The Italian Deli Cookbook by Theo Randall
The Italian Deli Cookbook by Theo Randall
Simple food with exceptional ingredients in The Italian Deli Cookbook by Theo Randall
The Italian Deli Cookbook by Theo Randall celebrates the kind of things you’d find in your local Italian deli. So there are recipes filled with tinned and preserved ingredients – things like anchovies, olives, good olive oil and pasta.
Written during the first lockdown of 2020, it’s also for the times you’re at home, stuck in a kitchen and wondering how to turn pantry staples into something new. Sounds good to me!
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What are the recipes like in The Italian Deli Cookbook?
The Italian Deli Cookbook is arranged by key ingredient, and chapter titles include dried pasta, rice, cheese, eggs, chocolate and flour. The recipes begin with short stories, mostly about the ingredients, before diving into the instructions. I love those little tid-bits of information especially for things I don’t often cook with.
Flicking through, there are a good number of recipes I’d like to make, and I have a pen and paper out, scribbling down ingredients to stock up on. I especially love the sound of artichoke risotto, and paccheri (broad pasta tubes) with prawns and parsley sauce. Not to mention the dessert section, where the tiramisu calls my name. To make it, I’ll need savoiardi biscuits, mascarpone and very good coffee.
Although some of the ingredients are more niche, you’ll find most of them in a big supermarket. For the rest, there’s a helpful section at the back of the book with a list of Randall’s favourite Italian delis.
But, like so many other cookbooks, I wish there were a few more photos of the food. In a perfect world they’d be one for each recipe. On the other hand, there are enough to get the appetite going and have you planning your next meal.
Wild rocket & cannellini bean soup with pesto
I very rarely cook with beans, so I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t really know what to do with them. At first, I’m hesitant to try making the wild rocket and cannellini bean soup. But the ingredients list and method seem easy enough to tackle, even for a newbie like me.
Turns out that there’s nothing difficult about beans at all – these ones at any rate. The soup is flavoursome and beautifully balanced, and I enjoy the earthiness that comes from stirring in rocket leaves so they’re just cooked.
There’s also a lovely basil pesto to make, which is another very doable thing. A spoon of it stirred into the soup brings everything together.
Spaghetti with sweet onion, courgette and basil
Forget your usual spaghetti – this is all you’ll need to satisfy pasta cravings. The sauce is easy to make and demands no special ingredients – just a bit of attention. First you gently slow cook onions, so they develop their own natural sweetness. In doing so, they provide the perfect foil to build on, with courgettes, basil and then finally egg yolk and parmesan. All in all it’s a delicious and easy thing to make.
Melanzane parmigiana
Every so often, you come across a recipe that changes how you think about an ingredient. Randall’s Melanzane Parmigiana is just that recipe. And the ingredient is the humble aubergine.
I’ve only used aubergine in Middle Eastern cooking, so I’m eager to see it at work in an Italian recipe. There’s a bit of faff in making it – first in drying out the aubergines, then sealing them in egg and flour before shallow frying in batches. But the resulting dish is so worth it. It’s like a better version of a lasagna, except there’s no bechamel or pasta. I know, my mind is blown too :D
Overall thoughts on The Italian Deli Cookbook
I’ve enjoyed getting to know a bit more about Italian cooking by working my way through The Italian Deli Cookbook by Theo Randall. The recipes I’ve tried so far have all worked out beautifully, and there’s enough variety to make simple lunches, and more complicated weekend meals. I can’t wait to dive even further in!
Buy The Italian Deli Cookbook by Theo Randall here.
Have you tried The Italian Deli Cookbook by Theo Randall? Do you have any favourite recipes? Let us know :)
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