The Art of Pasta
Lucio Galletto & David Dale
A book review by Franz Scheurer
My first reaction when I heard about this book was ‘not another bloody pasta book’ and then I thought of just how good the pasta was at Lucio’s and I was not disappointed when I finally laid eyes on the book.
The Art of Pasta is one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen. Gorgeous recipes (that work), superb photography by Anson Smart and the piece de resistance, sublime illustrations by Luke Sciberras. The combination of photography and illustrations could easily have been tacky, yet they turned out eye-catching and achingly beautiful.
My first thought was to use this as a coffee-table book but the trouble is that the recipes are far too good not to use this book in the kitchen. In reality it doesn’t matter how good you think you are at preparing pasta, Lucio Galletto can teach you a thing or two.
I love the step-by-step instructions of making fresh pasta. I love the fact that (quoting from page 9) ‘pasta is the most convivial of foods’ and it’s superbly illustrated here.
Recipes that I either know of that caught my eye are the ‘Ditalini and potatoes in vegetable broth’ on page 33, ‘Penne with fresh tomato and mint’ on page 72, ‘Orecchiette with rocket and gorgonzola sauce’ on page 96, ‘Bucatini with prawns and artichokes’ on page 126, ‘Saffron tagliatelle with zucchini flowers, tomatoes and basil’ on page 153, ‘Trofie with basil and walnut pesto’ on page 159, ‘Corzetti with pork and fennel sausage’ on page 188 and the amazing ‘Chocolate tagliatelle with wild boar’ on page 191. Lucio’s ‘Duck egg ravioli’ takes me back to the 80s with similar dishes by Cheong Liew, where the filling mysteriously remains seemingly uncooked in the end dish and for the adventurous there a superb ‘Three-weed lasagne with blood orange and marjoram’.
Lucio Galletto brought ‘Testaroli’ to Australia and after all these years it’s still one of my favourite things. If you don’t know what they are, I won’t tell you, they’re in the book, on page 201. So go out and get the book! NOW!
ISBN 978-1-921382-28-4
Publisher: Lantern (an imprint of) Penguin Books