I first met Marcella and Victor Hazan when — as a not yet established and relatively young food writer — I reached out to them because, at the time, there was no source for learning how to cook Italian food at home that came anywhere close to Marcella’s first two books.
(These two books were later combined into a kind of Marcella’s Greatest Hits, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, which is now being re-released for its 30th anniversary — and Kate and I interviewed Victor on this week’s episode of Food with Mark Bittman to celebrate that. More below.)
I was an unabashed fan of Marcella, and although there is now competition that really didn’t exist in English back 20 or 30 years ago, the book remains valuable — really valuable.
I cooked with Marcella in the ‘80s, again in the ‘90s — in Venice, no less — and, finally, at her home in Florida, just days before she died. In fact, as Victor told me, I was the last outsider — that is, non-family member — to cook with her.
That all said — and clearly, she was the star of the show — it was Victor with whom I bonded, and with whom I remain friends. Born about the same time as my father, Victor is not exactly a father figure to me, but he is an older man with whom I have a few important things in common, and whom I adore. I think you’ll see why in this week’s interview. He’s a star in his own right.
Please listen, subscribe, and review. The recipes featured in today’s episode encompass one of the lasagnas Victor references. It’s pesto with ricotta as well as pesto ricotta lasagna. We did not include the section on how to make dough by hand as the dough section 20 pages — and definitely worth reading and practicing (this is where we urge you to buy this book). It’s a project for sure, but one that’s worth it.
Thank you, as always. — Mark
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Lasagne with Ricotta Pesto
On the Italian Riviera they make a flat pasta that is much broader than the broadest noodles, but a little smaller than the classic lasagne of Bologna. Unlike Bolognese lasagne, it is only boiled rather than blanched and baked. In the Genoese dialect it is called piccagge which means napkin or dishcloth. Piccagge is almost invariably served with ricotta pesto, making it one of the lightest and freshest pasta dishes.
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