FYI, January is National Soup Month.
I have wanted a copy of this book for quite some time. Essentially since I stumbled upon this picture about 9 years ago:
So many questions: Where did this picture come from? Why is Sophia Loren holding big utensils to her face? Why does she look so damn sad?
It inspired this photo:
I own a Big Fork & Spoon set because of this video:
But I digress. I have now have a copy of In the Kitchen With Love and it is absolutely delightful. It isn’t a typical cookbook. All of the recipes are written in prose–the ingredients and directions are snuggled within the text. It’s like having someone tell you a story while you’re cooking.
Minestrone is another basic dish of Italian cooking; not only does it change from town to town and from kitchen to kitchen, but it can change from one season to another, even from one day to the next. It would be a mistake to ascribe the phenomenon only to Italian individualism: it still depends on what is available in the way of ingredients according to season and region, because into the minestrone go all the vegetables the cook can lay hands on, with or without or without pasta or rice. Most famous, perhaps, is the minestrone of Milan (I still remember one Life correspondent who called Milan the mother of minestrone) but that is such a dish that its recipe is like Holy Writ. I’ll give you my version, and it’s really beautiful.
You will always be able to find celery, carrots, and onions year round, so we shall start with these-1 1/2 to 2 ounces of each per person; chop them, brown them in a little olive oil with some minced garlic (one clove to every two people). When these first vegetables have acquired that golden look, add to them, depending on the season, a chopped stalk of Swiss chard, some chunks of peeled potato, zucchini, chopped cabbage leaves, peas, fresh Lima beans, and a little coarsely chopped tomato. Then poor in enough broth to cover the bottom of the pan so that the vegetables won’t stick, thereby forming a very substantial minestrone. Let it cook like this until the whole becomes soft, like a paste, then it is ready for the table.
The following ended up in my minestrone:
- garlic
- onion
- carrots
- celery
- celery leaves
- spinach
- yellow bell pepper
- green beans
- red pepper flakes
- can diced tomatoes
- vegetable broth
- salt
My parents had a set of those in the kitchen during the late 1970s. I don’t know what could’ve made it look MORE 70s–the harvest gold cookware, the curtains with mushrooms and spices on them (we also had matching mushroom plates!) or the brown Pyrex cookware that was a 10th anniversary present from my mother’s older brother.
I wish I could remember more of that era–you ever have a feeling that things were out of date when they were IN date? That was the 70s for me! Also, that soup looks DIVINE!
Somewhere in my house is a big fork and spoon and once my kitchen remodel is done, they’re getting hung up. 🙂
This book is on my wish list. I just secured Pearl Bailey’s cookbook. Can’t wait to wrestle that one too.
I have also sought long and hard for The Big Fork and Spoon, but to no avail. I shall not give up the quest until I am triumphant! 😉
The minestrone looks delicious!
OMG! My mom had this book and I used spend hours thumbing through it. I remember it being really wonderful. Thanks for posting I actually just made a chayote soup yesterday. Yum!!! : )