Italian trip inspires three home kitchen recipes

A food writer has returned from a multi-week trip to Italy, bringing with her three recipes that she says capture the simplicity of Ligurian home cooking. The dishes were developed after she spent last month teaching a Food and Memoir Writing class in the small town of Alassio, located between Genoa and the French border.

The writer, who traveled with her partner Domenica Marchetti, noted that the local cuisine relies on traditional methods and locally available ingredients rather than complex sauces or elaborate garnishes. She described the food as extraordinary, emphasizing the respect Italians show for the quality of their produce and the seafood from the Ligurian sea.

Among the dishes she plans to recreate is a preparation of roasted sweet peppers. The original version she tasted at Osteria i Matetti featured wedges of roasted red pepper topped with anchovies, green olive oil, and fresh herbs, served alongside soft goat cheese. For the home version, she uses jarred anchovies and a soft goat cheese log, suggesting the dish be served with warm ciabatta bread.

The second recipe is a pasta dish inspired by a meal at a lakeside restaurant in northern Italy. The original course was homemade tagliatelle with foraged funghi porcini mushrooms, which the waiter described as simple but magnificent. The writer recommends using dried porcini mushrooms soaked in hot water to mimic the earthy flavor of the wild variety, paired with portobello and shiitake mushrooms, garlic, and a small amount of heavy cream.

The third recipe features a whole roasted fish. The writer was inspired by a branzino, or European sea bass, served at a Lake Garda restaurant. That dish came on a parchment-lined baking sheet surrounded by paper-thin potato slices, capers, anchovies, pitted black olives, and halved cherry tomatoes. She recommends using local fish such as trout, bluefish, flounder, or snapper, and roasting it at 450 degrees until it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees.

In the fish recipe, the writer advises arranging the thinly sliced potatoes around the fish so they do not touch, allowing the high heat to crisp the edges. The briny ingredients of anchovies, capers, and olives provide salt and umami, meaning additional salt is often unnecessary. The dish finishes under a broiler for five to six minutes to ensure the potatoes are tender and browned.

The writer stated that she chose these three dishes because they were the first ones she experimented with upon her return. She highlighted the pepper dish as particularly memorable due to the combination of slippery sweet peppers, salty anchovies, and creamy cheese. For those who do not enjoy anchovies, she suggested omitting them and stuffing the peppers with goat cheese, or doubling the amount of capers and olives in the fish dish.

The recipes are designed for home cooks and include specific measurements for ingredients such as olive oil, anchovy oil, and fresh herbs. The pasta dish serves two to three people, while the pepper dish serves four. The writer noted that wild mushrooms are in season but recommends store-bought varieties for those who are not experienced foragers, with dried porcini added for depth of flavor.

The articles and recipes were originally published on WBUR.org. The writer’s account of the trip focuses on the sensory details of the food, including the aroma of the foraged mushrooms and the texture of the al dente pasta. She aims to replicate the essence of the Italian dining experience in a standard home kitchen.