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Julia Child is perhaps the pioneer celebrity chef and cooking show host who inspired home cooks to dabble in the ornate and complex world of French cuisine. According to an article for PBS written by Italian chef Mary Anne Esposito, Child didn’t hold Italian cooking in high regard as a culinary art form because, said Esposito, “It had [no] structure, no rules, and no unification,” whereas French cuisine is “regimented, organized[,] and had standards.” But that didn’t stop her from delighting in Italian dishes. In fact, she considered various Italian dishes to be some of her all-time favorite foods.
The simple Italian dish that Child couldn’t get enough of was angel hair pasta pomodoro. She would order this dish from her friend and mentee, Steve DiFillippo’s restaurant, Davio. Chef DiFillippo wrote a memoir entitled “It’s All About the Guest” in which he writes, “[Child] loved our food, especially our angel hair pasta with pomodoro sauce.” He then shares his recipe for pomodoro sauce, an utterly simple combination of canned San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, stewed to a rich velvety consistency and later embellished with fresh basil, oregano, and a small knob of butter. He tosses freshly cooked angel hair pasta into the sauce with some reserved pasta water to bolster the texture before serving the dish with a generous helping of fresh parmesan. Pomodoro sauce is perfect in its simplicity, and we have three expert tips to ensure the best results every time.
Read more: 10 Foods Gordon Ramsay Doesn’t Touch
More of Julia Child’s favorite Italian dishes
Angel hair pasta pomodoro with Parmesan cheese – Mia Myskowski/Shutterstock
Julia Child may have been trained as a French chef, having written volumes of French cookbooks to bring the cuisine to American palates. But she clearly appreciated the simplicity of Italian cooking as indicated by her preference for angel hair pasta pomodoro. Another Italian favorite of hers is mushroom risotto. The umami richness of the mushrooms, along with the creamy and fragrant foundation of arborio rice, is comforting, hearty, and sophisticated. We have various recipes for mushroom risotto, from an easy instant pot recipe to a more traditional saucepan recipe that adds roasted garlic to the mix.
Chef Child didn’t express that lasagna was a favorite Italian dish, but she did provide a controversial recipe she shared on her cooking show, “The French Chef.” As the name implies, Child’s recipe for Lasagne a la Française is a Frenchified version of lasagna that includes saffron threads, dried orange peel, and leftover meat in addition to the characteristic lasagna pasta strips and tomato sauce. On another episode of her cooking show, Child cooks osso bucco, an ultra-rich veal shank stew that you might consider the Italian counterpart of the French Beef Bourguignon. While not Italian, more unpretentious and simple (perhaps guilty pleasures?) foods Child delighted in include Goldfish, tuna salad made with Hellman’s mayo, and even Costco hot dogs! Considering Hellman’s mayo and the Costco hot dog ranked favorably in mayo brand and food court tasting tests, we think Child has great taste.
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Read the original article on Tasting Table.
Dining and Cooking