Williams-Sonama Essentials of Italian Cooking

This month’s cooking club was a great success. We made 6 recipes out of Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Italian Cooking and all of them were outstanding. We gave this cookbook an overall rating of 4.5 stars (out of 5), and compared to the last cookbook, everyone was more impressed with the overall outcome and the user-friendly layout.

This month’s starters included a delicious artichoke appetizer, a tomato soup and a field salad. Main courses were Spaghetti di Pomodoro and Fettucini with clams, and our sweet ending was Tiramisu. Here are some pictures from the night.

We gave the Fried Artichokes with Lemons 3.5 out of 5 stars. Personally, I loved this appetizer. I thought it would be a lot heavier since it was fried but it was relatively light and juicy inside.

This is what the chef had to say:

I could not find baby artichokes at the Whole Foods, so I had to use artichoke hearts jarred in water. It made the recipe much easier, though it might have been better with fresh ones. Overall the recipe was very easy. I thought it turned out well, very moist and flavorful, but could have used a light sauce, perhaps a subtle aioli.

The next course was the Pappa al Pomodoro (Soup). The chef of this dish added some cucumbers to make the soup a bit fresher (it was a warm weekend) and she didn’t over-blend it. There was still such crunchiness to the soup, which we all really liked. We gave this soup 3.5 stars.

The Field Salad with Pancetta and Walnuts was served with the pasta. It was average, neither remarkable nor poor. I roasted the walnuts in a pan instead of in the oven and the pancetta was pan-fried and served on top of the salad instead of cut into pieces. The flavors went well together, so we gave it 3 stars.

The main courses of the night were the Spaghetti with Salsa di Pomodoro and the Fettuccine with clams. The Spaghetti was voted as our favorite dish of the night and got 4 stars.

This is what our chef had to say about this recipe:

The Spaghetti with Salsa di Pomodoro was a fairly easy dish to make. The most difficult part was dicing all of the veggies because they need to be cut into very small pieces. After that, it's a breeze, you just need time to let the sauce cook. I thought there was an excessive amount of butter though and I cut it in half, but it still had a very rich taste for a tomato-based sauce.

As you can tell, we enjoy our comfort food at C3 J

The Fettucini with clams really had wow factor. We were all a bit unnerved when we realized that the clams were still alive and moving, but in the end it was well worth it. We had a vegetarian and non-seafood eater amongst us, but this still got a 4.5 star rating.

Last but not least came the Tiramisu. I love Tiramisu and have tried lots of different recipes before. This one was a bit more involved than the others but it’s well worth it. This dessert got 5 stars. Definitely a dish to impress guests.

As a regular feature of each post, we've posted the recipe of our favorite dish below.

Until the next C3…Bon Appétit!

Spaghetti with salsa di pomodoro

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 carrots, finely chopped

1 small celery stalk, finely chopped

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

2 lb fresh plum (Roma) tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, or 1 can plum (Roma) tomatoes, drained and chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 lb spaghetti

10 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving

In a large frying pan over medium heat, melt 4 tablespoon of the butter. Add the carrots, celery, and onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion has softened and the carrots and celery are tender, about 15 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and cook until the sauce begins to bubble. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened, about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

While the sauce simmers, bring a large pot three-fourths full of water to a rolling boil and add about 2 tablespoons salt. Add the spaghetti, stir well, and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, according to the package directions. Scoop out and reserve about 2 ladlefuls of cooking water, then drain the pasta.

Add the drained pasta to the sauce in the pan and stir and toss over low heat until well coated with the sauce, adjusting the consistency with some of the cooking water if needed. Add the basil and the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and toss to distribute evenly. Remove from the heat, add the 1/2 cup cheese, and toss again. Transfer to a warmed serving bowl and serve at once, passing additional cheese at the table.