C
asey Wall has a thing for Italian-American food.
And the American-born chef and co-owner of
Melbourne’s Carlton restaurant Capitano, where
he’s built a menu around it, reckons it’s ideal for
fast home cooking. He should know.
“Italian-American cooking, particularly in places like
New York and New Jersey, has a strong Sicilian influence
so a lot of dishes start with a flexible base like passata,” he
says. “Once you have the base things on hand, you can make
a variety of dishes that are all quick to cook.”
To this end, Wall has included a quick and versatile tomato
sauce to go with the recipes he’s supplied for this month’s issue.
“I’m not a fan of bought passata and pasta sauces, and this
recipe brings the freshness and vibrancy of in-season tomatoes
to a number of the dishes here,” he says. “It keeps for a while,
too, and it freezes well. But it’s such a good sauce that you’ll
probably use it all before you have to deal with any issues
of how to store it.”
Almost all of these recipes can be found on the menu at
Capitano, a restaurant serving a style of food very different from
that at Wall’s two other venues (wine bar Bar Liberty, and burger
and fried-chicken joint, Rockwell and Sons). It’s a style born from
Wall’s nostalgia for the kind of red-sauce-style Italian restaurants
he ate at while growing up on the east coast of the US.
“All of those Italian-American restaurants seemed to have
the same 25 dishes on their menus,” he says. “They’re like
cultural institutions with their menus of veal saltimbocca,
chicken parmigiana, manicotti and baked ziti. We’re bringing
all those dishes to Capitano, but we use only local ingredients.”
Another staple of Italian-American cuisine is pasta with a
creamy tomato sauce lifted with a slug of vodka. Wall says the
vodka enhances the flavour of the sauce and “makes the tomatoes
smell richer and more prominent”. It’s one of his favourites, along
with a “beautifully fresh and simple” sugarsnap pea scapece.
“If you start with a small bowl of pasta with vodka sauce
and then move onto the veal parmigiana with a side of the
sugarsnaps, you’ll have a good night,” he says.
And when it comes to quick, delicious cooking, Wall firmly
believes that the secret lies in mastering simple recipes and
techniques and knowing how to pull them off time and again.
“Confidence obviously makes everything easier,” he says.
“When you get certain techniques down it opens up a whole
range of dishes that you can pull together in 20 minutes.”
Capitano, 421 Rathdowne St, Carlton, Vic, (03) 9134 8555,
capitano.com.auCynar
SpritzStrawberry
Sgroppino
SERVES 4
Pictured p84.4 large scoops of lemon
sorbet (about 2 cups)
400 ml prosecco
STRAWBERRY PURÉE
100 gm very ripe strawberries
25 gm caster sugar1 For strawberry purée, toss
strawberries in sugar to coat
and leave for 30 minutes to
macerate. Transfer strawberries
to a small blender and blend
until smooth (add a small
amount of water to loosen if
needed). Pass purée through
a fine sieve and refrigerate
until required (up to 3 days).
2 Whisk sorbet and strawberry
purée together in a jug until
smooth, then gradually add
prosecco, whisking until
combined. To serve, pour
or ladle Sgroppino into
Champagne coupes.➤Cynar Spritz
SERVES 150 ml Cynar (see note)
50 ml prosecco
50 ml soda
Orange slices, berries
and mint leaves, to serve1 Layer Cynar, prosecco and
soda in a wine glass over ice,
and stir gently once. Garnish
with orange slices, berries
and mint.
NoteCynar, an amaro with
earthy notes, is available
from select bottle shops.Cynar SpritzWine glasses from Riedel. Placemat from Top3
by Design (used throughout). Small dish from Byrnt Ceramics.
All other props stylist’s own.ConchiglieFork from Inartisan
(used throughout). All other props stylist’s own.PREVIOUS
PAGES Left:Table from Glicks Furniture (used throughout).
Chair from Thonet. Plates from Jardan (used throughout).
Bowl from Young Vessels and Object. Tall coupe from
Riedel. Small coupe from Spiegelau. Napkin from Hale
Mercantile Co.Right:Terrazzo from Alexandria Tiles
(used throughout). White plate from Heart in Ceramics.
All other props stylist’s own. Stockists p152.86 GOURMET TRAVELLER