Mario Batali Holiday Food: Family Recipes for the Most Festive Time of the Year

LINGUINE ALLE NOCI (LINGUINE WITH WALNUT SAUCE)\ 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil\ 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced\ 1/2 cup toasted hard bread crumbs\ 1 cup roughly chopped walnuts\ 1 tablespoon hot red pepper flakes\ 1 pound linguine\ 1/2 cup roughly chopped Italian parsley\ 1/2 cup freshly grated caciocavallo cheese or pecorino romano\ Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons kosher salt.\ In a 14- to 16-inch fry pan, heat the oil over medium heat till smoking. Add the garlic and cook until light golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add half of the bread crumbs, the walnuts, and pepper flakes and cook until lightly toasted, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.\ Drop the pasta into the boiling water and cook according to the package instructions until 1 minute short of al dente. Just before draining the pasta, add 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water to the pan with the walnut mixture.\ Drain the pasta in a colander and pour the pasta into the pan with the walnut mixture. Place the pan over medium heat and continue cooking the pasta with the walnut mixture until the pasta is lightly dressed with the condiment, about 1 minute. Add the parsley and grated cheese, stir through, pour into a heated bowl, sprinkle with the remaining bread crumbs, and serve immediately.\ Yield: Serves 4 to 8\ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------\ BROCCOLI SOFFRITI (BRAISED BROCCOLI)\ 3 pounds fresh broccoli rabe, with leaves, if possible, or 3 pounds broccoli\ 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil\ 8 garlic cloves, halved\ 10 marinated anchovy fillets, roughly chopped, or 5 salt-packed anchovies, soaked, rinsed and filleted Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper\ 1/4 cup toasted bread crumbs\ Trim the broccoli rabe into long stalks, removing the bottom 2 inches and leaving the leaves attached. Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil. Meanwhile, place a 12- to 14-inch sauté pan over medium-low heat and add the olive oil. Add the garlic and anchovies and cook 5 minutes, stirring often, until just golden brown and very fragrant. While the garlic and anchovies cook, plunge the broccoli rabe into the boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Drain the broccoli rabe well and add it to the pan with the garlic and anchovies. Cook over low heat for 10 to 12 minutes, until tender but still holding its shape. Remove from heat and season aggressively with pepper and timidly with salt. Serve hot or at room temperature sprinkled with the bread crumbs.\ Yield: Serves 8\ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------\ COTECCHINO CON LENTICCHIE (BIG SAUSAGE WITH LENTILS)\ 1 tablespoon kosher salt\ 8 ounces brown lentils\ 1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice\ 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced\ 12 fresh sage leaves\ 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil\ 1/4 cup red wine vinegar Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper\ 2 cotecchino sausages, about 2 pounds each\ Bring 6 cups of water to a boil and add the salt. Add the lentils, carrots, garlic, and sage and boil until the lentils are tender yet firm, about 25 minutes. Drain and place in a mixing bowl. Add the oil and vinegar, season with salt and pepper, and mix well. Set aside.\ Prick the sausages with a pin several times. Place in a large pot of cold water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to a very low boil and cover the pot. Cook for 1 1/2 hours.\ Place the marinated lentils on a large serving platter to form a bed for the cotecchino. Drain the sausages and cut into 1/4-inch rounds. Arrange the sausage on the lentils and serve hot or at room temperature.\ Yield: Serves 8

\ From Barnes & NobleOur Review\ I can't believe that it has gotten to be that time of year already. It seems as if I was just shaking sand from my shoes. And yet, here it is: time to make lists, try to remember who got what last year, decide whether you are really ready to give up the fresh, pungent smell of pine for the easy to put away and clean up after (but it almost looks real) tree. And most of all, time to plan meals, parties, and get-togethers that will bring together all the people you love. I can think of no better way to get into the spirit of the weeks to come than with Mario Batali Holiday Food written by the extremely popular host of the TV Food Network's cooking show Molto Mario. Chef Mario Batali also owns and operates a number of New York restaurants that are high on the Zagat list, so it was with some difficulty that we found a moment to chat about his latest book. \ When asked what his book has to offer, he replied, "I would like my book to be a springboard to understanding how important it is to develop your own family traditions for the holidays. Sharing my stories and traditions and the foods that are so much a part of an Italian-American holiday will, I hope, encourage others to build those of their own."\ Not surprisingly, his favorite holidays are "Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Without question." He continued, "These are just such obvious holidays for a kid -- the smell of the tree, the excitement of the tightly wrapped presents, the aromas of baking and roasting from the kitchen. It was something that you could count on happening. I still love it!"\ "Is there something that is so much a part of your Christmas that it wouldn't be Christmas without it?" I asked. Mario emitted a kind of yucky noise and said, "Divinity. I don't much like it -- it's just too sweet -- but my mom always makes it anyway." I was a bit surprised because this was one of my mother's favorite holiday treats, and you almost never see it anymore. With Mario Batali Holiday Food we can all put some of these traditional foods back on our menus.\ "Now that you are all grown up with a family of your own, have your holidays changed much?" I asked. "Not really -- perhaps the foods are bit more sophisticated," he thoughtfully responded. "For instance, on New Year's Eve we always have some Dungeness crab, which I order from Pike Place Market in Seattle, and a big, greasy chardonnay along with our traditional pasta. Christmas dinner might be an old-fashioned Italian stuffed pork roast, Braciolona, or I might make a somewhat more contemporary Crown Roast of Veal with Onions and Pancetta. Either way, we have a rich, tender meat and a great stuffing, so some things don't really change."\ Even if it is something as simple as putting a new condiment on the table, I think we should all add new tastes and flavors to our holiday table. My family seems to prefer their old favorites, but I think a few new items on the groaning board keeps us from being old stick-in-the-muds. If, like me, you try to introduce something new into your holiday menus, Mario Batali Holiday Food is the perfect book to revitalize your old standbys.\ --Judith Choate\ \ \ \ \ \ Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly\ Americans tend to think of Italian cooking as easy: we have come to rely on 15-minute pastas and hearty, seasonal dishes like minestrone. But here, Batali of Food Network's Molto Mario presents the most cherished Italian dishes--those served, often after days of preparation and with fanfare, during the holidays. Batali focuses on the seafood-rich Amalfi coast, beginning with a Christmas Eve menu that includes Vongole Origanate (clams oreganato), Baccal Vesuviana, Ravioli alla Spigola (Sea Bass Ravioli with Marjoram and Potatoes), and in case you still have any room for dessert, Classic Cannoli. The book consists of traditional Italian menus that take you through the four holidays--Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day--but the recipes can be used for an impressive meal or snack any time. (There is also a separate section on the wines of Campania.) Cooking from scratch is the name of the game, so don't expect shortcuts; however, instructions are generally to the point and the results are well worthwhile. Recipes like Mythic Pasta Dome (a sort of pasta torte) capture the elaborate and festive nature of holiday Italian cooking. Beginners might be intimidated: Baba (lemon cake) requires a yeast rising and the insertion of fine holes in the cake into which a lemon mixture is "infused." But once practiced, recipes become easy, and there are some simple yet gratifying recipes, such as No-Bake Chocolate Cookies. If you want to enliven your Italian repertoire with authentic, celebratory dishes, this book is invaluable. Photographs by Quentin Bacon. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\|\ \ \ Library JournalIn his latest cookbook, Batali (Simple Italian Food), popular host of the Food Network's Molto Mario and executive chef of four New York City restaurants, offers four Italian holiday menus, from a Christmas Eve "Feast of the Fishes" to a New Year's Day day-long open house. This is the companion volume to a new television series, Mario Batali's Italy, and many of the recipes are inspired by the simple, rustic dishes of the region of Campania, particularly the Amalfi Coast from Naples to Salerno. There are color photographs of the region and of most of the recipes, many of them full-page close-ups. This is a small book, but Batali has numerous fans. Recommended for most collections. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\ \