The Recipes: Italy

to make a nonna proud

Hey, friends! Below are a few recipes inspired by Chef’s travels to Italy. Some of these dishes have been featured on Mabel Gray menus, some are more mainstays of Chef’s pantry arsenal. As someone who cooks at home a lot, and has recreated Chef’s written recipes in the past: he is like the prototypical Italian ‘nonna’ who does everything by feel and memory, never writing anything down. These recipes are meant to be adjusted based on your personal preferences. Use your gut and your senses, taste as you go, and most importantly - read the recipe all the way through before you grocery shop. We believe in you! ~ Paulina

Mushroom Carpaccio

This is a Mabel Gray classic. One of those dishes we’ve featured many times throughout the years. Here is a “slightly” simplified version of how to make it at home. The fun part is the pesto, conserva, pine nut crumble, and lemon vinaigrette can all be used in other applications for other dishes. So make plenty and use at will.

You will need:

3-4 fresh, plump silver dollar button mushrooms cleaned and brushed of debris

Conserva

1 lb maitake or similar quality mushrooms (oysters, chanterelles or a medley would do)

1 shallot, minced

6 bulbs of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon crushed red chile flake

1/2 cup of olive oil

1/4 cup high quality red wine vinegar

Splash of aged Sherry vinegar

Salt & Pepper

Sweat the shallots and garlic in the olive oil until aromatic and translucent. Add the chile flake. Stir. Add the mushrooms and sauté until softened (no browning necessary). Season with salt, pepper, and the vinegars. Add more olive oil if necessary. Cool in the refrigerator. Taste again, once cooled. Adjust seasoning if necessary. The conserva should be salted well, punchy with acidity with a meaty texture. Pleasantly fatty from the olive oil and have a little kick. This is sort of a “pickled” preparation.

Pesto

2 cups fresh-picked and rinsed basil leaves

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano or pecorino. We usually use pecorino.

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blitz for a few pulses. Then, slowly drizzle in the olive oil as it spins. You’re looking for a smooth, creamy sauce that is bright green. A pinch of salt or garlic clove in the mix may be nice.

Lemon Vinaigrette

1 cup fresh lemon juice

Zest of 2 lemons

2 Tablespoons powdered sugar

1 cup light vegetable oil (sunflower, corn, etc)

Salt

Blend in a high-powered blender until emulsified. Sometimes a little pinch of xantham gun will keep a dressing intact.

Pine Nut Crumble

1 cup lightly chopped toasted pine nut

1 cup garlic breadcrumb, Or just plain ol’ toasted because you’re already exhausted.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss 1 cup panko breadcrumbs with a little olive oil, salt, microplaned garlic, and garlic powder. Spread out in a thin layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet and toast until golden brown (rotating/stirring once or twice).

2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

Zest of 1 lemon

Toss everything together. Taste.

For assembly:

Shave the button mushrooms thinly on a mandolin. Watch your fingers! Scatter a few spoonfuls of the conserva over the shaved buttons. Don’t be shy about the juices. Add a few random dollops of pesto. Drizzle the lemon vinaigrette over the whole thing. Top with pine nut crumble. Finish with a little cracked pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Voila.

Linguine alle Vongole

My all-time favorite pasta in Italy. You can find this everywhere honestly. From Venice to Palermo. Mine is a little bit of a hybrid brothy version which is expressive of my love of ramen AND pasta, serving as a bridge between the two.

You will need:

1 lb clams, purged of all their sand and grit¹. See note below.

Olive oil

Fresh, minced garlic

Crushed red chile flake

White wine

Butter

Lemon

Chopped fresh parsley

1 lb high quality linguine or spaghetti. I like the Rustichella d’Abruzzo brand.

A few cups of magic clam broth (described next)

Magic Clam Broth

1 quart white wine, reduced by half

3 cups high quality (which usually means frozen but canned is fine) clam juice

1 cup fish sauce (I like 3 Crabs)

A few shakes of Tabasco

For assembly:

Get a large pot of heavily salted water on the stove for the pasta and bring to a boil. In a large wide sauce pan, start sweating the minced garlic in olive oil with a pinch of chili flake. (I didn’t put exact measurements because it’s really up to you. If you’re freaking out you can plan on:

1 tablespoon of garlic

1 teaspoon chile flake

1/4 cup white wine

2 Tablespoons of butter

1/2 lemon

1 teaspoon chopped parsley per person. But whatever, if you love parsley, let it rain!)

Add the clams. Gently move the pan around until they start to sizzle and open. Add the white wine. Let reduce until almost all gone.

At this point, drop the dried pasta in the boiling water and cook for the recommended time. I like to have large tongs nearby and pull the pasta out when it’s done vs straining in the sink. I like to have pasta water nearby if I need it vs dumping it all down the drain. And if you’re a zero waste type household, use the spent pasta water as a base for soup. Think of it as “wheat stock” instead of pasta water. Anywho…

Add the magic clam broth to the clams and mix everything together well. All clams should be fully opened. Taste. Add the butter, lemon, parsley. Taste again. Make sure it’s delicious. You can do this while the pasta is cooking because you’ll have like 9-14 minutes and that’s a good amount of time to adjust seasoning.

Once the pasta is ready tong it out of the water and gently place into the sauce pan with the clams. Stir around and gently simmer so the sauce and pasta can get to know each other.

Tong the pasta into a big pasta bowl. Spoon the clams and broth over the top. Arrange into a pretty fashion so Instagram can see your work.

Voila.

Godfather Cocktail

For enjoying after dinner, this simple Old Fashioned-adjacent cocktail embraces the dichotomy of nutty, marzipan-y Amaretto paired with sultry Scotch. Made popular in the 1970s (likely because of the film), it was oft ordered at Studio 54 and has since fallen out of fashion. Until now.

You will need:

A glass or metal cocktail mixing glass

Bar spoon, jigger, and hawthorne strainer (this at-home cocktail kit has you covered!)

Amaretto (we like Lazzaroni)

Scotch of your choice (Preferably blended, Famous Grouse will do)

Proper ice (we like a 1.25x1.25” cube - and use these at home)

To prepare:

Combine 2 oz blended scotch with 1/4 oz amaretto in your cocktail glass. Add ice to the glass until 2/3 full. Stir with your bar spoon until very well chilled. Strain into a rocks glass over ice. Cheers, or more sentimentally, cento di questi giorni (‘100 more years like this’).

1. We use Manila clams and soak in a salt water bath for about an hour and will sometimes change the water up to 5 times over a few hours if the clams won’t purge. A pinch of cracked pepper, splash of vinegar, handful of cornmeal is rumored to help the clams purge but sometimes salt water is all you need. It helps to rinse the clams well before purging. Test one or two clams by cooking in a little water in a pan and eating it once it opens. If gritty, keep purging.