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Swiss chard and potato crostata

Time1 hour 45 minutes
YieldsServes 8 to 12
Swiss chard and potato crostata
(Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
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From the title of Lidia Bastianich’s new cookbook, “Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine,” you might be expecting an encyclopedic textbook, along the lines of Julia Child’s classic masterwork from which it borrows the name. This book, the 14th from the popular restaurateur and public television cooking show star, is not that book — which is not a criticism at all. After all, we already have a good comprehensive guide to the basics of Italian cooking: “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking” by the late Marcella Hazan.

What Bastianich delivers in this book — written with her daughter Tanya Bastianich Manuali — is something more personal. It’s essentially a collection of more than 400 of her favorite recipes, from a wide enough range of categories that you could cook quite happily from it for several years.

Someone reasonably conversant in Italian regional cooking will probably notice that these sound different than the usual Italian dishes. Bastianich is from Istria and Trieste, located on a sliver of land between Venice and Slovenia that is as much influenced by Central European cooking as by the well-trod culinary landscape between Bologna and Florence.

These are related in a clear, concise manner that is brief but descriptive enough not to sound clinical. It’s like having a no-nonsense mother (or maybe grandmother) standing at your side while you’re cooking.

Bastianich is an ideal candidate to take over as the mother of Italian cooking in America. She is widely known from her many cookbooks and television shows. Some of her newer fans might be surprised to learn that she first made her mark as one of the founders of Italian fine dining in this country. Her Felidia restaurant is still a Manhattan landmark, more than 30 years after its opening.

And then, of course, there’s the business with her son Joe Bastianich, who is a partner with Mario Batali in 30 restaurants, including Babbo and Del Posto in New York and the small Mozza empire in Southern California. Lidia is a partner in two of those restaurants — Del Posto and Esca — as well as being a partner with her son and Batali in the Eataly emporiums in New York and Chicago and coming in a year or so to Century City.

In most cases, what you’ll find in “Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine” aren’t classic versions of familiar dishes. Instead, Bastianich gives each her own spin — which is, of course, quintessentially Italian. The results are often surprising and almost always delicious.

Pork spareribs braised in tomato sauce is about as familiar a dish as you can imagine. But Bastianich adds chopped pickled red peppers in her version — a transformative touch that may have you buying these peppers in bulk and throwing them into almost everything you cook.

Similarly, there’s nothing much new about a tart with potatoes and chard, but Bastianich wraps hers in a crostata dough made with flour, olive oil and water — no leavening, no butter. It might seem like a misprint, but the result is almost like a strudel dough that stretches incredibly thin and bakes very crisp.

Is “Mastering” a comprehensive guide to the classic dishes of Italian cuisine? Absolutely not. Instead, it’s a well chosen collection of delicious, somewhat unusual recipes from one of America’s great Italian cooks. And really, how many more recipes for ragù Bolognese do you need?

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Dough

1

In a food processor, combine the flour and salt and pulse. Mix the oil and water together, and with the machine running, add the oil and water mixture and process to make a smooth, soft dough, about 30 seconds. Add more flour or water if necessary, until the dough pulls off the sides of the food processor and forms a ball around the blade. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky to the touch.

2

Dump the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, and knead until very smooth, about 1 minute, sprinkling just enough flour so you can roll the dough into a smooth ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and set aside to let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. (Dough can also be made a day ahead and refrigerated; let come to room temperature before rolling.)

1

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the leaves from the stems of the chard and cut into 1-inch strips. Cut the stems into 1/2-inch pieces and keep separate. When the water boils, add the stems and boil for 10 minutes, then add the leaves and boil until both are tender, about 15 minutes more. Drain, let cool, then squeeze in your hands until most of the water is out. Chop and set aside.

2

Meanwhile, put the potatoes in another pot with water to cover and simmer until tender enough to pierce with a fork, about 30 minutes. Drain. When they are cool enough to handle, return the potatoes to the pot and mash, adding the cream and olive oil. Add the chopped Swiss chard and mix well. Beat the eggs and salt together and mix into the potato-chard mixture. Fold in the mozzarella and Grana Padano and set aside.

3

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. On a floured surface, roll the dough to fit an 18-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet with about 3 inches extra on all sides, trimming if necessary. Butter the pan. Fit the dough onto the sheet pan, with the extra dough hanging off the sides, and spread the filling evenly over the dough. Fold the overlap of the dough over to form a 2-inch crust around the pan over the filling, leaving the center without crust. Bake until the filling is set and the crust is golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool on a rack. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Adapted from Lidia Bastianich’s “Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine.”