evenly among four warmed dinner plates and pour some of the sauce over each plate. Serve immediately.
–From “The Babbo Cookbook” by Mario Batali
GUY MARTIN’S MILD GARLIC BOUILLON, MINT AND COFFEE
Four servings
4 2/3 pound chicken carcass and giblets
1 onion
1 leek
1 carrot
1 bouquet garni (bay leaf, thyme branch, parsley)
1 tablespoon coarse salt plus more to taste
2 large heads of garlic
7 tablespoons creme fraiche
5 2/3 ounces mint leaves
Freshly ground pepper
3/4 tablespoon butter
12 coffee beans
1. Put the chicken carcass and giblets into a stockpot, cover with water and boil for 5 minutes.
2. Drain and discard the water. Again cover with 21/2 quarts of cold water. Add the vegetables, which have been peeled and cut into sections, the bouquet garni and 1 tablespoon coarse salt. Boil over low heat for 1 hour.
3. Strain the bouillon, bring back to a boil and reduce to 1 quart of liquid.
4. Peel the garlic, removing the sprout if necessary. Put the garlic into a pot, cover with water and boil for 2 minutes. Drain, rinse and repeat this process six times. Drain the garlic and add the creme fraiche and a large pinch of salt. Simmer for 15 minutes. Puree and strain.
5. Boil 2 quarts of water with a pinch of coarse salt. Cook the mint for 5 minutes, then refresh in cold water. Puree and pass through a sieve.
6. Pour the garlic puree into the hot bouillon, whisk and correct seasoning with salt and pepper.
7. Heat the mint puree in a small saucepan, adding the butter and some salt. Do not boil the puree or it will lose its green color.
8. Portion the bouillon into hot soup dishes, dribble with mint puree and add 3 coffee beans per person. Serve immediately.
–From “Vegetables” by Guy Martin
