MOZZA LA ITALIAN RESTAURANT MENU RECIPES
Review by Barb & Ron Kroll
The Mozza Cookbook
(Alfred A. Knopf) ISBN 978-0307272843 0307272842
It takes a long time to get reservations at Mozza in Los Angeles, but The Mozza Cookbook allows you to recreate the restaurant's and pizzeria's Italian dishes anytime.
Home cooks can make Italian meals from the Mozza restaurant menu, as well as recipes for regional Italian dishes. Detailed cooking instructions with mouthwatering photos teach the basics of Italian cuisine (e.g., the Pasta School chapter).
Courses in a traditional Italian meal
The Mozza Cookbook is organized like traditional Italian meal courses: antipasto, primi (first course), secondi (main course) and dolci (desserts). Nancy Silverton and Matt Molina's recipes range from regional Italian food (e.g., the Sicilian recipe for currant and pine nut relish) to signature recipes from Mozza menus.
The 350-page Italian cookbook includes recipes for Osteria Mozza's signature dish (grilled quail wrapped in pancetta with sage and honey) and Pizzeria Mozza's most popular dessert (butterscotch budino with caramel sauce and Malden sea salt).
In the introduction to each chapter, the authors explain the meaning of Italian culinary words like struzzichini (appetizers). Mozza recipe introductions describe ingredients, e.g., saba (Sardinian grape must) and suggest substitutes, e.g., balsamico condimento, or vin cotto, a sweet, syrupy condiment.
Italian Piave cheese
Most of the Italian cooking ingredients are readily available. When they are hard to find, or expensive, the Mozza restaurant and pizzeria chef suggests alternatives. As examples, Piave is a hard cheese that is sweeter and much less expensive than Parmesan, and a spicy red pepper paste is a good substitute for Calabrian bomb.
Some of the recipes on the Mozza menu take a long time to make, such as brasato al Barolo (braised short ribs) with polenta and horseradish gremolata. Other Italian recipes are much less time-consuming, like cauliflower gratinate.
Photos of Mozza menu dishes
Sara Remington's food photos depict Italian cooking from Mozza Pizzeria, Mozza restaurant and Mozzarella Bar menus. Her step-by-step photos show you how to make pizza in the Pizza School section of The Mozza Cookbook.
Other images portray mozzarella, burrata and other fresh Italian cheeses, as well as scenes from the restaurant and pizzeria in LA, including Nancy Silverton cooking.
Pairing Italian wines with Mozza recipes
The introduction to The Mozza Cookbook lists sample Mozza menus, with the recipe page number for each of the Italian dishes.
David Rosoff, manager for Mozza's LA pizzeria and restaurant, suggests an Italian wine pairing for each Mozza recipe, e.g., Verdicchio di Matelica (The Marches) with pan-roasted halibut pepe verde.
Pasta school
Some recipes for traditional Italian dishes include variations. For example, in the Pasta School section, variations of the Mozza pizza dough recipe include green dough made with nettles and black pizza dough colored with cuttlefish or squid ink.
The Mozzarella Bar menu section of the cookbook describes different types of Italian cheeses (e.g., fior di latte, buricotta and stracchino) and provides recipes for foods that complement mozzarella, such as celery leaf pesto and black olive tapenade.
Sample Mozza restaurant and pizzeria recipes
Peperonata with ricotta crostini. Oregano vinaigrette. Little gem lettuce with dates, red onion and gorgonzola dolce. Fresh goat cheese, leek, scallions, garlic and bacon pizza. Fresh ricotta and egg ravioli with brown butter. Orecchiette with fennel sausage and swiss chard. Homemade ricotta. Gnocchi with duck ragu. Pan roasted pork chops with olives and Sambuca-braised fennel. Brussels sprouts with sherry vinaigrette and prosciutto bread crumbs. Pumpkin and date tart with bourbon gelato. Rosemary olive oil cakes with olive oil gelato. Salty caramel gelato. Toasted walnut biscotti.
Contents
Foreword by Mario Batali- Introduction
- Apertivi and Stuzzichini
- Mozzarella
- Antipasti
- Pizza
- Primi
- Secondi
- Contorni
- Dolci
Authors
Nancy Silverton co-owns Osteria Mozza, Pizzeria Mozza and Mozza2Go in LA with Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. The address for Mozza is 6602 Melrose, Los Angeles 90038, at the corner of Melrose and Highland.
Matt Molina is executive chef at the LA Mozza restaurant and pizzeria.
Carolynn Carreno is the co-author of several cookbooks, including Eat Me.