Tucci’s triumphant return to Italy

The second episode finds Tucci in Lombardy which is home to Milan, Bergamo and Brescia. From the vertical greenery of Bosco Verticale’s glass towers, to the vertical farms of Planet farms, Tucci describes Milan as a forward-thinking city in both architecture and food. 

I have many takeaways from this episode, beginning with a salad of impeccable greens and herbs lightly sprayed with dressing, created by brothers Chicco and Bobo Cerea at the three-Michelin-starred Da Vittorio. The visit to a restaurant at the Autogrill, those ubiquitous road stop eateries one finds along the autostradas of Italy, yielded for me not recipes but memories of previous trips. But when Tucci visits a farm where sturgeon are sustainably raised and bites into a shrimp pasta topped with a scoop of caviar, I know I want to cook this right here, right now.

Another “must” replicate dish is risotto with Grana Padano. The cheese is exceptional, and the production of it almost died out when young Italians abandoned the dairy farms for jobs in the city. It took a generation and thousands of Punjabi immigrants, mainly Sikhs, to beautifully revive this dairy tradition with exceptional care and respect for the cows. Now, the search is on for Grano Padano! And what I have in mind is fettucine al burro, the “pure gold” created by chef Diego Rossi using only fresh pasta, butter and cheese.

In episode three, Tucci is off to the relatively obscure Trentino-Alto Adige region which borders Austria. The boundary between the people, the culture, the language and the food is less defined so that in the Michelin-starred restaurant Castel Fragsburg, Austrian knodel, or dumplings, are served right before perfect gnocchi filled with cheese. That gnocchi, which Egon Heiss painstakingly prepares before the cameras, is definitely on my to-cook list.

Episode four focuses on the region of Abruzzo, not known previously to me but very much known to my husband Roberto, who went to university in Rome when my father-in-law Sergio Barrera was ambassador to Italy. His classmate Julio had a summer house in nearby Abruzzo and watching this episode brought back memories of horseback riding in “Little Tibet,” alluding to the landscape, or searching for antiques with his parents in the mountain villages.

Most definitely, what I plan to cook from this episode is the timballo, an intricately layered dish of crepes, ragu, mini meatballs and an eggy mixture to fill the spaces with something like a souffle. I also want to recreate the elegant panzanella (bread salad), soaked in tomato broth and topped with seafood, from one of the rough but traditional fishing structures along the Trabocchi coast. Then there’s a lamb stew cooked right outdoors featuring carrots, onions, chunks of lamb and red wine. Family memories that lead to tearful remembrances also flavored this meal.

Other exceptional highlights of the visit to Abruzzo included enjoying lamb skewers in the open air, community pizza baking and how what we call Jordan almonds (“confetti” to Italians) are a lovely tradition pursued by the Pelino family.

The fifth, final and very “bitin” episode centers on Rome and its environs. Tucci discovers crisp porchetta, the Italian version of lechon, in Ariccia, 20 miles outside Rome. There are exceptional thin Roman pizzas to be had at A Rota Pizzeria in a suburb of Tor Pignattara. There is sbroscia, a rustic fish soup from Lake Bolsana elevated by the Michelin-starred restaurant La Parolina with a pesto made of basil and mint. 

Watching Tucci in Italy makes me hungry for the food of the Italy of my memories, and I am glad that this incredibly gifted gourmand actor has done the research, the traveling and the tasting for us to benchmark for upcoming travels. In the meantime, I have my kitchen and all the time to whip up my take on the incredible dishes he featured, while hoping that Stanley Tucci will be given a season two, three, four and more. The world’s palates will be thankful for it.

Here are the dishes I cooked out of the show, I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Recipe file

Fresh Pasta

Make a mound on the counter with:

• 1 cup flour
• Make a well in the center and add:
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 eggs

Carefully work the flour into the eggs to form a dough; knead until smooth adding a teaspoon of water if there are any dry bits. Divide into two parts, cover and let rest 10 minutes. If you don’t have a pasta machine, roll them out paper-thin (the resting is important for this) and roll them up, dusting with flour as needed. Cut the rolls into strips and unroll. Boil immediately in salted water for a few minutes, or till they rise to the top, or refrigerate the uncooked pasta for later use.

Fettucine Al Burro Con Caviar

Combine freshly cooked pasta with good salted butter, grated parmesan cheese (Grana Padana if you’re lucky enough to find it), pepper and enough pasta water to make a creamy sauce. Twirl with a fork into small portions and top each with a spoon of caviar.

Mint and Basil Pesto

In the show, it is stressed that this pesto is made without garlic and the flavor is a revelation. Blend together in a food processor or blender:

• 1 cup basil leaves
• ¼ cup mint leaves
• ¼ cup pine nuts (available at Santi’s and Landers)
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ½ tsp. pepper
• When finely blended stir in:
• ½ cup parmesan cheese

Taste to see if it needs extra salt.

• Pomodoro Crudo for Panzanella and Sbroscia

I made an uncooked tomato sauce (pomodoro crudo) by blanching and de-seeding a kilo of fresh tomatoes, blending them with ¼ tsp. each salt and pepper and 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil. 

For the panzanella, dip chunks of French or sourdough bread in the pomodoro crudo then lightly brown in olive oil. Serve topped with seafood and basil leaves.

For the sbroscia, I poached scallops and prawns in the pomodoro crudo just until they were done. The seafood is what flavors the broth.

Gnocchi

Following chef Egon Heiss, I boiled potatoes then peeled and mashed them while still hot. I blended 4 potatoes with 2 eggs and about 1 cup flour, and ¼ tsp. each salt and pepper to make a slightly sticky dough. I shaped the ¾-inch balls of dough around cubes of ripe Brie and put them in the freezer to firm up before cooking them in salted water. I served them over a bed of the mint and basil pesto, as in the show the gnocchi were plated on a green sauce of herbs.

Timballo

This is worth the effort! It’s like a light version of lasagna. You layer crepes, ragu or pomodoro sauce, mini meatballs and a mixture of beaten eggs, milk and parmesan cheese.

For the meatballs, I combined ¼ kilo ground beef, 2 Italian sausages from Santi’s (remove the casing), 2 slices French bread soaked in milk, an egg and ½ tsp. each salt, pepper and oregano. Shape into ½-inch meatballs and fry till golden. They are delicious by themselves!