"Famed Italian chef, grandmother, cookbook author, restaurateur, and PBS cooking show host Lidia Bastianich was enlisted to cook not one, but three meals for Pope Benedict when he was in New York last week. When Lidia and her parents emigrated to the US forty years ago, they received a special Vatican stamp on their visas to allow them to come to America. And now she got to repay the favor with three amazing meals. Prior to the papal visit, she was not allowed to reveal the menu (lest terrorists spike every example of the ingredient in NYC?), but now it can be told.
Lunch on Saturday was apparently a light meal whipped up by Lidia and her assistants from what the nuns who serve the household of the Vatican’s observer to the UN had already gathered: [Hang on to your hats…]
- “Italian cherry tomatoes with celery and grana Padana alongside some fresh mache
- “Asparagus soup thickened with boiled potato and sautéed asparagus [I am going to try this one.]
- “Baked monkfish Sicilian-style with seasoned breadcrumbs
- “Peach fruit tart that, according to Lidia, almost went directly from the oven to the table...”
2.
Follow up to the entry on the menus for Pope Benedict
From Fr. Zuhlsdorf:"Here is a followup to the entry on the menus prepared for the Holy Father’s visit to the USA. Biretta tip to PS who forwarded the link! o{]:¬)
Enjoy this from the Wall Street Journal!
TASTINGS
By DOROTHY J. GAITER AND JOHN BRECHER
Most of us get nervous about serving just the right wine when guests come to dinner. Imagine if you were hosting the pope.
So with Pope Benedict XVI making his first trip to New York as pope Friday, we wondered what he would be eating and drinking during his visit. Because he is a native of Germany, we immediately thought that New York’s famous Rieslings might find their way onto his table. But the Vatican is in Rome, so maybe he’d be eating and drinking Italian. Then we heard that Vatican insiders like to joke that his favorite wine is lemonade, [Actually, Fanta, too.] though there are some reports that he has sipped beer now and then. Surely someone should show him what New York hospitality can be by putting some delicious food and wine before him.
It turns out that the folks who were granted that honor are Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, famous as "the first lady of Italian cuisine," and her son, Joseph, who have virtually cornered the market on all things Italian, sitting atop an empire that includes, separately and together with others, television shows, restaurants (some with Mario Batali), cookbooks, a wine store, a wine book, wineries in Italy and Argentina, an Italian tour company and retail businesses selling sauces and olive oil..."
1 comment:
Lidia is my favorite cook - she does everything rustica and very simple. Very authentic.
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