Katie Parla

Long-time residents of Rome, Italy, Katie Parla and Kristina Gill are also seasoned wine and food experts and bloggers. Their culinary collaboration, “Tasting Rome: Fresh Flavors & Forgotten Recipes from an Ancient City” is a wonderfully-told history of the cuisine and culture of a timeless city—a city which holds an endless appeal and fascination to the world at large. The recipes “don’t just vary from region; they also vary from cook to cook”, and, indeed, this is a book of great variety. A foreword from renowned chef, Mario Batali, begins your tasting tour of Rome, and you will enjoy the recipes and rustic, warm-toned photographs tinted by the Roman sun. Along your journey, you will find many delicious dishes such as these: “Tortica Rustica”(Savory Pie)”; “Leonardo Vignoli’s Cacio E Pepe” (Pasta with Cheese & Black Pepper); “Picchiapo” (Simmered Beef with Tomato & Onion—sandwich filling); “Pollo Alla Romana” (Chicken with Tomatoes & Bell Peppers); “Brodo Di Pesce” (Fish Soup); “Pomodori Con Riso” (Baked Tomatoes Stuffed with Rice”; “Insalata Di Finocchio, Radicchis, E Pera” (Fennel, Radicchio, and Pear Salad); “Pizza Romana (Thin Crust Roman-Style Pizza); “Castagnole” (Fried Dough Balls with Sugar); “Sorbetto Di Pesche E Vino (Peach and Wine Sorbet”; “Granita Di Caffe” (Coffee Granita); “Maritozzi Con La Panna” (Sweet Buns with Whipped Cream); and “Brutti Ma Buoni” (Hazelnut Meringues). After reading “Tasting Rome”, you may just be tempted to experience the unequaled history, beauty, and feast for all the senses that is the incomparable city of Rome.

Book Copy Gratis Clarkson Potter Publishers via Blogging for Books… (meer)

The Ex-Pat dream…..living in another country and exploring the food, art and culture. This book isn’t an Italian cookbook. This is a memoir about life in Rome and it’s filled, chock filled, with recipes and history about the dish and the area. The photos are incredibly vibrant and you want to leap into the page, grab one of the savory pies (Tortas) and immerse yourself in the experience.

Of the many things I enjoyed looking through this book is the focus on using fresh and seasonal ingredients. I am a pasta addict and have to limit the number of times I could have it on our dinner table. There are enough pasta recipes to keep me going for a long time. I’ve made cacio e pepe before but never thought to use it as a filling for suppli. What is suppli you may ask? Fried rice formed in balls and filled with mozzarella or mincemeat or the wonderful peppery cacio e pepe. Roman street food. I want some.

The recipes are easy to follow and I love that they are titled I Italian followed by the translation. This book is certainly appealing to both the armchair traveler and those who love to cook. If you have an interest in Rome and the wonderful foods as well as a historical perspective, this is the book for you. It would make a great gift for someone who likes these topics.… (meer)

Tasting Rome: Fresh Flavors and Forgotten Recipes from an Ancient City is as much travel memoir as cookbook. Katie Parla and Kristina Gill provide a rich narrative story of the neighborhoods and culture of Rome. Interviewing the chefs and bakers of Rome, they are able to share all sorts of inside knowledge and background.

The organization is not the usual antipasti, primo, secondo, and dulce arrangement by cause. Instead it organizes around themes, street food, the classics, immigrant fusion cuisines, recipes using offal, veggie dishes, bread and pastas, sweets and cocktails.

Some of the ingredients are new to me, such as ‘nduja, a spreadable salami used in the fried mozzarella recipe, but reading that recipe, I can imagine it giving fried mozzarella a new purpose in life .

I love the simplicity of some of the recipes like the one simply serving from fresh fava beans in their pods with some salami and pecorino romano or the cacio e pepe, recipes many cookbook authors would leave out because they don’t show off, but then look at the finest recipes by Eric Ripert and they are simple. Having the confidence to highlight those simple recipes that expose food at its more pure is a great thing that I appreciate. On the other hand, they also include a recipe for making guanciale, the cured pork jowl that enlivens many of their recipes.

The sections on the Hebraic cuisine and the cuisine of Libyan Jews has some very appealing recipes and it’s fascinating that such small number of immigrants could have such profound influence. For folks who are interested in the cheap cuts and offal, there is an entire section of recipes making use of the so-called fifth quarter of the animal.

Unlike many contemporary cookbooks, there is a nostalgic aesthetic to Tasting Rome. While it is full of beautiful full page photos common to modern cookbooks, most modern cookbook photos have intense, saturated colors with vibrancy increased with filters and layers. These photos are more naturalistic and if anything desaturated. The font for the recipe titles is thick and rounded. It is all very comforting and welcoming and suits the mood of the book with its blend of history and cultural tourism.

I like this cookbook. It’s organizational structure is idiosyncratic, but makes sense in terms of the idea they want to convey about Rome and its food culture. I with there were more vegetable sides and entrees and more recipes overall, but the 80 plus recipes that are included are a good mix of old and new, easy and complex, and all clear and easy to understand. There seemed to be a bias in the recipe select toward recipes with unusual and unfamiliar ingredients. It would be a stronger, more likely to be used until it falls apart cookbook if there were more recipes with everyday ingredients. My favorite parts of the cookbook, though, are the stories of Rome, like the prince who would not make change at his wine shop. Those kinds of details are priceless.

I was provided a review copy of Tasting Rome by Blogging For Books.

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/tasting-rome-by-katie-par...… (meer)