Mario Batali Simple Italian Food

Mario Batali Simple Italian Food
Recipes from My Two Villages

By Mario Batali

Simple Italian Food
Mario Batali believes in keeping things simple. The chef/co-owner of Po' and Babbo, the popular New York City restaurants in the West Village, and host of Food Network's Molto Mario and Mediterranean Mario constructs his magical Italian cuisine from "ingredients that Italian chefs would use were they here because they1re the best, freshest, and least expensive." At long last, he has applied his trademark approach to cooking to a new book, Mario Batali Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Two Villages.

Batali, who studied traditional Bolognese cooking firsthand in some of Italy's finest trattorias, knows of what he speaks. Batali's techniques echo the careful simplicity of his Italian teachers who ingrained in him an appreciation of pure, clear flavors. He also studied briefly at Le Cordon Bleu in London and apprenticed with the city's famed Marco Pierre White before returning to his native United States. Before opening Po', Batali did a stunt as the turnaround kid at the venerable Rocco Restaurant, where he updated the menu into the nineties.

Po', a narrow 34-seat dining room, has been packed every night since it opened in June 1993. Babbo opened in June 1998 and has already received rave reviews in New York Magazine and three stars from Ruth Reichl at the New York Times. Mario has been featured in many other publications, including Food & Wine, Martha Stewart Living, Gourmet, and Bon Appetit.

In Mario Batali Simple Italian Food, Mario brings the food of this incredibly vibrant region to life in the accessible and fun way for which he is so well known.

Mario Batali Simple Italian Food:
Recipes from My Two Villages
By Mario Batali
Clarkson Potter/Publishers
Hardback, Price: $30.00
288 pages, 32 full-color photographs
ISBN: 0-609-60300-0
Information provided by the publisher.