MEITUS: Helping cooks get down to business

By Marty Meitus, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 29, 2008 at 3 p.m.

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Lynne Rossetto Kasper was a force on the Denver cooking scene when she ran a cooking school here in the late '70s. But most of us know her for a different reason: She's standing right behind us, figuratively speaking, every time we pick up a few familiar staples at the grocery store.

When she wrote a Northern Italian cookbook called The Splendid Table in 1992, she put balsamic vinegar, prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on the culinary map.

Kasper, who now lives in St. Paul, Minn., will be in Denver for two events, signing copies and talking about her new cookbook, The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper. The book is based on her Splendid Table show on National Public Radio, heard in the metro area at 2 p.m. Sundays on KUNC-FM (91.5). On May 7, she'll appear from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Boulder Farmers' Market, on 13th Street between Canyon Boulevard and Arapahoe Avenue. On May 8, she'll appear from 6 to 8 p.m. at Room & Board, 222 Detroit St.

"It's called How to Eat Supper, not how to make supper; it's a little bit cheeky," she says. "Food has permeated our lives; it's seeped into the cracks in our day-to-day existence with words like sustainable, organic and local. We've become intrigued by food history and food lore - think of the books like The History of Salt, which makes the New York Times best-seller list. Knowing a little about food, not necessarily cooking, is part of being smart today."

All of which makes Kasper - whose book combines history, lore, uncomplicated recipes and practical cooking tips - the perfect adviser for today's cook, who might want to prepare a dish without necessarily knowing the basics.

"We're not cooking the way we used to, because we want to do it our way. It's like, 'I have a dish and I'd love to attempt making it, but I don't want to go back and learn to saute.' That's the need that I respond to."

Surprisingly, this is only the third book from Kasper, who wrote her second book, The Italian Country Table, in 1999. She wanted to write a series of small books "with great validity," she says, "since I've been teaching cooking since the Earth was cooling."

But the publishers told her that little books weren't selling, so she turned to her radio partner, Sally Swift - who has kids, a husband, a demanding job and an incredible garden - to add her style as co-author.

To pull people in, she says, she was mindful of our new way of thinking about food.

"It's a very different sensibility," she says. "It's like learning to read without knowing the alphabet.

"I start with the assumption, 'You don't know about this, so how do I invite you in?' I keep making it as alluring as possible: fresh, good for you, great-tasting. If you dangle the carrot long enough, someone will take a bite out of it.

"I think if you give people something that rewards them, something that makes them feel they've accomplished something, hopefully they'll give it another shot."

She calls the recipe for Refried Beans With Cinnamon and Clove a great sleeper recipe.

"It's a very fast, five-minute prep. If you follow the recipe, you get this suave, utterly sexy dish, and you can eat it with a green salad or a tortilla. There are a ton of dishes like that in the book."

Refried Beans With Cinnamon and Clove

Serves 4

Olive oil

1 large onion, chopped into 1/4-inch dice

Salt and black pepper

4 garlic cloves, fine chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 (14-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained

2 (15-ounce) cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

11/2 cups water

2 tablespoons butter

* Generously film the bottom of a 10-inch skillet with olive oil, and heat over medium-high heat. Saute the onions with salt and pepper to taste until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. You want to hear a sizzle as they cook.

* Add the garlic, jalapeno, cinnamon and cloves, and cook the mix until it is fragrant, about 1 minute, taking care not to burn the spices. Add the tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pan. Saute for another minute.

* Stir in the beans and water. Bring to a fast simmer, crushing the beans with a potato masher (or the back of a large spoon) as they cook, and scraping the bottom of the pan as the beans begin to thicken.

* Simmer until the beans are thick, about 10 minutes. Blend in the butter, and taste for seasoning just before serving.

Nutritional information per serving: 271 cal., 7 g fat (4 g sat), 15 mg chol., 42 g carb., 13 g pro., 16 g fiber, 969 mg sodium.

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