Autentico: Cooking Italian, the Authentic Way

Beramendi, owner of fine-food importer Manicaretti, pays an inordinate amount of attention to the ingredients that go into the 120 Italian recipes featured in his nicely illustrated debut cookbook. There is a lengthy chapter on pantry supplies, including four pages of discussion on olive oil. His entry for tuna belly with beans begins with a paragraph in praise of tuna sold in glass jars. And perhaps because he loves to entertain, the author’s tone is not so much that of a chef (although he is a chef) as that of a congenial host always at play in the kitchen. Starters include bagna caôda (“hot bath”), a soup of milk, garlic, anchovies, and wine; a crustless pizza; and a fonduelike affair in which focaccia is dipped into a large pot of tomato sauce and melted mozzarella. A first course of pasta with almond-and-tomato pesto might lead to a main course of breaded lamb chops with a side of sweet-and-sour onions. For dessert there is pistachio gelato or peaches in Chianti with black pepper and basil. The recipes are accessible and, true to the book’s title, authentic. (Oct.)