A love affair with fine Italian food

Press, 26 October 1989, Page 10

A love affair with fine Italian food

MAVIS AIREY

• shares Julie Biuso’s

enthusiasm for Italian cuisine.

"I have a grand passion for anything Italian, for Italian culture and people and for Italian food,” says Julie Biuso. Originally trained as a Cordon Bleu cook, she once had her own cooking school and is now cookery editor of “More” magazine. A New Zealander, she gave up her Cordon Bleu career after spending several years in Italy, running a small restaurant in Genoa and marrying a Genoese.

She had had the idea of writing an Italian cookbook for some time, but the concept changed radically with the advent of the television series, “Julie Biuso Cooks Italian,” which screened recently on Saturday afternoons — unfortunately at such a ridiculous time that few people interested in this vibrant, fascinating cuisine would have been able to watch it.

Inevitably, perhaps, as “the book of the series,” it is an introduction rather than the in-depth study she may one day want to write, but it is lavishly illustrated, and the recipes are interesting without being too complicated. For anyone who thinks Italian food starts and finishes with pizza and pasta, the book proves what a wide range Italian cooking covers, from simple roasted peppers and cheese croquettes to versatile frittatas and classic dishes like saltimbocca. Her Italian in-laws are the source of several of the recipes. “I have simply picked a bunch of my favourite recipes hailing from all over Italy, delicious dishes which I know work well out of their home country,” she writes. ' In her introduction, she makes some interesting points about the health value of olive oil in apparently lowering cholesterol levels in the body, the absolute indispensability of salt in Italian cooking, and the need to use authentic ingredients. “I feel quite strongly about this,” she writes. “It makes sense, doesn’t it, with any cuisine, to use the products of that land when trying to capture the authentic flavour.”

The problem with this proposition, as she herself admits, is that many of these products are not cheap, even for the lucky Aucklanders who can get them easily.

In Christchurch, Continental Distributors say they tried touting Italian goods' from Delmaine, the Auckland importers, earlier this year, but did not find there was sufficient demand. One reason, apparently, was Christchurch conservatism; another was

It seems a shame that such an ideal opportunity as the television series could not have been better exploited. Of course people. are unlikely to demand goods they do not know are available, and do not know how to use.

Fortunately it is possible to get some Italian products at some of the more enlightened delicatessen counters, and Christchurch now has an Italian food specialist In Italia in the Guthrey centre off City Mall. Run by Maxine and her Italian partner Ben lamino, it sells fresh pasta and Italian cheeses such as Grana Padano and Pecorino in the block, and packaged Italian goods such as dried pasta, Balsamic vinegars, olive oils, artichokes, pesto, capers, and tinned tomatoes. They also stock Italian coffee and Parma ham made in Australia. While I agree that truly authentic dishes can only be made using authentic ingredients, I personally feel there is a lot to be said for making the best possible use of good, fresh, locally produced ingredients; taking your inspiration from “the real thing” and using a bit of imagination to create a local version. It may not taste the same but it can taste delicious. New Zealand-made Parmesan, when you can get it in the block rather than tn ready grated, unmeltably gritty granules, is excellent. Anyone unable — or unwilling — to invest in dried porcini may like the equally woodsy flavour, of fresh, locally grown shiitake mushrooms.

“Julie Biuso Cooks Italian" is published by C. J. Publishing $16.95.