“La Mia Cucina Toscana” by Pino Luongo
THE latest cookbook by famed New York restaurateur Pino Luongo is coffee-table worthy, with its gorgeous pictures and clean, white space.
But the living-room coffee table is about as close to the kitchen as “La Mia Cucina Toscana” should get.
The concept, which would be interesting if he made it work, is novel: Take traditional Tuscan dishes and add some twists to bring them into the 21st century.
The trouble is, his twists don’t necessarily improve on a classic.
Take Luongo’s recipe for pappa di polenta al pomodoro, the classic Tuscan bread and tomato soup. In his updated version, Luongo replaces the bread with polenta, “creating a more complex soup,” he explains.
What you get isn’t even vaguely reminiscent of the original, which is a thick, rich, flavorful stew. Instead, it’s polenta-flavored with tomatoes.
Since this cookbook is about Tuscan cuisine, the inclusion of food found in other parts of Italy seems to be sloppy or desperate to provide more filler.
Case in point: the completely unappealing pichi pachi, eggplant-chocolate mousse, which was a big fave of the Neapolitan nobility in the 19th century. Rather than offering an updated version, Luongo simply includes the original recipe, explaining it “will seem brand new to anyone to whom you serve it.”
That said, he does strike a few good notes. The ravioli di ribollita con cavolo nero e pancetta (twice-boiled soup ravioli with black cabbage and bacon), is truly an interesting, contemporary way of jazzing up the traditional soup, using it as a filler for ravioli.
The scaloppine alla Parmigiana (veal scaloppine with eggplant, tomato and fontina) is another good option, taking thin slices of veal and layering them with plenty of eggplant and basil.
Still, though the book is a beauty to look at, there are just too few dishes that jump up and shout, “Make me!”