Kitchen Shelf

Like most people, I have a small shelf in my kitchen for cookbooks. Perhaps unlike most people, I’m more interested in the “book” than the “cook” part. I don’t cook much; I just make simple things. I’ve been a vegetarian for almost 15 years, my whole adult life. I’ve never cooked a chicken. I’ve never made a roast. I sometimes get wiggy making scrambled eggs. But I don’t mind reading about people who do cook meat. In fact, I love food writing. Most of the great food writing I’ve read (M.F.K. Fisher and Ruth Reichl, for example) I’ve borrowed from the library, but I do have a little food writing mixed in with my cookbooks. This is what is on my kitchen shelf:

The Compassionate Cook put out by PETA
(Have never cooked from it—Vegetable Broth, Vegetable Chowder, Vegetable Vegetables. . .)

Moosewood by Mollie Katzen
(My first vegetarian cookbook, given to me by my dear friend, Krissy.)

Barefoot Contessa Family Style by Ina Garten
(Beautiful pictures—not veggie, though, I could only cook about half of it--but I love the world she creates.)

Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin
(Food writing and recipes—I love it.)

More Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin
(More food writing and more recipes.)

South Wind through the Kitchen Door: The Best of Elizabeth David
(She cooks French things I’ve never heard of and things I’d never want to try like Potted Tongue, but she writes crisply and with conviction.)

Fields of Greens by Anne Somerville
(Quality Paperback Book Club purchase—never cooked from it.)

The All-New Joy of Cooking
(Have used on many occasions to check times for baking potatoes and boiling wild rice—also great reference book for fourth grade math homework—conversion tables in the appendices.)

Quick Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin
(Have cooked from it the most, very easy.)

The Vegetarian Lunchbasket by Linda Haynes
(Right up there with Lemlin’s book—easy and realistic.)

Cook’s Encyclopedia of Vegetarian Cooking
(Barnes and Noble clearance table—nice photographs—never cooked from it, but I have put a few torn bits of paper in to mark Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratin and Stuffed Mushrooms, for what it’s worth.)

Fanny at Chez Panisse by Alice Waters
(A favorite read-aloud for me and my girls—finished reading it to Maria last night.)

Fannie in the Kitchen
(Another children’s picture book—a different Fannie, Fannie Farmer—can’t seem to shelve it with the other children’s books in the girls’ room.)

The Usborne Children’s World Cookbook (Great for supplementing homeschool history—Let’s make a dish from Greece! —What do they eat in Greece?)

Windows on the World: Complete Wine Course by Kevin Zraly
(Another Barnes and Noble clearance table find—I know nothing about wine—Sutter Home White Zin is my usual classy drink.)

Marcella’s Italian Kitchen by Marcella Hazan
(The real deal—and I’ve cooked from it—see below)



I Maccheroni alla Moda di Victor
(Victor’s Pasta with Parmesan, Butter and Cream)

from Marcella’s Italian Kitchen
by Marcella Hazan

Many Italians maintain no sauce can match the simple goodness of butter and freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano. This is my husband’s own version, to which he has added a little cream.

Simple as the dish appears to be, it has secrets. One is the sequence in which the ingredients are added to the pasta. Another is the manner in which the pasta is tossed. The basic principle of this sauce is that the cheese must melt in contact with the pasta to coat it. Thus it is added first, while the pasta is steaming hot. You begin to add butter when you see that cheese is coating every strand of spaghetti or every rigatoni. At the end, my husband, who allows no one else to prepare this dish, tosses the pasta with cream to bind all the components smoothly.

Cook the pasta to a firmer consistency than you would ordinarily, because it will continue to cook a little more as you toss it in the hot bowl. Make sure you follow the recipe’s directions for preheating the bowl. If it isn’t hot, the pasta will cool too rapidly and the cheese won’t melt satisfactorily.

For 4-6 persons.

1 pound spaghetti or rigatoni
1 ¼ cups freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
3 tablespoons of butter, partly softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Black pepper in a grinder

1. Place a ceramic bowl in which you will later toss and serve the pasta in a 100 degree oven.

2. Drop the pasta into a pot of abundant boiling salted water.

3. When the pasta is done—barely tender and distinctly firm to the bite—remove the bowl from the oven (remember it’s hot; use a towel or potholders), drain the pasta, and put it in the bowl.

4. Add ½ cup of the grated cheese, toss the pasta repeatedly, distributing the melting cheese evenly.

5. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter, toss again until the butter has melted, then add another ½ cup of grated cheese and another tablespoon of butter. Toss, turning the pasta over, 10 or 12 times, add the remaining tablespoon of butter and toss again, 4 or 5 times.

6. Add the cream, distributing it evenly in a thin stream. Toss the pasta again until it absorbs the cream.

7. Add the remaining ¼ cup of grated cheese, several grindings of pepper, toss 2 or 3 times, and serve at once.

One gets the idea that Marcella writes the recipes for us only because she can’t be there in every kitchen to make it the proper way. I can’t help but feel that if she were in the room instructing me and watching me mix and toss, she’d say, “Oh, just give it to me!” and take over. But I like that about her.