Photo by Laura Edwards
As we edge into winter, I can’t think of a better book than this to be a kitchen companion for the icy months ahead. Within its pages are recipes that promise to warm, bolster and comfort us con calma. It’s not specifically a cold-weather cookbook, but slow cooking really comes into its own at this time of year, and I say make the most of it!
I always feel cosier and safer when I have something gently simmering away and, as a general rule, the lower and slower the cooking, the less you, the cook, need to do. And Gennaro Contaldo certainly makes it all as easy as possible. The book begins with a table of cooking conversion times to help you alter temperature and timings depending on whether you’re using an oven, slow-cooker (crockpot) or pressure cooker, and the recipes are both simple and substantial: Onion Soup with Fontina Cheese; a bright and fabulous Beetroot and Celeriac Soup; the rich and glorious Ragù Antico; Bollito Misto, that great Piedmontese dish of mixed poached meats with spiky salsa verde; a Goulash-adjacent Tyrolean Beef Stew; Lamb Stew with Butternut and Saffron; Potato Bake with Beer; Venetian Pot Roast; and many types of Italian bread to dip into these dishes! I’ve scarcely skimmed the surface of the savoury dishes on offer (I do recommend a proper deep dive) but I don’t want you to think that’s all that’s on offer; indeed, I’ve been eying up the Ciambella all Mandorle, a yeasted tea cake, studded with almonds and dried fruit and cooked in a ring as well as some very beautiful Italian nougat. And actually, although I know the soups, stews and slow-roasts will be sustaining during the coming months, it is from the sweet section that I have chosen the recipe to share with you today. Unlike some of those I’ve mentioned, it is not an everyday dish, but very much a celebratory one and, furthermore, one that I intend to have on my table this Christmas. I thought you might feel the same way, so let us sound the trumpets for Contaldo’s irresistible Babà all’arancia — orange-infused baba — which swaps the aromatic brightness for the more familiar rum.
Recipe from Gennaro Contaldo’s ‘Slow: Easy, Comforting Italian Meals Worth Waiting For’ (Pavilion Books).
Photo by Laura Edwards.
