Cookbooks

At the American Academy in Rome, the Rome Sustainable Food Project’s renowned farm-to-table meals are laden with vegetables and whole grains, and pastas, soups, and risottos that are almost all meatless. When meat is served, it is with a thoughtfulness and exuberance that provides a practical model for home cooks who aspire to nourish friends and family in the same spirit that the RSFP kitchen sustains its artists and scholars: with healthy and memorable food, sustainably sourced.

In Carne, Chef Christopher Behr shares more than sixty exceptionally delicious recipes that celebrate community and make a special occasion of any meal, including: iconic porchetta, adapted for the home kitchen; a spectacular meatloaf stuffed with provolone, prosciutto, and spinach; the traditional Roman summer stew of chicken, tomatoes, and bell peppers; beef stew with vegetables and preparations that vary with the seasons; pork spare ribs and sausages, with polenta in the starring role; as well as pâtés, meatballs, sausage, and more.

Chef Behr also includes an entire chapter of his favorite contorni, the fresh and bright vegetable side dishes and salads that pair especially well with meat, including roasted sweet-and-sour squash and red onions with quick-pickled raisins, a radicchio salad with green apple vinaigrette, and the potato recipe that has inspired generations of RSFP interns.

Pasta is a behind-the-scenes tutorial into the way that pastas and sauces are made in the renowned kitchen of the American Academy in Rome. Yet Pasta is much, much more than “how to” book. The recipes, while remaining true to their authentic Italian roots, are unmistakably influenced by Chef Christopher Boswell’s time at Chez Panisse, and sparkle with a lightness and purity that one doesn’t normally expect from pasta.

With such elegance on the plate, it’s easy to forget that these are dishes designed to feed a large hungry group (the staff, scholars, and artists working at the American Academy in Rome) so the recipes are necessarily economical and practical: two virtues that any cook will cherish. There are dozens of vegetarian recipes, too.

Each day, the kitchen at the American Academy in Rome prepares a buffet lunch and a seated dinner for the artists and scholars in residence there; of the fifty-two different dishes served weekly, most are purely vegetarian or vegetable-based. Eighty-five of the most popular are brought together in Verdure.

Organized seasonally, Verdure is a simple and delicious blueprint for home cooks who want to incorporate more vegetables into daily meals. A collection of Italian contorni, or side dishes, many easily stand on their own as a main course for brunch, lunch, or dinner. They also may be served together as a mixed antipasto or to accompany drinks—the recipes in Verdure offer endless possibilities, festive enough for any party, easy enough for every day. Based on a Mediterranean diet, the dishes are healthy and economical. Inspired by traditional Italian cooking and Chef Boswell’s time at Chez Panisse, the recipes are new classics.

Zuppe is a logical second volume in the series of Rome Sustainable Food Project cookbooks—soups are a centerpiece at almost every Academy meal, and the preparation that perhaps more than any other showcases the produce provided by Giovanni Bernabei, whose farm provides the Academy’s kitchen with an endless source of fresh, organic vegetables that inspire the inventive seasonal menus. The fifty recipes draw from the four traditional categories of Italian soups: those made with water (aqua cotta), with stock (brodo), with cream (veloute), and soups for the evening meal. The recipes are arranged by seasons.

The Rome Sustainable Food Project, a program devoted to providing organic, local and sustainable meals for the American Academy in Rome, has launched a delicious revolution to rethink institutional dining. Headed by chef Mona Talbott, and guided by Alice Waters, the menus have given rise to a new, authentic cuisine, inspired by la cucina romana, Chez Panisse, and the collective experience of those working in the AAR kitchen.

From the innovative kitchen of the American Academy in Rome come fifty authentic, simple recipes for Italian bite-sized cookies, or biscotti. They are divided into five categories: Milk and Wine; Nuts; Honey, Citrus, and Spice; Meringue; and Chocolate. Some are dry and not too sweet—traditional Italian biscotti that are eaten for breakfast with caffè latte or dipped into a glass of vino dolce—others recall medieval and Renaissance kitchens and the influence of the spice trade. Whether chocolate, lemon, pistachio, or simply butter, flour, and sugar, each memorable cookie is infused with the history and conviviality of la cucina romana, Chez Panisse, American childhoods, and international friendships.

Narrated with carefully explained techniques and methods, the recipes have been scaled down for the home kitchen, but may be scaled back up for large-batch cooking in an institutional setting.

Biscotti is the first in a series of small hardcover cookbooks, each on a single subject, that will bring together favorite dishes served at the academy’s communal table. Each will feature a single and essential subject in the repertoire of the RSFP’s eco-gastronomic vision.