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Leone's Italian Cookbook
A New York restauranteur offers more than 300 recipes for every course in a light meal or a banquet
- GenresCookbooks
244 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1967
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 9, 2008
In print for over 40 years, Gene Leone shares the recipes his mother perfected and served in Leone's Restaurant. Most are quite simple and easy to prepare. This was one of my husband's favorite cookbooks with the stained pages to show exactly which recipes he made regularly.
March 22, 2021
Mamma Leone's was a famous restaurant around the Manhattan Theatre district.
Gene's mother founded the restaurant in 1906, and he took over in the early 1940s.
He sold the restaurant to Restaurant Associates in the mid 50s, the cookbook came out in 1967, and retired with his wife to Laguna Beach in 1979. She passed away in 1982 and he did in 1986.
Eisenhower did the foreward to the book.
---
The New York Times
"Enrico Caruso talked Luisa Leone into opening Mama's in 1906 with 20 chairs in the family's living room on West 34th Street. On opening night, the great tenor brought so many chums that many customers sat on wine cases to eat their 50-cent meals."
---
"The eatery at 261 W. 44th St. next to the palatial Majestic Theater became a casualty of New York’s condo craze in 1994. Short-sighted building owners converted it. By then, Mama Leone’s had expanded to the largest restaurant in the city, serving 700,000 meals a year in 11 dining rooms. Visitors still ask police where it is and are sad to hear it is closed. The only trace left is Leone’s Italian Cookbook....Gene said he wanted to demonstrate that Mama’s Italian cooking was simple. Fresh ingredients were her key."
---
Mama Leone's Eggs with Zucchini
1 small zucchini
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 slices mortadella, salami or prosciutto, diced
4 fresh eggs, lightly beaten
Dash of salt and pepper
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
Peel the zucchini and cut into thin slices. Heat olive oil and butter in skillet. Add zucchini and cover for 5 minutes. Add meat and cover for another 5 minutes. Add eggs, cover and cook for 4 minutes or until set. Sprinkle cheese on top.
Serves 2.
---
It's one of those books that you can find dirt cheap, but people will hype the book... It was probably more famous for huge portions, plastic grapes for the decor, and high prices in the day. Liberace, Truman, Eisenhower, Carter, Liz Taylor, WC Fields.
"Superstar actress Elizabeth Taylor was once barred from a dining room for wearing slacks, while president Harry S Truman taught the chef how to cook his favourite steaks."
And well for the Bolognese purists, the book would cause a conniption, since 90% of recipes don't throw in a bunch of tomatoes.
---
Mama Leone's Bolognese Sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh sweet [unsalted] butter
2 ounces salt pork, diced
1/4 pound onions, peeled and diced
1/2 pound Italian sweet sausage
1/2 pound lean ground beef
4 chicken livers, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons dry white wine
1 cup canned plum tomatoes, sieved
2 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 cup boiling water
Combine olive oil, butter and salt pork in saucepan; heat. Add onions and brown slowly. Remove sausage from casing and cut meat into 1/2-inch pieces. Add to onions with beef and chicken livers. Brown slowly 15 minutes. Chop garlic with rosemary and add to sauce with bay leaf and pepper. Stir well and cook 10 minutes. Add wine; stir, cover and cook 10 minutes. Remove sausage and chop fine. Place back in sauce. Add the sieved and chopped tomatoes. Remove and discard bay leaf. Add boiling water and cook slowly, uncovered, 40 minutes. Makes about 4 cups.
---
Mama Leone's Chicken Tetrazzini
8 ounces thin noodles or fettuccine
1 garlic clove, pressed
6 fresh parsley sprigs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 bay leaf, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
6 tablespoons sweet [unsalted] butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup hot chicken stock
1/2 cup light cream, warmed
1/4 cup dry white wine
cooked sliced chicken breasts
[How many? As many as you'd like -
we use 2 whole poached breasts]
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Cook noodles in boiling salted water 10 minutes and drain.
Chop garlic and parsley together. Place oil in skillet, heat and add the mushrooms, bay leaf, garlic and parsley, salt and pepper. Cook slowly for 4 minutes; stir.
Place butter in another saucepan, melt; add flour, blend. Add hot chicken stock, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Add the cream and wine and stir well.
Place the drained noodles in buttered oven casserole, spoon mushroom mixture over noodles and arrange chicken slices. Pour cream sauce over all. Sprinkle Parmesan on top.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for about 15 minutes. 4 servings.
---
More a curio than anything, and some people would say that the food wasn't all that great.
"It has not been open for many years and the food was not that good when it was."
"Everyone went to Mama Leone's when they were kids. For me, it was about the singing, not about the food."
I'm sure if people want decent simple plain italian food, the Rao Cookbooks might be more for modern tastes... Rao's was a fave of Al Pacino, Woody Allen, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martha Stewart. Some people rave about the place, and some still don't understand what the fuss was, but it's one of those cookbooks, when i explain to my friend what's in the recipes of a 'famous italian' restaurant, they're amazed at how boring and unexciting the ingredients are. A table at Rao's can be $1700 since it's one of the hardest restaurants in New York to get a reservation, but you can get the cookbook for $25, or the sauce for $6-8 a jar in the stores.
Sometimes it's just good ingredients and a little technique, like warming the pasta in the sauce with a touch of pasta water and letting it cook a bit, or just a simple lemon sauce, if you crust the food just right.
After Marcella Hazan and Mario Batali it's hard for people to go back.
but it's a piece of history like Delminico's or Luchow's German Restaurant.
Gene's mother founded the restaurant in 1906, and he took over in the early 1940s.
He sold the restaurant to Restaurant Associates in the mid 50s, the cookbook came out in 1967, and retired with his wife to Laguna Beach in 1979. She passed away in 1982 and he did in 1986.
Eisenhower did the foreward to the book.
---
The New York Times
"Enrico Caruso talked Luisa Leone into opening Mama's in 1906 with 20 chairs in the family's living room on West 34th Street. On opening night, the great tenor brought so many chums that many customers sat on wine cases to eat their 50-cent meals."
---
"The eatery at 261 W. 44th St. next to the palatial Majestic Theater became a casualty of New York’s condo craze in 1994. Short-sighted building owners converted it. By then, Mama Leone’s had expanded to the largest restaurant in the city, serving 700,000 meals a year in 11 dining rooms. Visitors still ask police where it is and are sad to hear it is closed. The only trace left is Leone’s Italian Cookbook....Gene said he wanted to demonstrate that Mama’s Italian cooking was simple. Fresh ingredients were her key."
---
Mama Leone's Eggs with Zucchini
1 small zucchini
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 slices mortadella, salami or prosciutto, diced
4 fresh eggs, lightly beaten
Dash of salt and pepper
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
Peel the zucchini and cut into thin slices. Heat olive oil and butter in skillet. Add zucchini and cover for 5 minutes. Add meat and cover for another 5 minutes. Add eggs, cover and cook for 4 minutes or until set. Sprinkle cheese on top.
Serves 2.
---
It's one of those books that you can find dirt cheap, but people will hype the book... It was probably more famous for huge portions, plastic grapes for the decor, and high prices in the day. Liberace, Truman, Eisenhower, Carter, Liz Taylor, WC Fields.
"Superstar actress Elizabeth Taylor was once barred from a dining room for wearing slacks, while president Harry S Truman taught the chef how to cook his favourite steaks."
And well for the Bolognese purists, the book would cause a conniption, since 90% of recipes don't throw in a bunch of tomatoes.
---
Mama Leone's Bolognese Sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh sweet [unsalted] butter
2 ounces salt pork, diced
1/4 pound onions, peeled and diced
1/2 pound Italian sweet sausage
1/2 pound lean ground beef
4 chicken livers, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons dry white wine
1 cup canned plum tomatoes, sieved
2 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 cup boiling water
Combine olive oil, butter and salt pork in saucepan; heat. Add onions and brown slowly. Remove sausage from casing and cut meat into 1/2-inch pieces. Add to onions with beef and chicken livers. Brown slowly 15 minutes. Chop garlic with rosemary and add to sauce with bay leaf and pepper. Stir well and cook 10 minutes. Add wine; stir, cover and cook 10 minutes. Remove sausage and chop fine. Place back in sauce. Add the sieved and chopped tomatoes. Remove and discard bay leaf. Add boiling water and cook slowly, uncovered, 40 minutes. Makes about 4 cups.
---
Mama Leone's Chicken Tetrazzini
8 ounces thin noodles or fettuccine
1 garlic clove, pressed
6 fresh parsley sprigs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 bay leaf, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
6 tablespoons sweet [unsalted] butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup hot chicken stock
1/2 cup light cream, warmed
1/4 cup dry white wine
cooked sliced chicken breasts
[How many? As many as you'd like -
we use 2 whole poached breasts]
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Cook noodles in boiling salted water 10 minutes and drain.
Chop garlic and parsley together. Place oil in skillet, heat and add the mushrooms, bay leaf, garlic and parsley, salt and pepper. Cook slowly for 4 minutes; stir.
Place butter in another saucepan, melt; add flour, blend. Add hot chicken stock, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Add the cream and wine and stir well.
Place the drained noodles in buttered oven casserole, spoon mushroom mixture over noodles and arrange chicken slices. Pour cream sauce over all. Sprinkle Parmesan on top.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for about 15 minutes. 4 servings.
---
More a curio than anything, and some people would say that the food wasn't all that great.
"It has not been open for many years and the food was not that good when it was."
"Everyone went to Mama Leone's when they were kids. For me, it was about the singing, not about the food."
I'm sure if people want decent simple plain italian food, the Rao Cookbooks might be more for modern tastes... Rao's was a fave of Al Pacino, Woody Allen, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martha Stewart. Some people rave about the place, and some still don't understand what the fuss was, but it's one of those cookbooks, when i explain to my friend what's in the recipes of a 'famous italian' restaurant, they're amazed at how boring and unexciting the ingredients are. A table at Rao's can be $1700 since it's one of the hardest restaurants in New York to get a reservation, but you can get the cookbook for $25, or the sauce for $6-8 a jar in the stores.
Sometimes it's just good ingredients and a little technique, like warming the pasta in the sauce with a touch of pasta water and letting it cook a bit, or just a simple lemon sauce, if you crust the food just right.
After Marcella Hazan and Mario Batali it's hard for people to go back.
but it's a piece of history like Delminico's or Luchow's German Restaurant.
July 4, 2011
This cookbook contains some intesting Italian recipes from the author's mother's restaurant.. Many non-pasta dishes are included.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews