Recipe Category: Main Dish — Page 3

Eggplant Parmesan

I love this recipe. It’s probably one of my top three recipes in this book. Unlike most Italian-American restaurant preparations, the eggplant is not fried. Yet, like most great authentic Italian dishes it uses minimal ingredients, and the procedure is simple and uncomplicated. Make sure to use the absolute best buffalo mozzarella and Parmigiano Regianno you can find.

Chicken Picatta

I have been cooking and serving several versions of this recipe for the past 25 years. It’s always a crowd pleaser.

Chicken Parmesan

This is a dish I used to offer as a feature in the Crescent City Grill, and it made its way to the menu at Tabella. It’s one of the best-selling entrees on the menu, probably due to its universal appeal.

Salt Crusted Fish

Salt-crusted fish is a time-honored recipe. The first time I was exposed to it was at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa Valley. One of the chefs there salt-crusted a salmon. Though the best salt-crusted fish I have ever eaten was a sea bass cooked at Da Romano on the island of Burano. Any restaurant that has hosted Ernest Hemingway and Keith Richards during their run is OK in my book. It reminded me of an Italian version of the New Orleans mainstay Galitoire’s. The salt-crusted sea bass, however, reminded me of nothing I have ever eaten before. Perfect.

Risotto

“Kids today want to eat their risotto with curry and shrimp and sour cream, not risotto alla Milanese, like they should, in my opinion.”— Mario Batali Add a teaspoon of saffron threads to the stock in this recipe and top the finished product with Parmigianino Reggiano and you’ll have Risotto Milanese.

Pork Loin with Prunes

Preheat oven to 350. Using a paring knife, cut a slit in the top of the pork loin about 2”…

Pork Ribs with Polenta

In the American South we eat shrimp and grits. In Tuscany they eat ribs and polenta. In the small hilltop village of Montefioralle, just above Greve, the village’s only restaurant serves ribs cooked over a wood fire and seasoned only with salt and pepper. Perfect. Simple. Beautiful. That preparation is nice if all one is eating is ribs. This is a typical Italian home-style preparation of ribs. These ribs are baked in a hearty tomato stock and are perfectly matched with polenta.

Peposa

I learned this dish from Giuliana at the Viola Club in Tavarnelle.The Viola Club is the local hangout serving breakfast and lunch. It’s run by a family— mom and wife in the kitchen, dad behind the bar, and son waiting tables. The food is good and unbelievably inexpensive. We ate there six times and they nailed the food every time. I spent one morning in The Viola Club kitchen with Paolo’s mom, Giuliana and his wife, Elizabeth. They cooked, I tried to decipher. It was a blast. The recipe I was researching was Peposo, which is basically Italian pot roast with a ton of pepper. I backed off of the pepper.

Mushroom Risotto

Porcini is the mushroom of choice for this recipe. If fresh or dried porcinis aren’t available, substitute your favorite— the more exotic the mushroom, the more complex the flavor profile of the dish. Finish each bowl of risotto with grated Parmigianino Reggiano and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil as desired.