Patricia Wells’ Trattoria
Sunday, December 20th, 2009 at
1:41 pm
Product Description
Offering hearty food inspired by the small family restaurants of Italy, the award-winning author of Simply French presents 150 recipes for authentic and traditional trattoria food, including more than thirty pasta dishes. 100,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo. Tour…. More >>
Tagged with: Family Restaurants • First Printing • Hearty Food • Italy • Pasta Dishes • Patricia • Patricia Wells • Product Description • Recipes • Traditional Food • Trattoria • Wells'
This is a different type of cookbook than those I have had before. There are some very healthy and simple recipes here.
First, I should warn you. I am a college student. I live in a cramped apartment with two roommates, and we are poor. BUT, we live in a place with lower rent so that we can afford groceries, and we take turns cooking during the week. Basiclly, we are not too typical college students.
Among a collection of handed down cookbooks, we have Patricia Wells’ Trattoria. The kick here, which I think inspired my mother to get it for me, is that it has simple recipes and its Italian food. This should be a win-win situation: I crave spaghetti daily. But this cookbook is dissapointing.
Among the recipes that do not acquire Lamb, Saffron, Mussels, Pancetta, Crab, Swordfish, Rabbit, or Oxtail, are a few that sound absolutely ridicuously easy. Examples; “Pan Fried Potatoes with Olives,” (Potatoes, Olive Oil, Olives, Salt & Pepper) or “Tajarin with Rosemary-Infused Butter.” (Unsalted Butter, Rosemary, Salt, Tagliatelle, Parmagiana-Romana Cheese)
After following the sometimes meticulous, but still easy steps, we found ourselves chewing and thinking “Is that it?”
Of course our friend in culinary school would point out that we are not using the freshest of ingredients, but we got what we could. Even he thought what we had was uneventful.
Why three stars? Last night we had some very good chicken, and, again, the recipes are easy to make. Overall the results from this book were good enough to eat, but nothing special enough to write a cookbook about.
The book was loaned to me by a friend. Just one look plus making the fast and easy “Vodka Pasta” on page 92 convinced me I needed to own the book. I will be mentioning it again in my food column in September for an on line magazine…Check it out and pardon the plug. It’s a great and very witty little magazine published in Seattle on–according to their header–”Natural and unnatural events”.
I am a fan of Patricia Wells, but let me state upfront that this is not the Italian version of “Bistro Cooking,” although I believe it was intended to be.
I bought this cookbook after having owned and used Patricia Wells’ Bistro Cooking for several years. I was hoping this book would be the Italian equivalent of the aforementioned award-winning French cookbook that is so widely loved, but I was disappointed to find that it was not. Trattoria pales by comparison.
Patricia Wells is an accomplished food writer and cook. However, it is French, not Italian, food that is her passion and her life’s work. Publishing a book on Italian cooking appears to be something that she wanted to try her hand at as opposed to something that she knew she would excel at.
Italy is next door to where Wells and her husband live and work and Wells herself is part Italian. So after the enormous success she enjoyed with Bistro Cooking and her love of small, family restaurants, Trattoria was probably inevitable. But it is hard to understand why someone would reach for Trattoria when there are so many other great Italian cookbooks available that have been penned by people who are recognized authorities on the subject, such as Marcella Hazan or Biba Caggiano.
Examples of why Trattoria might not be the best choice: Some of Wells’ recipes read like her recipes in Bistro Cooking, such as Wells’ Chicken Cacciatore recipe. Exact same process as with most of Wells’ chicken fricassee recipes in Bistro, just lots of tomatoes thown in to make it “Italian.” I admit to not having made Wells’ recipe for Chicken Cacciatore; however, I have made Marcella Hazan’s Chicken Cacciatore New Version and can tell you it is so good it is drinkable and it is hard to imagine any other recipe for this dish that could top it. Hazan generally advises to saute onion first, and then garlic because garlic cooks faster than onion. Wells tells you to put them both in the pan at the same time. This is not to say that the dishes in Trattoria are not good, but if you care about authenticity, why not rely on the wisdom of a cook who has made Italian cooking their life’s work than to take your chances with someone who only dabbles in it?
Compared to Bistro Cooking, I found Trattoria to be sparse. The former is crammed full of every delectable tidbit imaginable and is brimming with Wells’ enthusiasm and passion for the French people and their food. The latter looks, frankly, like a barebones project.
Assuming at this point that I have persuaded you to pass on Trattoria, but you’re still in the market for an Italian cookbook with a casual feel and a friendly personality, Modern Italian Cooking by Biba Caggiano or Rao’s Cookbook: Over 100 Years of Italian Home Cooking by Frank Pellegrino come highly recommended by this reviewer. Both are loaded with delicious and authentic Italian recipes to make for your family and friends.
Lots of the recipes are easy and quick, which is great for week night meals after work. I really like the Speedy Lasagne, but I haven’t had a chance to try the longer meals yet.