Our cookbook of the week is La Cucina di Terroni by Toronto restaurateur Cosimo Mammoliti with Milan-based Canadian food and travel writer Meredith Erickson.
Jump to the recipes: funghi assoluti (baked oyster mushroom salad), rigatoni arcobaleno (“rainbow rigatoni”: zucchini, cherry tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella) and panzerotti (fried pizza pockets).
Terroni holds a special place in my heart. The group of Toronto restaurants has been a constant since I moved to the city in 2002. When I got my first job in media at an internet radio station up the street, I would sit at the bar at the Balmoral location with a book and treat myself to spaghetti al limone (spaghetti with lemon sauce). It was the ultimate mood lifter.
Seeing this sunny dish and more than 100 other classics in La Cucina di Terroni by Cosimo Mammoliti, with Milan-based Canadian food and travel writer Meredith Erickson, brought me joy, from the funghi assoluti (baked oyster mushroom salad) to the garganelli Geppetto (sausage and dandelion garganelli) I’ve ordered countless times.
When I share my enthusiasm with Mammoliti, who founded Terroni in 1992 with his late business partner and dear friend Paolo Scoppio, he mentions the consistency he’s always strived for.
“What makes me really happy is when I hear those types of stories, and I think about it, too. When I go to a restaurant, I always say, ‘What would I go back there for?’ That’s how I judge it,” says Mammoliti.
“I feel so great about the Terroni menu. It’s a big menu, but people come and they have a (pizza) San Giorgio. They have spaghetti al limone. They don’t even look at the menu. That’s what they want because they have a craving for it. And for me, that’s the beautiful thing we’ve created there.”
Tradition is important to Mammoliti. Toronto’s food scene was different when he and Scoppio opened the first location on Queen Street. Scoppio had left Bari, Puglia, with his family as a teenager, and Mammoliti was born and raised in Toronto by parents from San Giorgio Morgeto, Calabria. Mammoliti loved his heritage, and the friends were driven by the desire to share southern Italian flavours straight from the source.
What started as a homey Italian food shop with four barstools, a coffee machine, a deli counter and made-to-order panini has grown into a group of four Terroni locations in Toronto and one in Los Angeles, the restaurant La Bettola di Terroni with locations in both cities, two Sud Forno bakeries and Spaccio commissary kitchens.
When a guest says Terroni is consistent, Mammoliti considers it a victory. Some of his restaurants serve 1,000 customers a day. “Trying to keep it consistent when you’re doing that many covers is a challenge, so you’ve got to keep it really simple and really, I would say, authentic. Ingredients, ingredients, ingredients.”
The provenance of ingredients and the importance of working artisanally are cornerstones of the business. “I’m a traditionalist kind of guy. My whole life, if I think about even the background of Terroni and how it was built, I’m a Canadian-born son of immigrants.”
In his cookbook debut (with writer Meredith Erickson), La Cucina di Terroni, Cosimo Mammoliti shares favourites from his Toronto and Los Angeles restaurants.
Mammoliti grew up immersed in the Italian community, and his parents, Vincenzo and Rita, kept their Calabrian traditions alive. His father made wine in the basement, and his mother baked biscotti and bread, cured olives and sun-dried tomatoes. They made sausage and hung it in their cantina (cold room). “Those are things that are disappearing,” says Mammoliti.
Vincenzo’s fresh sausage, which he produced for the restaurant, and Rita’s biscotti, Terroni’s most popular cookie to this day — a recipe “she doesn’t give to anybody” — also feature in the book.
After 33 years, making his recipes public in La Cucina di Terroni didn’t faze Mammoliti. “I’m happy to share those things.”
Growing up, Mammoliti was fascinated by all things Italian, from his parents’ memories of their hometown to the modern Italy his first-generation Italian-Canadian friends talked about. When he saw it for himself at 16, it all fell into place. “I finally got to visit Italy and get the up-to-date version of Italy, and I fell in love with everything about it.”
With Italy on his mind, Mammoliti dropped out of school and started working in restaurants. Each year, he washed dishes, bused tables and bartended so he could spend a few months there. Eventually, at 26, he merged his love of food and Italy in Terroni.
He started importing olive oil and then flour, ramping up slowly. Mammoliti knows each producer, such as a third-generation mill in the Marche, where there are wheat fields dedicated to Terroni, and sees his olive oil getting pressed every December in Puglia.
“My whole philosophy about food, and what I do, is just to be as traditional and honest as possible. It’s nothing special. We just keep it simple. Just making sure that you use the right ingredients. And I know everybody says that, but I import everything directly,” says Mammoliti. “I know what I’m putting on the table.”
Food and wine producers visiting from Italy have commented on how well Terroni keeps traditions alive, which can be difficult, even there. “They see what we do, and they’re just in awe,” Mammoliti tells me from Spaccio, where he, executive chef Giovanna Alonzi and head baker Luca Rotatori are making panzerotti as they’ve done each Friday since the pandemic began.
“They see bread being made every day, all the cannoli shells being made and fried every day,” he adds. “We make everything. The pasta’s made fresh every day. The semolina comes from Puglia. The flour, the wheat’s grown in the Marche. The work that’s put into it is tradition. I do it more because I want to keep the traditions.”
FUNGHI ASSOLUTI
Funghi assoluti (baked oyster mushroom salad) “is a signature Terroni dish. It stood out back then and still does 30 years later.”
Baked oyster mushroom salad
Serves: 4
1/2 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup (120 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/4 lb (560 g) oyster mushrooms
Fine sea salt
3/4 cup (80 g) dried bread crumbs
3/4 cup (80 g) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
7 oz (200 g) arugula
1/3 cup (80 mL) balsamic vinegar
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 500F (260C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 2
In a small bowl, whisk the garlic into the olive oil. Lightly grease the parchment paper with about one-third of the garlic-infused oil.
Step 3
Break down any large pieces of the oyster mushrooms into smaller, bite-sized pieces using your hands. Leave the smaller mushrooms as they are and spread all the mushrooms evenly on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle the mushrooms with one-third of the garlic oil and season with salt. Sprinkle all the bread crumbs and half of the Parmigiano over the mushrooms.
Step 4
Bake the mushrooms until they become crispy and turn a golden-brown colour, 10 to 12 minutes.
Step 5
While the mushrooms are baking, arrange the arugula in the centre of a serving platter.
Step 6
Place the mushrooms on top of the arugula. Drizzle with the remaining garlic-infused oil and the balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle the remaining grated Parmigiano over all.
Step 7
Serve the salad immediately and enjoy the delicious combination of crispy oyster mushrooms and fresh arugula.
RIGATONI ARCOBALENO
“Rainbow rigatoni”: zucchini, cherry tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella
Serves: 4
Fine sea salt
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1/2 cup (120 g) minced shallots
1 lb (450 g) zucchini (about 2 medium), cut into 1/8-inch (2- to 3-mm) rounds
2 cups (300 g) halved cherry tomatoes
2/3 cup (150 g) hand-crushed canned peeled plum tomatoes
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lb (500 g) rigatoni
1/2 cup (50 g) finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 (9-oz/250-g) ball mozzarella di bufala
8 fresh basil leaves
Extra Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for garnish
Step 1
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.
Step 2
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, warm the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the shallots and sauté until they become translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Increase the heat to high, add the zucchini, and fry until the zucchini becomes slightly browned and tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Keep tossing the pan to evenly cook the zucchini.
Step 3
Add the cherry tomatoes and toss them for an additional minute. Pour in the crushed plum tomatoes and bring everything to a boil. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, then reduce the heat to a simmer.
Step 4
Add the rigatoni to the boiling water and cook to al dente 2 minutes shy of the package direction. Drain the rigatoni and add to the sauce, constantly tossing the pasta for a couple of minutes to coat it evenly. As you do this, add the Parmigiano and tear half of the mozzarella di bufala into the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and tear 4 basil leaves into the sauce and stir.
Step 5
Divide the pasta onto four plates and top each dish with the remaining mozzarella di bufala, which you can tear with your hands. Garnish each plate with fresh basil, extra Parmigiano, and finish with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.
PANZEROTTI
Making panzerotti (fried pizza pockets) every Friday is the highlight of Cosimo Mammoliti’s week.
Fried pizza pockets
Makes: 12 panzerotti
1.5 kg pizza dough
1 (14-oz/397-g) can whole peeled tomatoes
1/2 cup (50 g) freshly grated Grana Padano cheese
2 cups (400 g) roughly chopped mozzarella cheese (drained to remove excess moisture)
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sunflower oil (about 2 quarts/2 L), for deep-frying
Step 1
Divide the dough into 12 equal portions of 125 grams each. Cup your hands around each piece and roll into a nice taut ball. Place the balls on two trays dusted with flour and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to proof until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours, depending on the temperature of the room.
Step 2
Meanwhile, drain the excess liquid from the canned tomatoes and crush them using your hands into a large bowl. Add the Grana Padano, mozzarella and basil leaves and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside.
Step 3
Lightly flour a clean surface. Using your fingertips, stretch each piece of dough into a 6- to 7-inch (15 to 18 cm) round. Ladle about 1/2 cup (120 g) of filling into the centre of each round. Spray each round with a light mist of water and fold the dough over to form a half-moon. Using your fingers, press the dough around the filling to seal the seams. Dust with flour, set aside, and repeat the same process for the remaining panzerotti.
Step 4
Line a baking sheet with paper towels as a landing spot for the panzerotti after frying and have near the stove. Pour 3 to 4 inches (7.5 to 10 cm) sunflower oil into a large heavy pot and heat over medium heat to 360F (182C).
Step 5
Working in batches of 1 or 2 to not crowd the pot, fry the panzerotti until golden brown all over, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove by using a spider strainer or slotted spoon to the paper towels, sprinkle with salt, and enjoy while warm.
Nota bene: If you aren’t planning to consume all 12 and want to freeze for later, it is ideal to cook all of them completely, freeze them, and then reheat them in the oven before serving. The only way you should freeze them is if you fry them first.
Pro tip: It’s important not to stretch the dough too much and not to poke the panzerotti when frying them so as not to cause any tears.
VARIATIONS
Anchovy-Filled Panzerotti: Make the dough and tomato filling as directed. When filling the panzerotti, add 4 anchovy fillets per panzerotto. Seal and fry as directed.
Ricotta and Salame-Filled Panzerotti: Make two different flavours of panzerotti. Use half the dough to make the tomato-filled panzerotti in the main recipe (but cut the ingredient amounts in half). Then for the other 6 panzerotti, mix together 3/4 cup (210 g) ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup (105 g) cubed (3/8-inch/1-cm) Genoa or finocchiona salame, and 2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Season with salt and pepper, being extra generous with the black pepper. Divide the filling evenly between each panzerotto.
Recipes and images excerpted from La Cucina di Terroni by Cosimo Mammoliti with Meredith Erickson. Reproduced by permission of Simon & Schuster Canada.
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