In one of her appetizers, Caruso takes "
bagna cauda"-- a typical dish from Piedmont in northern Italy, which consists of garlic and anchovies, but gives it a Sicilian kick by using sea urchins.
My new favorite is pollo Milanese and zucchini trombetta with
bagna cauda, which we serve at Caffe Cinquanta.
The courses include cheese (robiola) grassini wrapped in san Danielle prosciutto,
bagna cauda with pickled vegetables and carpaccio, tarjin pasta with porcini ragu, bollito misto with turnips and bitter greens, veal tonnoto with capers and burnt lemon, and spring
Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking (one of a five-book haul from Oxfam) belonged to Siobhan in 1993: there are Post-its marking
bagna cauda, tartelettes aux pommes and mon gateau au chocolat which, according to the margin notes, is "v good", "needs 35 mins" and to "see Gary Rhodes page 233".
One sauce candidate might be an Italian
bagna cauda -- which features olive oil, anchovy and lemon.
I've eaten at all three of their previous restaurants and can guess who is responsible for what: Malou for the steaks, given her expertise in the area at the Balthazarinspired (another great brasserie that happens to be located in New York) restaurant next door; the small plates of intense Mediterranean flavors such as the black stew of baby squid in ink are in the style of Lu; while the neglected and lamented Provencalstyle dishes like
bagna cauda, vegetables with an anchovy dip, hark to Mesclun.
The
Bagna Cauda has fresh vegetables with a dipping sauce made from garlic, anchovy, olive oil, and sweet Japanese white miso.
He sticks to the Jesuit tradition of eating simple foods but takes the occasional break to treat himself to his favourite meal of
bagna cauda (hot bath in Italian).
Assorted vegetables, anchovies garlic "
bagna cauda" dip
Bagna cauda, an Italian version of fondue, hits all the right notes: It's delicious, it showcases fresh veggies, and it invites conversation around the bowl, or "hot bath," flavored with garlic and anchovies.
Try serving your chips with a simple dip that mixes any of these, such as Italian
bagna cauda, which is a "hot bath" of anchovies, butter, olive oil and garlic.
Q What is
bagna cauda? My sister came back from a holiday in Italy raving about it.