
P O E T R Y C A N B E F O U N D anywhere, even in pesto. “If the definition of poetry allowed that it could be composed with the products of the field as well as with words, pesto would be in every anthology. Like much good poetry, pesto is made of simple stuff,” says Marcella Hazan in The Classic Italian Cook Book.
While perusing cookbooks at home to prepare for self-isolation gourmet marathons, I came across a first edition of this classic, the kind of edition that lists, in the colophon, the typeface the designer chose to make everything clearer to the reader. In this case, Caledonia, “a Linotype face [that] belongs to the family of printing types called “modern faces” by printers—a term used to mark the change in style of type letters that occurred about 1800.” (The “8” is slightly raised from the rest of the numerals in what’s called old style numerals.)
My friend Gustav likes to read ingredients lists aloud as if they were haiku. Cooking terms distill poetry, like “julienned,” “bain Marie,” and the sonorous “spatchcock.” Some claim that cooking is in itself an artistic discipline, not unlike painting or writing ; that is, meal construction simulates architecture, a brush stroke structure, an adjustment of rhyme—or salt. — New York City, 4/28/2020
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M A R C E L L A H A Z A N ’ S B L E N D E R P E S T O
(from The Classic Italian Cook Book, Knopf, New York, 1976, p. 140)
Enough for about 6 servings of pasta
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed and peeled
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated Romano Pecorino cheese
3 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
1. Put the first five ingredients in the blender and mix at high speed. Stop from time to time and scrape the mix toward the bottom of the blender with a rubber spatula. 2. Pour mix into a bowl and beat the two grated cheeses by hand. When incorporated, beat in the softened butter. 3. Before spooning the pesto over pasta, add to it a tablespoon or so of the hot water in which the pasta has boiled.
Thanks, Raul! Suddenly starving, and willing to endure the slight discomfort of a masked adventure for a fistful of pignole. X-T
Pesto is the best! Howdy, Tom!