Book Reviews

Evansville Courier and Press

www.CourierPress.com
Italian Scents and Memories
By Linda Negro
February 18th, 2009

You never know just what you'll find at J. Viviano and Son's Italian Market on The Hill in St. Louis.

I may come home with gallons of red wine vinegar, jars of pasta sauce, a tin of caponata, tuna fish in olive oil, boxes of torrone (a nougat candy like divinity) and bags of the coarse ground cornmeal for polenta, but I think I'm really drawn there by the aroma.

The blend of fresh cheese, bins of olives and shelves of freshly baked bread creates the aroma that I remember when it permeated my Italian grandmother's home in Colorado. Although the last time I was in that home was more than 40 years ago, it so distinctive, I'll always remember it.

While this Italian import shop in The Hill Italian section of St. Louis isn't the same as when I first visited it with my father in the mid-1960s, it has become a tradition when I visit St. Louis. Then it was run by the Viviano matriarch, and the prices were a bargain. Now the shop is a tourist destination, and the Viviano descendants can get away with charging prices one-third higher for the same items found at groceries here.

I go for the olive oil and the gallon jugs of red wine vinegar and the special deals on the imported wines (one of my favorites is Orvietto Classico) that are stacked in their boxes at every corner of the store amid bocce ball sets, colanders and brightly painted imported Italian pasta dish sets.

I'm glad I braved the higher prices this trip because there, toward the front of the store, was a table set by an engaging grandmother who was using an Italian Cream Cake to sell her cookbook. Both are irresistible.

Rosalie Fiorino Harpole, who lives in Troy, Mo., was greeting people at the door with bites of her cake with its creamy icing and half-pecan topping.

Cookbooks are my weakness, so I was sold on "Rosalie Serving Italian" before I even tasted the cake.

While her ancestors were from Sicily, and my grandmother frowned on Southern Italians, you'll find that her cookbook includes a wide array of regional Italian and Americanized Italian cooking from the Italian Cream Cake to breaded and fried ravioli. I even found that her recipe for meat-stuffed ravioli (with beef and pork) sounded similar to my grandmother's.

It's a small thing, but I was impressed even with the quality printing job on the book. which had thick, glossy paper that showed off the photographs of the mouth-watering dishes.

Harpole is quick to tell you that she teaches classes at Dieberg's Cooking School (associated with the grocery) in St. Louis, and that it frequently uses her book.

Thank goodness there is a grandmother who has chronicled not only the stories of her family but these precious recipes for all of us who can remember our grandmother cooking over a wood-fired stove without using recipes.

Thanks for the aromas and the tastes to go along with my memories.

Viviano's is easy to find in St. Louis. Take Interstate 64 to Kingshighway exit and then turn left, or south. Take the first street right (Shaw Avenue) immediately after going under the Interstate 144 overpass. The store is about four short blocks on the right, at 5139 Shaw Ave.


Rosalie's Italian Cream Cake

  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup mild olive oil
  • 5 egg yolks
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 5 egg whites
  • 1 cup shredded coconut
  • 1 cup chopped pecans pieces
  • Unsalted butter
  • Cream Cheese Frosting
  • Sugar-Glazed Pecans
  • Toasted coconut
  • 3 large maraschino or bing cherries

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Combine buttermilk and baking soda in a two-cup measure to allow room for mixture to foam up. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add olive oil slowly until blended. Continue to beat well after each addition. Add buttermilk mixture and flour, alternately a little at a time, until both are used. Stir in vanilla

Clean beaters and beat egg whites until stiff. Fold egg whites gently into batter. Stir in coconut and pecans. Pour into three 9-inch cake pans that have been greased with unsalted butter and dusted with flour. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 to 32 minutes. Cool cakes on racks.

Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting; garnish with glazed pecans and toasted coconut.

To assemble cake: begin with the first layer, putting round side down on cake stand; frost with cream cheese icing. Continue with layers, ending with the round side up. Frost the top and sides of cake liberally with icing.

Place the cherries in the center of the cake. Place the coconut around the cherries and up to about 3 inches out and around the cherries. Place sugared pecans all around the edge of the cake.

Makes 16 1/2-inch slices.


Cream Cheese Icing

  • 1 stick butter
  • 2 (8 ounce) packages Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla

Whip butter and cream cheese together with an electric mixer until blended. Mixing 1.2 stick of vutter and 1 package of cheese at a time is much easier. Then combine in one bowl. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, blending well with creamed mixture. Add vanilla at the end and continue to whip. Makes 4 cups.


Sugar-Glazed Pecans

  • 1/3 cup whole pecans
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 small skillet

Put pecans in the skillet and sprinkle with sugar. Turn heat to medium and begin stirring pecans. Sugar will egin to melt. Continue stirring until a glaze forms on pecans and they become slightly browned. Remove from heat and place on waxed paper to cool. Use for garnish on the cream cake.


Toasted Cocount

  • 1/3 cup shredded coconut
  • 1 small skillet

Put coconut in small skillet. Turn heat to medium. Stir coconut constantly until coconut begins to turn golden brown. Coconut can burn quickly. Remove from heat and continue to stir a few more times. Pour coconut onto waxed paper and cool.

River Front Times

www.RFTstl.com
That's Amore!
By Alison Sieloff
August 30th, 2007

Wonderful things happen when women become grandmothers. Their smiles soften, their laughs sound merrier, and their pots overflow with meals that transcend those of motherhood and skip straight to divinity. It’s the most delicious miracle! And these dishes not only fill up your tummy, but your heart also ends up spilling over with love for your nana (and her macaroni and cheese). This family part of cooking is what’s important to Rosalie Fiorino Harpole, a local mother and grandmother who decided to write down 148 of her delicious Italian-American recipes (something we should all ask of the cooks in our families) and share them with the rest of us through her cookbook, Rosalie Serving Italian, and her blog. To meet Rosalie and purchase a copy of her book, head to Viviano’s Festa Italiano (62 Fenton Plaza, Fenton; 636-305-1474 or www.vivianosmarket.com) anytime from 5 to 7 p.m. The book-signing is free, but bring along some cash to pick up recipe ingredients -- Rosalie’s sure to get you in the mood for Italian this weekend!

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

www.STLToday.com
WHAT'S COOKING: Cookbook opens many doors
By Stefanie Ellis
August 1st, 2007

Name: Rosalie Fiorino Harpole

Home: Troy, Mo.

Occupation: Registered nurse, Lincoln County Medical Center

Family: Husband, William; three adult children; nine grandchildren Advertisement

Food and fun: "I was born into this typical Italian family and took part in all the Italian weddings, confirmations and parties. We always had a lot of fun and a lot of food. I started cooking Italian dishes, with my mom's instructions, when I was 8. I learned early on that food is a bridge to relationships.

"I'm married to my high-school sweetheart, who is a minister, and we have always loved to entertain people in our home. We have a big Italian dinner on Sundays with family, friends, missionaries and ministers. I love to entertain them and set a pretty table."

Planting a seed: "I was cooking for the Old Thresher's County Fair two years ago in Elsberry, Mo., and cooked about 2,500 dinners in three days. I cooked country food, which I also love. A lady came up to me after the fair and said, 'Rosalie, now we have to wait another year for you to come back and fix all these good meals. Why don't you write a cookbook?'"‰ "

Nuts and bolts: "I told my husband I wanted to put together a cookbook but I didn't know how to do it. He heard about the St. Louis Publishers Association (www.stlouispublishers.org), and that's where I really learned how to publish a book. The group is mainly brand-new authors who want to put a manuscript together. Every month they have people come and tell you how to put the cover together, give you themes and ideas and introduce you to arts and graphics designers."

Reason for writing: "When I pitched my book idea, I was told my book had to have a purpose. I didn't know what that was at first, so I went home and it just came to me.

"I started writing and determined that I wanted to portray, with every recipe, the importance of preserving family relationships. It's not about making a meal, but being able to sit down with your family and bond and love." MORE
Italian Stuffed Tilapia

Weeknight wonders: "Three-fourths of my recipes are an hour or less and the rest are 30 minutes. You can make the meal the night before. If you can fit in ballet, piano and volleyball, you can fit in a memory with your kids. The recipes are from my mom, my aunts, my Italian community and many are some I've created."

Delicious opportunities: "Out of my passion came many things — the cookbook, as well as fundraising, catering and home-cooking opportunities.

"I just finished a month of cooking classes in my home and will start them up again in September. I never had so much fun in my life. I'm teaching at the Kitchen Conservatory in October.

"I recently met a woman who belongs to a ladies group, and they're coming to my house, and I'm fixing them dinner. And when I did a book signing at the Clayton Farmers Market, this couple came up to me and asked about my cooking classes. I told them to get together eight to 10 people and I would come to their house and do a class.

"So many things have opened up for me, and I've enjoyed every ounce of it." .

The Daily Sauce

theDailySauce.com
Rosalie Serving Italian
By Michael Renner
July 26th, 2007

She's maybe 5-foot-3 with wavy, silver hair piled high on her head, and she has enough energy to power a small village. She's Italian by heritage and grew up in the St. Louis area but married a non-Italian. And she cooked. She cooked for her family and friends, for her church, for her husband's fellow ministers passing through town.

Pastas, meats, cookies, breads – everything Rosalie Rita Fiorino Harpole learned from her Sicilian mother and Roman father is now compiled into a slick, colorful hardback cookbook, Rosalie Serving Italian. In addition to the 148 recipes (a whole chapter dedicated to breakfast, including frittatas and Nutella pancakes!), Fiorino Harpole gives us the family story behind each dish as well as tips to ensure perfect execution (watch for a full review in an upcoming issue of Sauce Magazine). The family photographs sprinkled throughout provide a portrait of a growing Italian-American family, and the professional-looking food photos taken by Rosalie's son-in-law belie the fact that the book was self-published. In fact, the book will look comfortable standing next to your copy of Giada De Laurentis' Everyday Italian.

We picked up a copy at DiGregorio's Italian grocery on The Hill one Saturday when the petite dynamo was signing books and forcing samples of her delicious Italian cream cake into our hands. True to her Italian heritage, no one left hungry!

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

www.STLtoday.com
Cookbook author says families should dine together often
By Esther Talbot Fenning
July 30th, 2007

Rosalie Fiorino Harpole has been dishing up panini, spiedini and parmigiana since she was 8. Harpole shared her original Italian-American recipes and those from her family in a 148-page self-published cookbook, "Rosalie Serving Italian."

The hardback book features appetizers, salads, pasta dishes, breads and desserts. Included are step-by-step teaching hints and culinary traditions from her background. Her parents, Ann and William Fiorino, were Italian immigrants. Colorful photographs of her extended family appear throughout the book as well as pictures of her own completed dishes.

The book includes entertainment tips from setting the table to hospitality do's and don'ts. She said that one of the purposes of the book was to emphasize the importance of hospitality and preserving family relationships by sitting down together to dinner as often as possible.

"Most occasions are celebrated by eating," she said. "It is a way of life, preserves our heritage, bonds us together and creates wonderful memories for children. The kids won't die if you knock out one of their activities for a family meal."

Harpole, 63, is married to the Rev. William Harpole, a retired Pentecostal minister. They met when they were students at St. Charles High School. The couple has three children and nine grandchildren, for whom she cooks large Italian dinners.

"Bill is my best tester," she chuckled. "He says he is 100 pounds Italian."

Harpole grew up in Jennings and moved to St. Charles with her family when she was 16. Even though her mother worked full time as a tailor, the family dined together every evening, Harpole said.

On Saturdays Ann Fiorino baked 11 loaves of bread for the week. Relatives and friends flocked to the Fiorino table every Sunday for the weekly spaghetti and meatball dinner — a tradition Harpole has continued.

According to Harpole, there is no tastier or healthier meal than a pasta dish. Contrary to popular opinion, Harpole said, Italian recipes can be put together relatively quickly, as evidenced by her mother's quick meals. She noted an artichoke casserole that can be prepared and baked in 20 minutes.

She said many recipes in her book are simple, easy to prepare and include shortcuts and helpful tips. She explained, for example, that over-boiling pasta will "kill the dish."

"Putting olive oil in the water is another no-no because it prevents the sauce from sticking to the pasta," she said.

Harpole worked beside her husband for 30 years when he was minister at Shepherd's Church in Troy, now the Family Worship Center. As a minister's wife, Harpole was accustomed to having people drop in frequently, often staying for dinner. She cooked regularly for church and charity benefits, she said.

Harpole was inspired to do the cookbook after a customer at the Old Threshers Fair in Elsberry suggested that she write her recipes down. The idea that food was a bridge to relationships came to her as she began.

Harpole is a bundle of energy who rarely leaves the house without tote bags that carry promotional material about her cookbooks. Her motto, she said, is "put your passion into action."

She followed a longtime dream of becoming a nurse by enrolling at Missouri Baptist School of Nursing; she graduated when she was 45. She works part time at the Lincoln County Medical Center, where her colleagues served as food testers for her recipes.

She conducts cooking classes in her home. She caters meals and offers her services as a cook for charity dinners. She is busy marketing the cookbook at women's conventions and farmers' markets. She gives group presentations, including at writers' clubs. She expects to give a demonstration this summer at the Kitchen Conservatory in Clayton. Her website includes a free weekly newsletter with recipes.

Harpole is assembling recipes for her next book — "Rosalie Cooks Country." It was inspired by her farmer's cabbage dish of spareribs, potatoes, tomatoes and green beans.

"People stood in a line a mile long for that dish at the fair," she said. "I dream food. That recipe came to me in my sleep."

The Hannibal Courier-Post

www.Hannibal.net
Rosalie Serving Italian
By Margie Clark
July 18th, 2007

She has written and published her first cookbook titled "Rosalie Serving Italian," which features 148 Italian-American easy to prepare recipes with step by step teaching hints and family insights.

"I completed the book in April," said Rosalie. "It took me about one and a half years to finish. The book has 240 pages of recipes and stories, some that I have gotten from my mother and some I have created myself. It features stories about my Italian customs and heritage along with stories about each recipe."

Rosalie learned to cook at a young age with her mother's instruction. She was a third child of Italian immigrants. The inspiration to write a cookbook began while supervising the daily meals at the Old Threshers fair in Elsberry.

"People would come up to me and ask, 'Would you consider writing your recipes down?' Just over year ago I started to write down my recipes and started the cookbook," she said.

She recently featured a book signing at the Cozy Corner Bookstore in Louisiana where the book is for sale.

When it comes to cooking, Rosalie is a typical Italian, learning that food is a bridge to relationships.

"My father came from Rome and my mother from Sicily," she said. "Each province likes to boast of their food and have their own recipes. The book features some wonderful bread recipes such as stuffed sausage bread. It is an Italian bread that is rolled out flat at first rising and then covered with Italian sausage, spices and rolled up jelly roll style and baked. When it first comes out of the oven it is awesome and you can taste the sausage and fennel seed. It can be served with just an Italian oil dip or marinara sauce."

Penne pasta and meatballs are two of Rosalie's favorites. "I put chicken, pork and beef in my red sauce," she said. "It is a very rich sauce that has been a favorite of our friends and visitors. I serve it with Italian salad and bread. If you like the white sauces, fettucine alfredo is very good. And if you wanted something to quickly put on the table, the Italian hamburgers or breaded pork chops are very good."

Simplicity was one of the things that Rosalie wanted to add to the book.

"I tried to make the recipes as easy as possible so everybody could enjoy it," she said. "Many times I need to put something on the table within an hour. My mother raised me to be an entertainer, so I would set the table, flowers and candles. While they were all chatting I would be in the kitchen whipping up some pasta dishes."

A minister's wife, Rosalie has a great deal of company, along with three children, spouses and grandchildren. There is a chapter in the book on entertaining.

"I've always loved to cater and entertain," she said. "I do charity banquets, dinners and events for people having hardships. I also teach cooking classes in my home. I love doing that."

She will be conducting a cooking class at Terre Haute, Ind., at the Clabber Girl Cooking and Bake Shop in August.

"I'm very excited about being on the Show Me St. Louis show on Aug. 10 at 3:15 p.m.," said Rosalie. "On Oct. 11, I will be cooking and doing a class at the kitchen conservatory in St. Louis. I need to be four people trying to do so much I love. I'm passionate about cooking Italian food, and serving it is one of my favorite things to do."

Teaching about food is also a passion of Rosalie's. "I teach that food is a bridge to relationships and how important it is for a family to sit down and have a home cooked meal," she said. "I like for children to know where a dish came from to keep the history and customs alive."

Born in St. Louis, Rosalie has lived in Troy for the past 35 years. At age 46, she went to college to pursue a life-long dream to become a registered nurse. Out of the 15 years she has practiced nursing, 11 have been spent at Lincoln County Medical Center. She is already planning her next cookbook which will probably be "Rosalie Cooking Country," she said.

"Writing and publishing a cookbook has been a wonderful experience for me," she said. "Another great part of publishing a book are all the book signings. I have met so many neat people, and being able to sign their book is really exhilarating."