Yesterday, I read from several news platforms (i.e. BBC, Condé Nast Traveller, Vogue) that the 2019 Nobel Laureate in Economics Dr. Abhijit Banerjee has published an unorthodox, but very practical cook book called "Cooking to Save Your Life". Unorthodox in the sense that the book does not have glossy photos of the finished dishes, but instead lovely geometric pictures drawn by Cheyenne Olivier; a France-based illustrator, and practical because the pages are thick enough to stay open without a paperweight! (Angela Merkel you can recycle the paperweight that you received from your fellow leaders!).
Having studied economics, I know that Dr Banerjee is not the first Nobel laureate who has shown a particular interest in food. George Stigler game up with Stigler's diet, which has been much ridiculed for its lack of variety and palatability. Whereas Banerjee's book seems to be all about the taste, nutrition, seasonality and locality. This book comes across to me as a balancing act between strong flavours/dishes, which are deliberately confrontational in a positive way. "Cooking to Save Your Life" is not a cookery book show-casing only foods from India, but Abhijit Banerjee has included in his cookery book many dishes from other culinary regions and his favourite fusion dishes, including one of my favourite one: the Sicilian cauliflower pasta. That is exactly the dish I prepared tonight.
My recipe is very similar to Dr. Banerjee's, except I used 400 g of cauliflower and 300 g of Broccoli Romanesco. I used saffron, pine seeds, Sicilian anchovies, and extra virgin olive oil in more generous quantities. Also, I do not use chilli flakes or black pepper because Brassica oleracea, pine seeds, black and yellow raisins and saffron are the stars of this lovely dish. You can find his recipe book here below.
Abhijit Banerjee's cook book will be the last cookbook I am going to buy. Maybe. I hope so.
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| Cavuluciuri Arriminati is a proof of the fact that you do not need to have extremely rich ingredients to have tasty food. |
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| From this illustration I can identify penne pasta, parsley, and anchovies, whose eyes are, of course, stained with saffron. |