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Italian cooking

Author's advice: Please, don't rush

In the introduction to her cookbook, Italian Slow and Savory (Chronicle, 2004, $40), Joyce Goldstein tells of how she went to live in Italy for a time and learned the wisdom of slowing life down.

That pace brings out the best in food, too, she says.

Goldstein, chef, teacher and specialist in Mediterranean cooking, has written several other cookbooks, and lives in San Francisco.

Looking back, she recalls how most Italians think that "meals prepared in the traditional way, using the best local and artisanal ingredients, with time as a major seasoning, are not only healthful but also infinitely more pleasurable and sustaining."

When she's in a rush, she says, her repertoire of fast and easy dishes serves well enough, but they are not the ones she remembers with as deep satisfaction as she does the slowly made dishes.

So here's the fruit of her experience: some 120 recipes for soups, stews, pasta sauces, braises, roasts and casseroles, in a simply designed but stylish book, well illustrated with Paolo Nobile's color photos.

The recipes' range is regionally and technically wide. Wild boar stew may be a dish few U.S. home cooks will attempt, as opposed to pork stew with apples, seasoned with rosemary and chili pepper. Other recipes are as captivatingly simple as artichokes braised in citrus juices, slow-roasted onions, and beef with pizza sauce.

Pastuccia, a polenta pie baked with sausages and raisins, is a specialty of the town of Teramo in the Abruzzi region, Goldstein writes.

"After testing this recipe, I decided to increase the amount of raisins because their texture and sweetness are a wonderful contrast to the meaty sausages, and they heighten the sweetness of the cornmeal."

Pastuccia is rather filling if served as a first course, she adds, but makes a satisfying meal if accompanied with a salad or green vegetable.

(Polenta With Sausage and Raisins)

2 tablespoons olive oil or lard, plus more olive oil for drizzling

1/4 pound pancetta (Italian bacon), diced

3/4 pound sweet sausages with or without fennel, casings removed and meat crumbled

2 cups polenta

Salt

Boiling water, as needed

1 cup golden raisins, plumped in hot water and drained

3 egg yolks

Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Oil or butter a gratin dish 10 inches long, a 12-inch pie dish or a 9- by 11-inch baking dish.

In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil or lard over medium heat. Add the pancetta and sausage and saute until cooked through but not crisp, 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, combine the polenta and 1 teaspoon salt. Gradually whisk in enough boiling water to make a very thick batter. Add the raisins, 3/4 of the pancetta and sausage, the egg yolks and some pepper, and mix well. Pour into the prepared dish. Top evenly with the remaining pancetta and sausage, and drizzle with a little olive oil.

Bake the pie until the top is golden and the pancetta and sausage are crisp, about 40 minutes.

Transfer to a rack and let cool for 10 minutes, then serve.

Makes 6 servings as a main course, 8 to 10 as a first course.

[Last modified March 29, 2005, 10:30:05]