FOODIE FRIDAY: Q&A with author/cook DOMENICA MARCHETTI (Pt. 1 of 2)

Welcome to FOODIE FRIDAY! October is officially DOMENICA MARCHETTI month! Every Friday in October, we’ll be featuring a Foodie Friday blog devoted to food critic/journalist/cook/author Domenica Marchetti. Today features part 1 of our two-part Q&A with Domenica.

I worked with Domenica when we were both reporters for The Detroit News back in the early ’90s. Since then, Domenica has gone on to write for The Washington Post and publish several acclaimed cookbooks.

We are also hosting a signed book giveaway contest with Domenica. Please comment on this blog (or on any Foodie Friday blog this month) and you will automatically be included in the prize drawing. Or you can email me at paula at paulayoo dot com to join the drawing. A winner will be picked at random and will receive a signed copy of Domenica’s latest book, THE GLORIOUS PASTA OF ITALY (Chronicle Books 2011). The winner will be announced on Friday October 28, 2011. And stay tuned for Part 2 of  our Q&A with Domenica on Friday October 14th and she will share a special pasta recipe for our Foodie Friday blog on Friday October 21st! Yum! 🙂

For more info on Domenica, here are her links:

www.domenicacooks.com

Twitter.com/domenicacooks

(Keep reading after the jump for Part 1 of our two-part Q&A with Domenica about pasta, Italian cooking and her heritage, and thoughts on the food industry, reality TV cooking shows, and more fun topics!)

Part 1 of Q&A with DOMENICA MARCHETTI

Domenica Marchetti bio (from her website http://www.domenicacooks.com/):

— Q: We first met as reporters for The Detroit News. I remember when you would write the occasional food feature piece and how excited you were… what led to your decision to write about food full-time?

— A: Back in the late 1980s when I was at Columbia Journalism School, no one ever mentioned food writing as a serious journalistic pursuit. But of course, now you regularly see stories about food on the front page of newspapers and in best-selling books (think Michael Pollan). I began incorporating food into my writing when I was the health and fitness writer at The Detroit News, because obviously food and nutrition and health go hand in hand. When I got home at night after work, I would open up a cookbook and then the real fun would begin. I love cookbooks of all kinds, and I have an ever-expanding collection.

When my husband and I moved to the D.C.-area in 1995, I took a job as a writer for The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and wrote about the nonprofit world for a number of years. Then we had our son and daughter, and I decided to stop working fulltime so that I could be home with them. That’s when I decided to pursue freelance food writing. I loved it and it’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

— Q: I also remember how you were the first person to educate me about certain Italian cultural traditions, such as the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve. Can you tell us about your Italian family? I know your mother is from the town of Chieti – when did she emigrate to the United States? How much Italian culture, language and tradition did she introduce to you as a child? Do you speak Italian?

— A: Yes, my mom was born and raised in Chieti, a hilltop city in Abruzzo, a region that extends from the Apennine mountain range to the Adriatic coast. She came to the U.S. in 1958 and met my dad on a blind date in New York City. He was born in the U.S., but both of his parents were from small towns south of Rome. My mom is fluent in English, but Italian is her first language, and she spoke it to my sister and me when we were little. We spent our summers in Italy when I was growing up. Much of what I learned (and love) about Italian culture and tradition came from those extended visits. But my mom also incorporated those traditions into our home life in the U.S. We celebrated not only Christmas, but the feast of the Epiphany on January 6. Even at Thanksgiving, that quintessential American holiday, our dinner table was filled with my mother’s wonderful Italian cooking. The turkey was stuffed with a delicious sausage and chestnut stuffing, and for dessert she made ricotta cheesecake (along with pumpkin pie).

— Q: I love how your mother had you and your sister shaping gnocchi and ravioli when you were little kids. Why was cooking so important to your mom? What are some of your fondest memories of growing up in her kitchen? What was one of the first meals you made on your own as a child/teen?

— A: I think that cooking was a way for my mom to stay connected to her Italian identity. Her family had a cook when she was growing up, so she didn’t actually start cooking until she was an adult. It gave her a lot of satisfaction to make the dishes from Abruzzo that she had grown up with, such as cappelletti in brodo (meat-stuffed pasta “hats” cooked in homemade broth) for Christmas Day, and to master new ones, such as lasagne alla Bolognese. One of my strongest memories is of her making homemade pasta, and hanging the noodles on a dowel balanced between two chair backs in the kitchen. And yes, she used to get my sister and me to help shape and seal the ravioli. And we used to shell bags and bags of hazelnuts and walnuts for all the Christmas cookies she baked. But she didn’t only make Italian food. She made the best lemon meringue pie I have ever had, with a beautiful, lofty meringue topping that always had perfectly browned peaks. She also liked to make Chinese food and beef tacos, and delicious fat burgers with caramelized onions on top. In fact, even now, many decades later, she is still creating new recipes in her kitchen.

I’m pretty sure that the first “recipe” I ever made on my own was cinnamon toast. It came from an old children’s cookbook, but I can’t remember which one! As a young girl and teenager I loved to bake. One of the first real recipes I learned to make—from our old Betty Crocker cookbook—was apple pie with crumb topping. I still make it today (though I’ve tweaked the recipe over the years).

— Q: I love how you say that cooking, especially Italian home cooking, is such a passion for you… it’s not just about cooking the food, but about communicating and sharing with your family and friends. What led to that emotional connection with food and cooking? How do you carry on that tradition with your own family, especially with your children? What advice would you give for parents and folks who are novice cooks and want to become better “educated” about cooking techniques? 

— A: There is a lot of truth to that saying, “You are what you eat”—not only physically, but also emotionally, socially, and culturally. Sitting down to a meal and spending time at the table is hugely important in Italian society. This has changed somewhat in recent years, as more working professionals in Italy eat lunch on the run as we Americans do, but still, the afternoon meal remains an important part of the day. Sharing meals (regularly) with family, especially growing children, establishes a connection that remains throughout their life, and that (hopefully) they will continue with their own children. The meal does not have to be elaborate or complicated—we all struggle to put dinner on the table during the week. Even if you take just 10 minutes to form ground beef into hamburger patties, or to boil a pot of water for pasta and toss that pasta with a simple home-cooked sauce, you just can’t go wrong.

Beyond eating together, I try to teach my kids to know where their food comes from, and to respect the ingredients. Italians have a great respect and appreciation for good food, and for eating seasonally and locally. I try to do that with my kids to the extent that I can. We steer clear of fast food places and I limit the amount of processed food; but on the other hand, I try not to be too obsessive—I let them get snacks at the movies (a pet peeve of mine) or buy pizza at school on occasion.

To those who are novices in the kitchen, I say there is no better way to learn than to just get in there and do it. As I said, it doesn’t have to be elaborate or complicated. Start with a good basic cookbook (my current favorite in this category is The Commonsense Kitchen, by Tom Hudgens (Chronicle Books, 2010). But you could even go back to a good classic, such as The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, The Joy of Cooking, or Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. I find these sources offer much more useful information than most cooking shows these days.

— Q: For beginner cooks who would like to make their own fresh pasta, what pasta recipe do you recommend as the most user-friendly for beginning cooks?

— A: I have a very simple recipe for basic egg pasta dough in The Glorious Pasta of Italy. What makes it particularly friendly to new cooks is that I mix the dough in the food processor (rather than the old-fashioned way, which entails mounding the flour on the countertop, forming a well, and incorporating the eggs carefully so that they don’t run all over the place).

(PLEASE NOTE: Basic Egg Pasta Dough recipe is listed at the end of this interview.)

— Q: You say in your book that pasta dishes are also very economical, which is important because of today’s economy. What are some of the “cheapest” pasta dishes from your book that you recommend for people on a strict budget?

— A: My absolute favorite economical pasta to make is Linguine with White Clam Sauce. Littleneck clams are still fairly inexpensive, as seafood goes, and the dish has very few other ingredients—boxed pasta, garlic, olive oil, hot pepper, and a splash of white wine. Spaghetti with Red Clam Sauce is similar, but the clams are added to a simple tomato sauce made with canned diced tomatoes. Another great economical pasta dish is one I call Shortcut Genovese. The sauce is mostly onions, simmered very slowly until they are beautifully browned and caramelized. It’s a great sauce to serve with a short, sturdy pasta, such as rigatoni.

Fresh Egg Pasta Dough

(From The Glorious Pasta of Italy, by Domenica Marchetti (Chronicle Books, 2011))

“The key to making good fresh pasta is simply to relax. It’s an intuitive process, and the more you touch and handle the dough, the more familiar you will become with what it should feel like—how firm and smooth it should be. I use the food processor to mix the dough because it’s quick and works beautifully. Just remember to start with the smaller amount of flour listed in the recipe. If the dough is sticky you can always work in more flour as you knead.”

“Makes about 1 pound of pasta, enough for 4 servings”

“2 to 2 1/4 cups Italian “00” flour or unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon semolina flour, plus more for dusting the work surface and dough

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 extra-large eggs

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil”

“To mix the dough: Put 2 cups of flour, the 1 tablespoon semolina, salt, and nutmeg into the work bowl of a food processor and pulse briefly to combine. Break the eggs into the work bowl and drizzle in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Process the mixture until it forms crumbs that look like small curds. Pinch together a bit of the mixture and roll it around. It should form a soft ball. If the mixture seems dry, drizzle in the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and pulse briefly. If it seems too wet and sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse briefly.

“Turn the mixture out onto a clean work surface sprinkled lightly with semolina flour and press it together with your hands to form a rough ball. Knead the dough: Using the palm of your hand, push the dough gently but firmly away from you, and then fold it over toward you. Rotate the dough a quarter turn, and repeat the pushing and folding motion. Continue kneading for several minutes until the dough is smooth and silky. Form it into a ball and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before stretching it.

“To stretch the dough: Set up your pasta machine with the rollers on the widest setting (#1 on my standard Marcato Atlas hand-crank machine). Scatter a little semolina flour on the work surface around the machine and have more on hand for sprinkling on the dough.

“Cut the dough into four equal pieces and rewrap three pieces. Knead the remaining piece briefly. Then, using a rolling pin or patting it with the heel of your hand, form the dough into an oval 3 to 4 inches long and about 3 inches wide. Feed the dough through the rollers of the pasta machine, and then lay the strip on the work surface. Fold the dough into thirds, as you would a business letter, sprinkle with a little semolina, and pass it through the rollers again.

“Repeat the folding and rolling process a few more times, until the strip of dough is smooth. Move the roller to the next narrower notch and feed the strip through twice, sprinkling it with semolina if necessary to keep it from sticking. Continue to pass the dough through the rollers twice on each setting, until it is about 1/16 inch thick or slightly thicker (the second- or third-narrowest notch on my machine). Lay the sheet of dough out on a semolina-dusted surface and cove it lightly with plastic wrap while you stretch the remaining three pieces.

“To cut noodles: Use either the wide or narrow cutters on your pasta machine attachment to cut a sheet of dough into noodles. Sprinkle them liberally with semolina to keep them from sticking and wrap them gently around your hand to form a ‘nest’. Set the nest on a semolina-dusted rimmed baking sheet. Cut the remaining sheets of dough into noodles in the same way and arrange them on the baking sheet.

“If you don’t plan to cook the pasta immediately, put the tray of noodles in the freezer and freeze for 1 hour, or until the pasta is firm. Carefully transfer the noodle “nests” to a large container with a tight-fitting lid or to zipper-lock freezer bags. Return the pasta to the freezer until cooking time. To cook, simply remove the pasta nests from the freezer and plunge them into a pot of salted boiling water. Cook until al dente, drain, and sauce as you please.”

#####

Thanks Domenica for a great Q&A! Stay tuned for Part 2, which will post on Friday October 14th. Domenica will also share a special pasta recipe from her book for our Foodie Friday blog on Friday October 21st. And the winner of our contest will be announced on Friday October 28th.

To participate in our book contest drawing, please comment on this blog or email me at paula at paulayoo dot com to be included in the prize drawing for a signed copy of THE GLORIOUS PASTA OF ITALY from Domenica!

Stay tuned for next week’s blogs, too. Until then… as always, Happy Writing! WRITE LIKE YOU MEAN IT! 🙂