Will Nigella's 'instant Italian inspiration' be another instant hit? It might, as long as no one's expecting too much about actual Italian cookery, says Matthew Fort
My heart goes out to Nigella, it really does. Another damn TV series. That means another damn book. And that means another 150 or so fresh recipes. And that means ? well, what does that mean? It means another slick marketing exercise, complete with a winsome portrait of our heroine, a naff title, "Nigellissima" and a crafty surtitle, "Instant Italian Inspiration". That's very smart. The "instant" signifies that this is quick and easy cooking (which it is, for the most part), and the "Italian inspiration" neatly deals with the authenticity/non-authenticity argument. This isn't really a book about Italian cooking at all. It's a collection of Italian dishes as imagined by a British cookery writer.
In her introduction, Nigella deals with the question of authenticity in a characteristically intelligent, crisply argued and well written way. Even Italian cooking, she points out, has evolved over the years, which is spot on. However, she goes on: "It is true that they still respect their traditions but ? Italians are suddenly learning and wanting to learn about other ways of cooking." Well, this might come as a surprise to a good many of the natives of Calabria, Molise or even Emilia Romagna. More to the point, however, this newfound curiosity about global cooking cultures has not influenced the food you find cooked in homes or restaurants. Even in Rome, there's a lack of a decent Indian or Chinese restaurants, and the same goes for Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican or Lebanese, not to mention French or Spanish. Italians like eating Italian food.
The essence and attraction of Italian food is in its precision, in picking quality ingredients, at the right moment of each season and cooking them with understanding. Simple, but it's difficult to achieve the explosively flavoured delights without the right raw materials.
Never mind, this isn't a book about real Italian cooking, so we needn't worry. Need we? The very first recipe in the book is Sicilian pasta with tomatoes, garlic and almonds. Nigellissima's recipe is dauntingly similar to busiati al pesto trapanese which you can find in Giorgio Locatelli's majestic Made in Sicily, with certain additions (anchovy fillets, capers, sultanas and basil), certain omissions (mint), and a non-Sicilian pasta ? Nigellissima specifies long fusilli or "other pasta of your choice".
As it happens I made the Locatelli version of this dish for a dinner a couple of months back. It was a stunner. The busiati (curlicue pasta, made by hand) had a wonderful delicate softness that carried the sauce with exemplary balance. The mint freshened and sharpened the unlikely, elegant liaison of perfumed almonds and powerful fruitiness of Pachino tomatoes. It's a very simple recipe with just seven ingredients including salt and pepper and olive oil.
Nigellissima's version is more rococo and less satisfying. She bungs in everything. It's Sicilian-effect, in the same way that naugahyde is leather-effect. Don't get me wrong. It creates a just-about acceptable pasta sauce, but it misses the point and magic of the real thing. The result is disconcertingly sweet and the anchovies, capers and sultanas add up to overkill. There's nothing actually wrong about Nigellissima's Sicilian pasta with tomatoes, garlic and almonds, but at the same time I can't think why I would want to cook it again.
This is a problem that crops up again and again. With the need to produce something different, something original, Nigellissima piles Pelion on Ossa when it comes to ingredients. Sultanas and shallots, marsala and smoked mackerel, capers, red wine vinegar, dill (a herb I've never come across in Italy) and toasted pinenuts in one pasta dish. Or dried chilli flakes, dried and fresh oregano, red wine vinegar and cherry tomatoes in tagliata for two. Or condensed milk, double cream and Aperol, Triple Sec, Cointreau, Grand Marnier, orange juice and zest in instant chocolate-orange mousse. Vermouth, red or white wine crops up in recipe after recipe. Raisins, sultanas and capers pop up with baffling regularity. The essential simplicity of Italian cooking gets buried under a welter of unnecessary distractions. The recipes that tempt the most are the most straightforward ? spaghettini with lemon and garlic breadcrumbs; sausages with beans and peppers; Italian traybake; chicken under a brick, for example.
Nigellissima is not without its attractions. Probably the strongest section of the book is that devoted to puddings. Nigellissima is a mistress of the pud, and that's perhaps just as well, for Italy is very weak on the pudding front. I was rather taken with the ideas for figs with honey-cream and pistachios, liquorice pudding and chocolate salami. But for the most part it creaks with the effort of coming up with something new (and something new doesn't always mean something better.
You could argue that this kind of deconstruction is a little over the top for the book of a TV series, and so it is. Nigellissima is a promotional exercise pure and simple. The introduction is spotted with references to other books, Lawson's website and Twitter account, which is a shame. Every now and then Nigellissima fatigue is evident in the limpid prose ? "from which the views over the Tuscan hills were more enchanting than I can ever say" ? that sounds like a phrase from a particularly uninspired thank-you letter. I can sympathise. It must be a nightmare cranking out these books to capitalise on a TV series.
? Nigellissima begins on BBC2 at 8.30pm, Monday 24 September
Charisma Carpenter Charli Baltimore Charlies Angels Charlize Theron Chelsea Handler
