Cooking alla Giudia

The Jewish Food of Italy, at WJC, and on your Passover Table

On March 28th, the WJC Sisterhood hosted a Zoom cooking class with Benedetta Jasmine Guetta, an Italian food writer whose 2022 book, Cooking Alla Giudia: A Celebration of the Jewish Food of Italy, is a beautiful exploration of the history and traditions of Jews across Italy, and, of course, their delicious recipes.

From tibuia—a savory cheese pie also known as “Pie of the Jews”—to tortino di sarde e carciofi—a sardine and artichoke casserole dating back to the 1600s—to crostata di ricotta e visciole—a ricotta and sour cherry crostata that hid the cheese under a crust in order to get around an order from the Pope that forbade the Jews from trading dairy products—turning the pages of Guetta’s incredible book is both educational and inspiring. Winner of the Jewish Book Council’s Jane and Stuart Weitzman Family Award for Food Writing and Cookbooks, Guetta’s book will absolutely make you hungry.

I had an opportunity to interview Guetta about the book, and about how we all might be able to bring traditional Italian-Jewish food to our kitchens, on Passover and throughout the year. (This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)

WJC Voices: The book is really such an incredible survey of recipes from all across Italy. Are there one or two you’d recommend readers start with as a way to get their feet wet when diving into the book?

Guetta: One relatively straightforward recipe is stracotto. It’s a long-cooked pot roast, with the most basic ingredients (beef round, tomatoes, onion, olive oil, and red wine) but when you stew them together slowly for three hours, it becomes delicious. In Rome they make this. It’s very saucy, and then you can take that sauce and use it over pasta, so it stretches into two meals. Another really easy one is a chocolate mousse cake for Passover—torta tenerina—mostly eggs and chocolate, ingredients you probably already have in the house. You end up with a meringue-like crust on top and a rich, soft chocolate center.

What were some of the biggest surprises you discovered when doing your research for the book?

One thing that surprised me is how minuscule the Jewish community in Italy really is. There are only about 35,000 Jews in Italy. It’s more or less the number you would find in a big American city, but in the whole country. It’s a declining, aging population, and the younger Jews are moving abroad or becoming secular. Some of them are cooking these foods, but many are not. And even the ones who are, aren’t cooking all of them. Which was the other surprise, how fragmented the community is, and how Italy is such a regional country. In Rome, they cook the Roma dishes, in Florence, or Venice, it’s different dishes. Most people have heard of the Roman Jewish foods, like the fried artichoke, but I was interested to discover the ones from the regions we don’t hear of as often, and so I put in a lot of effort to represent the whole country.

What do you recommend if someone wants to bring more Italian Jewish cooking into their own home?

The food is Jewish, but it’s also very much Italian, and so garlic and onions are really the foundation of so many of the dishes. And I recommend that people use tomato paste more than they might be accustomed to. There are so many dishes where I throw in a bit of tomato paste and it just comes alive. In general, people shouldn’t forget about canned tomatoes. Not prepared sauces that already have seasonings, but just plain canned tomatoes. Especially since the fresh tomatoes in the U.S., sad to say, just can’t compare to the ones in Italy. When I go home to Italy, I actually try to smuggle some tomatoes back, they have more of a kick, more sour, more flavorful. Here they are all a bit watery and I worry that they harvest them too late. My mother-inlaw knows that the one thing she has to have for me when I visit is tomatoes.

What’s a dish you’d recommend if people want to push themselves out of their comfort zone for Shabbat?

A dish I would love people to try is not actually an Italian dish. Hraimi is a spicy fish starter originally brought over to Italy from Libya. Libya used to be an Italian colony, and after the state of Israel formed in 1948, the Jews there were struggling, and the Arabs were really persecuting them. Many fled to Italy, including my father—because it felt like a natural home, and a lot of Jews in Libya could already speak the language. It got so bad that the Italian Air Force had to help some Jews escape. And then the Jewish population from Libya helped to revive the Italian Jewish population, especially in Rome. A lot of Libyan Jewish dishes became Roman food, and today when you go to Rome, every other house will have a fish dish like this on the table.

The magazine is coming out for Passover—is there a Passover recipe you’d recommend that readers try?

Bocca di dama is a fluffy almond cake with a recipe that actually came from my grandmother, who brought it to Italy from her native Libya. It’s a fascinating story, all of the recipes she brought with her had Arabic names, of course, and then there was this one, in Italian with the strange translation (“mouth of a lady”) and I always wondered where it came from. So when I researched for the book, I discovered that the recipe had started in Italy back in 1660, in Livorno, when a local Jewish baker served it to the grand duke of the region. And from there it went to Libya, when Libya was an Italian colony — and while it thrived in Libya and became popular, it was completely forgotten in its native Italy. And so when the Libyans came back, they brought this cake and helped Italians rediscover it.

Finally, if someone from WJC is taking a trip to Italy, what are some Italian Jewish sites that they shouldn’t miss?

If it’s your first time in Italy, of course you have to go to Rome, and see the ghetto, the synagogue, and the Jewish museum. But if you have more time and want to explore, the Piedmont region has the most beautiful synagogues, jewels of architecture dotting these tiny towns. There are books on them, and, really, they can’t be missed. A Jewish-themed architecture trip to Piedmont would be amazing.

BOCCA DI DAMA/ PASSOVER ALMOND CAKE

Guetta’s publisher was kind enough to allow us to share the recipe for bocca di dama (pictured on page 5) in the magazine, so we can all try it for the holiday.

Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) round cake; serves 6 to 8.

For the Cake

• 6 large (300 g) eggs, separated, plus 2 large (60 g) egg whites

• 2 cups (220 g) almond flour or finely ground almonds

• 1½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar

• Sliced almonds for sprinkling

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line the bottom of a 10-inch (25 cm) springform pan with parchment paper. To make the cake, in a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the 6 (180 g) egg whites on medium speed for about 5 minutes, until stiff peaks form.

2. In another large bowl, using the handheld mixer (no need to clean the beaters), beat together the almond flour or ground almonds, egg yolks, granulated sugar, and the remaining 2 (60 g) egg whites on medium speed until well combined, about 5 minutes.

3. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the beaten egg whites into the almond mixture until just combined, then scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

4. Bake the cake for about 35 minutes, until golden; a wooden skewer inserted into the center should come out clean. If the top of the cake starts to brown too fast, cover it loosely with foil.

5. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan and gently remove the springform ring. Let cool completely.

For the Icing

• 2⁄3 cup (80 g) confectioners’ sugar

• 2 large (60 g) egg whites

6. In a small skillet, toast the sliced almonds over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until just browned. Remove from the heat and let cool.

7. To prepare the icing, in a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, whip the confectioners’ sugar with the egg whites on high speed to make a light, glossy icing.

8. Preheat the broiler (or use a kitchen torch).

9. Cover the cake with the icing, then sprinkle the sliced almonds on top. Place the cake under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes, until the top of the cake is golden (or use the kitchen torch). Let cool.

10. Lift the cake carefully from the bottom of the springform pan and peel off the parchment paper, then transfer to a serving plate.

11. The frosted cake keeps well in the fridge, wrapped in aluminum foil, for a couple of days. If left unfrosted, the cake keeps well at room temperature for up to a week.

Excerpted from Cooking alla Giudia by Benedetta Jasmine Guetta (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2022.