Fabio’s Italian Kitchen

When Fabio Viviani was growing up in a housing project in Florence, Italy, the center of his world was the kitchen, where his mother, grandmother, and especially his great-grandmother instilled in him a love for cooking and good food.

Now he shares the best of Italian home cooking while telling the story of his hardscrabble childhood, his success as a chef in the United States, and the women in his family who inspired him. In more than 150 delicious recipes, Viviani takes us from his family home, where his great-grandmother taught him to make staples like Italian Apple Cake and Homemade Ricotta, to the kitchen of a local trattoria, where he honed his craft cooking restaurant favorites like Gnocchi and the Perfect Tiramisu, and then across Italy where he studied each region’s finest recipes, from Piedmont’s Braised Ossobuco to Emilia Romagna’s Perfect Meat Sauce.

Fabio Viviani was born in Florence, Italy, and became a sous chef at Il Pallaio, a trattoria in Firenze, at the age of sixteen. He now works as the owner and executive chef of Cafe Firenze, a renowned Italian restaurant in Ventura County, California, and Osteria Firenze, a Los Angeles Italian eatery. He has appeared on Top Chef (season five), Top Chef All Stars, and Life After Top Chef.

http://fabioviviani.com

Author photo by Matt Armendariz.

 Fabio Viviani talks to Booksaboutfood.com

“The book is just a celebration of memory and food together, very simple recipes nothing too complicated.” Says Fabio Viviani as he talks to Booksaboutfood.com about Fabio’s Italian Kitchen, his first cookbook. “I did try to keep everything in a way that people could understand and redo.”

Apparently a new book is not enough to occupy his time. “Yeah, I have the Yahoo show (CHOW CAIO), we are doing the TV programming this summer, we are shooting plus we just open ourfifth restaurant in Chicago.  We are doing Miami project next summer, more restaurant in Chicago.  We are keeping our self very busy.” The amiable Top Chef, Top Chef All Stars and Life After Top Chef alum has also launched on online magazine, and a line of cookware.

For his cookbook Fabio wanted to find away to include everyone in his Italian heritage. “This is a book for everybody, family recipes, family food. You eat dinner at your home hopefully more then you eat dinner out, so this is meant for everybody.  There is no age, sex, size, race, or nationality I just wrote a book for everybody that wants to cook.”

He has always been around food. “I grew up cooking.  I grew up in food there (Italy).  I grew with a family there we had food stamps, so there was not a lot to eat, but we always found a way to eat all through the day.”

Building on that sentiment a young Fabio went out and found him self some employment. ”Well, I just found a job when I was 11 years old.  That was in a kitchen in a pastry store overnight. I was working night from like 1 am until the time to go to school.”

One of the unique things about his book is the narrative that Fabio has provided. An all access collection of stories about his childhood in Italy “I was a bad kid… have you read the Kitchen Confidential from Anthony Bourdain?” Asks Fabio when discussing some of his childhood exploits. “Think about that version with less drugs, less rock-and-roll, in Italy.”

His mother who appeared alongside her son in Life after Top Chef was involved with the writing of the book. Says Fabio “My mom did agree to release all the family traditional recipe”. These recipes span numerous generations going back close to three hundred years.  A true bridge to the past

She also provided many of the stories about his childhood that appear in the book “She had to take a couple of stories out, it was too much for America.” He jokes. It’s not just about the exploits of a young Fabio. The whole family is profiled from the Grandfather with a mysterious job. His great grandmother, whom he almost set alight, who was his first thought him to cook. One really does get a feel for his experiences growing up and becoming immersed in the world of food.

“Traditional family recipes, but the book comes from all over Italy.” Fabio, a native of Florence (Firenze), said when asked about the geographical origin of the recipes.  He continues citing historic culinary influences and the regionally of Italian cuisine. “You know the Mediterranean – the Italian Peninsula is surrounded by Spain, France, Africa, Yugoslavia and there is like oceans around (Italy) and mountains in the middle.”

Perhaps it is best left up to Fabio, the author, to sum up his book. “It is a hybrid in between a memoir and a cookbook.  What I tried to deliver is a good story about redemption, about comeback. It is a good story about people that had nothing to live off and they would still would find a way to be happy – you know America it is not about how good you had it, it is about how bad you want it.  The book is very inspirational and that is what I heard from people that have read it.”

CHUNKY BASIL PESTO

Makes 4 cups

Anyone with at least one finger can make pesto, and if for some reason you’re not equipped with fingers, you can press the food processor button with your elbow. That’s how easy this is. If you want to season a pasta, add a bit more oil so it’s more liquid. If you want to use it as a topping or a spread, make it nice and thick. And if you have a date, ease up on the garlic.

3–4 cups basil leaves, packed

2 cups extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup pine nuts

5 cloves garlic

Salt and pepper

1½ cups Parmesan cheese or Romano cheese, grated

In a food processor, combine the basil leaves, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, salt, and pepper and process until just mixed but still chunky.

Add the Parmesan or Romano and pulse to combine. Do not over-process. Store in the fridge in an airtight container or jar, topped with a layer of olive oil.

From FABIO’S ITALIAN KITCHEN by Fabio Viviani. Copyright © 2013, VF Legacy, LLC. Published by Hyperion in April 2013. Available wherever books are sold. All Rights Reserved.