Cooking in the New Year with The Glorious Vegetables of Italy

Mom Central received a complimentary copy of The Glorious Vegetables of Italy in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed here are our own.

This year I came right down to the wire in making a New Year’s resolution. Much like my previous resolution of swearing off potato chips at work – I’m at three years and counting with no chips! I also made this year’s resolution food-oriented and pledged to make one vegetarian meal each week. Now, we do eat (and cook with) a fair amount of vegetables, but we also center just about all of our meals around meat or poultry, save for fish once or twice a week. So we definitely have room to step up our vegetable consumption.

I recently had the opportunity to check out Domenica Marchetti’s beautifully photographed new cookbook, The Glorious Vegetables of Italy, which provided extra reassurance that my resolution would prove more than manageable. As with any cookbook I consider, it needs to contain sensible recipes (in my book, that means not a 37-item list of hard-to-source ingredients), as well as dishes my 12-year-old will actually enjoy. With the first two recipes I prepared, this cookbook passed with flying colors.

I first made the Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Smoky Blue Cheese and Pancetta Croutons because soup continues to be one of my favorite dishes to cook. Not only do winter soups prove comforting and hearty, I’ve also discovered I can get a significant amount of vegetables into my daughter with just one bowl.

We all loved this soup, even though I cut back on some of the deliciousness by eliminating the pancetta and decreasing the amount of cream the recipe listed. Even so, the soup was creamy, yet substantial, with great texture and flavor. My husband and I finished it with a sprinkling of blue cheese, as the recipe suggested, and our dining room became filled with the sounds of spoons scraping up the last remnants in our bowls – always a great sign.

Next, I found a wonderful recipe for squash. Finally I discovered a recipe to make with those interested vegetables spilling out of bins every fall besides butternut squash soup called Baked Delicata Squash with Cream and Parmigiano. Actually, I couldn’t find delicata squash, but acorn squash proved a more than adequate substitute. You simply quarter the squash, remove the inside pulp, and brush the squash with a bit of cream, nutmeg, sea salt, pepper, and Parmigiano cheese. You pop it in the oven on a cookie sheet, and it comes out after 45 minutes fragrant, creamy, and flavorful. So easy to make, and we all loved it, especially my daughter.

Flipping through the cookbook, I also noticed with surprise that some recipes contained meat, such as the Chicken Thighs Braised with Escarole. My New Year’s resolution notwithstanding, I find it comforting to know that I can look to this cookbook on non-vegetarian nights and still find a dish bursting with deliciously flavored vegetables that my entire family will enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces pancetta, cut into 3/4-inch dice
• 2 large leeks, white and pale green parts, thoroughly washed, halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise into small strips (2 cups)
• 2 ribs celery, chopped (3/4 cup)
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (optional)
• 1 large head cauliflower (about 1 1/2 pounds), trimmed and cut into small florets (I cut the tender part of the core into chunks and used that, too)
• 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3 to 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 cup heavy cream or whole milk
• 3 ounces Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue cheese, crumbled

Instructions:

1. Put the pancetta in Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot and set it over medium heat. When the pancetta begins to sizzle lower the flame to medium-low and sauté, stirring from time to time, for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the pancetta has rendered some of its fat and is browned and crispy. Use a slotted spoon to remove the pancetta to a paper towel-lined bowl and set aside.
2. Pour out all but 3 tablespoons of the rendered pancetta fat and add the butter to the pot, if using. When the butter is melted add the leeks and celery, taking care to stir them well to coat them with the fat. Cook the vegetables for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are wilted and the celery has softened a bit. Stir in the cauliflower and toss well to coat. Cover the pot and cook over medium-low for about 15 minutes, until the cauliflower begins to soften. Stir the vegetables from time to time as they cook.
3. Uncover the pot and sprinkle in the flour. Mix well to incorporate it into the vegetables and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the flour has been absorbed. Pour in 3 cups of chicken broth, raise the heat to medium, and bring the soup to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low or low to maintain a gentle simmer, cover the pot, and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cauliflower is completely tender and breaks apart easily when pierced with a fork.
4. Remove the pot from the heat and use an immersion blender to puree the soup until it is completely smooth and creamy. If it seems to thick, add a little more broth and puree again. Return the pot to the heat and pour in the cream or milk. Cook for a few minutes more, until the soup is heated through.
5. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and garnish each serving with some crumbles of blue cheese and pancetta croutons. Or, if you prefer, you can stir the blue cheese into the soup until it is melted, and serve topped with the pancetta croutons.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Stephanie Kaufman

Feeling for much of her life that she couldn't sit still long enough to thread a needle and that all in all, she'd rather be reading, Stephanie Kaufman discovered crafting in her late 40s and now loves knitting, sewing, and household decorative arts.